March 11, 2021 –
My wife and I are downsizing and trying to eliminate 55 years of stuff we’ve accumulated. Before starting, we asked our son and daughter what they wanted of our collectibles. Our son said, “Nothing.” Our daughter claimed three or four of our heirlooms.
What do we do with the other 5,000 items?
We’ve had several yard sales and thrown out a combined 1,000 items.
What do we do with the remaining 4,000 items?
Currently, the buzzword in selling is the phrase, “buy one, get one free.” The keyword is FREE! What is better than BOGO? I cut to the chase and offered all the items for free.
After placing 150 plus items at the end of my driveway, I put a Yard Sale sign at my subdivision entry. That is after I added a large printed sign beneath it that read, ALL ITEMS ARE FREE.
I sat down on my front porch to see what would happen.
In the next 50-minutes, there was a traffic jam at my sale. There were big and small cars, even a Corvette. Trucks of all sizes and even a motor home stopped by.
I made several observations:
- The magic word is FREE.
- One person’s trash is someone’s treasure. I observed an individual pick up only to lay it down. Immediately someone else grabs the rejected item.
- Some people will take everything they can place in their vehicle.
- I am going to repeat this over-and-over until all the FREE “treasures” are picked up.
If I had to choose between accumulating and eliminating, I would choose to accumulate less and eliminate more.