While we have already had a few summery days, spring is still in the air, the garage, and the storage sheds. It is spring cleaning season. Getting rid of stuff you don't use anymore - or maybe ever did - is the perfect way to keep something new from being manufactured.
And carefully curating your giving or selling can help assure that your unused product ends up in the right hands - the hands of someone who will use it.
Rule number one. The garbage can is the last place you want to put anything. The old adage of one person's trash being another's treasure has never been more true. Of course St Vinnies, Goodwill, and Assistance League want a lot, and put it to good use, but lumber and tools should head to BRING or Habitat, art supplies to Mecca, pet supplies to Geenhill or S.A.R.A.'s treasures - the list of organizations goes on, and you will find more as you search the net.
But another fun way to get your cast offs to people who really want them is person to person. Of course you can sell things on the internet and it makes sense to sell or buy many things. The free sign on an item at the curb is not technically legal, so I can't suggest it- although you will be surprised by what disappears. But you can give stuff to people via next door, freecycle, craigslist, Facebook marketplace, and other sites. I have passed on everything from an old kiddy pool to bathroom tiles, and picked up firewood, a kids tricycle and some giant plywood flower petals - that I still own, but haven't used - yet.
Person to person, you get to meet the folks who are giving and receiving - at an intermediary location if you choose, and sense their joy when they see what they have received - oh my gosh, giant plywood flower petals - I can't thank you enough.
