Nothing's For Free!

My Hubby and I did some spring cleaning right before the Easter holidays. We figured we'd post our findings on a buy and sell website and see what we could get! It wasn't like we asked for unreasonable amounts of money in exchange for our goods but when it was all said and done, I think we sold two single items of clothing! I kept re posting the stuff hoping that someone would see it and take it off of our hands. Thank goodness my Husband is on paternity leave or all the time I spent working on the stupid ads would have been wasted time! Finally after a few weeks of re posting and receiving not a single response, I gave up and decided to give everything away for free! That saying came to my mind... "Nothing in life is free", so true!

With all the unusual responses we got, the stories that were meant to persuade and the sheer volume of calls/e-mails I really don't know if I'd consider going through the whole process again! Our free ride of getting rid of all the stuff that we no longer needed combined with not having to take it out of the house ourselves, ended up being quite a headache. I posted the items at about 9pm one evening with specific instructions not to call after 8pm thinking "you wake my kids up and you'll not only walk away without a single thing but I'll kill you too." However I knew that first thing the next morning it would be a circus with phone calls and people coming to visit. Sure enough a lady called first thing in the morning and offered to relieve us of all the (lots of) men's/women's clothing that we had. In the meantime another women called and offered to pick up some baby stuff that we had and said if we had men's clothing to give away she'd possibly take some for her teenage sons. Fair enough. She then tells my husband how she has SIX kids and is pregnant with her seventh! Apparently like us they are trying for a girl and well, as you can imagine haven't quite hit the jackpot yet! So before woman #1 shows up to pick up the clothing I figure we'll set aside some of the random men's clothing that weren't part of the lot, so she could have them. Both women showed up and took their share of stuff but "seven kid Momma" didn't take any of the clothing for her boys. Then there was a break in calls and I thought it was a little weird that more people weren't biting. It was that afternoon that I checked my e-mail and realized why exactly people weren't calling... Forty-five e-mails in total! Everything from "Is this a joke, are the items really for free?" to "Give me your address and I'll be there today!" What annoyed me was that I had put my phone number in the ad but they expected I'd go through the trouble of answering their e-mails anyway. And I did. One by one until they were all answered and deleted, I went through every single one of those letters! I can't even start to tell you the things I read. One woman was a divorced mother of three and could really use the clothes for her kids (by that time they were already gone) and hoped that I would save them for her until she "could find the time to come and pick them up". Another woman was disabled and had a teenage daughter who would love the clothes but could I please deliver them to her house??? I tried to remain sympathetic but with all the stories, I was getting a little leery of all the tales of poverty and misfortune. In the back of my head I kept wondering if it was all just a gimmick. Needless to say I didn't actually deliver any of our stuff to people who requested that it be brought to their house, I figure if you are really in need then you will find a way to get what you need. That's what I would do if I was in that situation. The topping on the cake so to say was a phone call I received from a lady who sounded like she has toked a little too much of something. She apologized for "not being able to help me out and take the stuff off my hands" because we didn't have the lot of women's clothes that she had so badly wanted. I giggled to myself because I'm telling you when you give stuff away for free, it's like letting the floodgates open and the last thing you have to worry about is still being left with items in the end! For the next time we decide to do something as stupid as letting ourselves be trampled on by the general public, I have learned a few important lessons:

1. Don't trust everything someone tells you. A lesson explained to me by my Mother who had the same sort of experience with a lady that ended up re posting all the items on a similar site later on. (Sorry to those of you who are actually genuine, the people who are just trying to get a free ride ruin it.)
2. Don't post numerous things for free at the same time. You don't have a clue what people are calling for and when you ask them what item they want, they can't seem to comprehend that there might be more than one to give away...
3. Take everything with a grain of salt. If the person who wants the item delivered no longer takes it because you refuse to deliver it, just disregard their ignorance. Most of us understand that it's rude to ask too much of a stranger!
4. Make firm guidelines and stick to them! If someone tries to walk all over you, just simply tell them "no"! You don't know these people and they have to learn an important lesson in life: "You Can't Always Get What You Want!" (Thank you Rolling Stones, a valuable lesson to be learned in life!)