I Know All the Best Places

We are on the verge of a major life change here, and before it even happens my day-to-day life is filled with new experiences. I’m now not only spending an inordinate amount of time at liquor stores (source of all the best free boxes), but I can now speak knowledgeably on thrift stores in our area.

          We’re downsizing, and that means purging the extras, the poor shopping decisions, the tchotchkes, and the old and tired longing to be set free. Next come the endless need for boxes, and after that comes somewhere, anywhere, to take those boxes.

          I’ve become quite the connoisseur of thrift stores.

          Our local survival center has always been my first choice for donating used clothing, but I doubt if someone who’s just achieved housing really needs my mother’s framed 1865 Godey fashion prints.

          Big Brothers/Big Sisters will pick up at your house, but I couldn’t get the furniture in our garage on their calendar until July.

          The Salvation Army takes everything as far as I can tell, but the guy I give my boxes to is really grumpy so that’s not my first choice.

          The Goodwill also seems to have few restrictions, but although the gentleman there was very friendly, the unloading area is in a busy strip mall.

          The Lutheran church only takes clothes and must be a preferred spot in town because I had a heck of a time stuffing My Guy’s bag of old boots into its already over-flowing bin, but it’s right down the street - much more convenient than the survival center.

          For trinkets, do-dads, and odd china bits I hit the big Congregational church at the bottom of the hill because they can sell them in their little thrift shop.

          And today I’ll be going to the granddaddy of them all, the town dump recycling center.