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Every spring, I’m reminded of the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle. And not because of Earth Day.

It’s all the garage sales.

For those of us who live in the country, spring offers amazing opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle, right in our back yards.

Literally.

I have numerous friends who achieve HGTVesque looks for their homes by shopping garage sales.  I tell myself every year that I need to master that skill, though thus far it eludes me.  And I haven’t had much success holding a garage sale myself, either. 

In fact, my kids like to remind me, the only item I ever sold at a garage sale was a scooter, which they wanted back about an hour later.  The quarter the lucky buyer gave us for it was no consolation.

When we moved to the farmette, we were told our small town sponsors an annual “get rid of your junk” fest… which, at the time, was really more of a swap meet/flea market.  People brought their large items to a central location – refrigerators, beds, lawn tools, and more — and before officials could dispose of everything, people would pick over the items to see if there was anything they could use. 

My friend told me she once borrowed a large truck one year to take a load over, and there were people waiting in line as she heaved her junk into the pile.

Soon after we moved, officials decided to city-fy the event.  They moved it to a different location and posted a guard. 

Which turned out to be a big help to us.  Because we’ve had our own version of the event at the farmette.

In buying our old farmhouse, I felt strongly that we were contributing to the re-use effort.  Why purchase a new home, when we can preserve what is already here?  Of course, we spent the first 12 months in the house replacing items that we thought were beyond repair.  Funny thing is, others apparently thought differently.

It started with a storm door we replaced.  We set it out on the curb on garbage day.  At 7 a.m., we heard a knock at the door.   A gentleman asked if he could have the door for his chicken coop. 

Um, yeah.  Sure.  Of course. 

The next week, we replaced a toilet, and an individual we can refer to as “Pat,” stopped her/his pickup truck at the edge of the drive and asked if we were getting rid of it.  It was just what she/he needed.  (Which begged some questions that I really didn’t want answers to.)

And so it went with just about anything we set out.  In fact, I got tired of the early morning interruptions, so I posted a sign:  “free to anyone.”  Never failed, whatever we set out disappeared before the garbage truck ever came by.

And it got better.  A contractor came by to talk about some foundation work.  He really liked the wood stove that was taking up more than half the kitchen.  

And that’s when I learned to barter.

While talking to a painter about refinishing the kitchen cabinets, I saw him look lustfully at the hot tub perched on the upper deck.  Interested?  He sure was.  All we asked is that he figure out how to move it.  (We threw in the colony of tree frogs that had taken up residence inside the tub, no extra charge.)

Ugly metal shed in the middle of the yard?  Disassembled and relocated by the guy who also installed our hardwood floors at a deep discount.

Obviously, my children were taking notes.

A couple summers ago, I determined to get rid of the 70s-style iron wheels that a previous owner had installed to adorn the driveway entrance. 

Really, they were just so darn ugly. 

My husband was not on board with the project, so I decided to take care of it while he was away.  In fact, I placed a bet with one of my kids that it would take him at least a week to notice.

My older daughter happened to be home the day someone stopped by to ask how much we wanted for the items.  Speechless, she took the lady’s number and called me to find out. 

This was a first.  Someone actually wanted to give us cash for our junk. 

“How much do you give Dad toward your car insurance?” I asked my daughter.

“$20.” 

Sold.