Free Sale

This past Saturday a few friends and I had a free sale. Kinda like a yard sale but everything was free.
Why?
Why not?
Two friends are in the precess of selling their house and moving and are just at the point where they just want it gone. I suggested the idea of a free sale, I've gone to a few and held my own in Seattle before we moved cross country. I'm a girl who loves to purge, any excuse to clear out some stuff (especially toys) before my kids' summer birthdays. We posted the sale with a short list of some of the items on every message board we each belonged to. Freecycle, Moms groups, community news based groups etc. We posted a few signs around the neighborhood as well. In the emails we clearly mentioned we would not hold items for anyone and that we would not tolerate early birds. My friend and I both share a love of organizing so we made sure to organize all the items into clusters of stuff. Electronics, kitchen items, books, games, outdoor/sports, and toys. This was a huge help in making items easy for people to find and take it out of the house. The sale began at 9am and we had a line waiting at the front door when we opened it. Quickly the house was filled with folks. I was pleasantly surprised how kind and appreciative people were. Everyone thanked us profusely and there were even moments when people were trading items or giving up something to give to someone else who had a stronger desire for it. I kinda had a vision in my head of those parents fighting over Cabbage Patch Dolls in the aisles of toys stores back in the 80's. Do ya'll remember that? Check out this video for a fashback.
Within 2 hours the house was wiped out. It was a lot of fun and we met some cool folks. So if you don't have the energy to do a yard sale, price items, set it up, tear it down etc... Or if you think you don't have items that people would pay for...Instead hold a "Free Sale"! You'd be surprised what people will take when it's free. Hot pink ankle weights anyone?!?!
A free sale is a lot less work and honestly at the end of the day you feel really good about doing it.