July 27, 2018 archive

The fascinating flow of free stuff from in front of our house

442E4587-C31C-477B-9FB3-9A8187133085“FREE” says the sign pinned to the telephone pole in front of our house. And as we put out items, they usually disappear within a few hours. 

It’s been a fascinating aspect of living where we do in Keene, New Hampshire. We live on a fairly busy cross street, and so a good number of people are driving by. 

And they do stop and take the stuff we put on the street. All of it. 

Maybe it is part of being a college town. Maybe it is the huge number of people we see going to yard sales. Maybe it is Yankee frugality. Maybe it is just human nature. 

But it has been fun - and incredibly useful. Just put it out on the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the road... and wait a bit. 

And ALL sorts of things. Just yesterday I put out two plastic shelving units from our shed that had gas and oil stains. I honestly thought I would be bringing them to the dump... but no, I looked an hour or so later and they were gone. 

I will miss this culture of picking up free stuff. Our new home in Vermont is in a quieter neighborhood with very little traffic... so this won’t work. 

Meanwhile, at least for the next few days, I will keep putting stuff out there... 🙂