Wisdom from The Action Wisdom In Action

MY Universal Destination of Goods

No, it's not a landfill. Instead of the priest-advocated and church-sanctioned stealing, why not just take what others are throwing away? I'm sitting on a carport full of next year's wood just for the asking, because someone else was throwing it away.

Most of my clothing and linens are stuff people left behind in laundromats, in the laundry room trash can, and/or in the dumpster at my old apartment. I haven't bought a washcloth in years, yet I have quite a pile of them.

Most of my furniture is cast-offs found on the street (fixed up, of course), parked outside the apartment dumpster, or stuff left behind from evictions.

That dumpster also very thoughtfully provided me with enough charitable donations (in the form of stuff others could use) to write off against some taxes--mostly baby stuff, kids' stuff, and clothes that didn't fit me or Hubby. Two clean double strollers, a high chair, and a fur-lined leather coat were my biggest finds, and the thrift store I donated them to was happy to receive them, along with all the other treasures I brought in.

I'm sure it's the same for other frugalites. There's no need to steal anything if you just ask, or just look in the right places. Ah, but then there's the mentality...what are people stealing? Where are they spending the money they make? Nine time out of 10 it's misallocated into computer bling, car bling, ear bling, nail bling, or cellphone bling when it should be spent on decent food, housing, and utilities.

Decadence causes it's own deprivation in the end (witness Congress). I've since turned my operations over to a budding millionaire-wannabe that works around the corner from the apartment complex--he got his Christmas presents from the same dumpster this year. He also checked the overflowing holiday aftermath that usually occurs over there.

His own useful-to-someone-else overflow is being sold on E-bay, courtesy of his father-in-law.

Happy Holidays in the Winter of Our Discontent (or rather, dis-content).

Posted by Cute at 11:07 PM

Labels: social issues