Pride

This will be brief, because life in Covid times with an unvaccinated toddler in daycare and two parents working outside the house (a house that needs lots of work) leaves little time for much else. But I digress. Some number of years ago, I wrote about all the things I was so glad my mom wasn’t here to see. The former President and gun violence remain tops on that list. This year though, I’m here to tell you about something Queen Jean would have fucking l-o-v-e-d. She would’ve loved it so much that she would have likely founded the neighborhood group. 2 words for you…

Buy Nothing. 

Call me a trendsetter, but I’ve been a big Buy Nothing fan for years now. Really just since we've moved to Seattle...but who's counting? It seems the rest of the world has recently caught on (New York Times article). When I say my mom would have loved Buy Nothing, I mean it with every ounce of my being. If you don’t read the NYT article, the gist of Buy Nothing is, “give where you live” (via a neighborhood specific Facebook group). People post pictures of things they want to get rid of, people comment if they’re interested, and you arrange a “porch pick up” where someone will come take your unwanted items. Recently, we’ve given away stacks of old pavers from our backyard, a duvet cover, and a towel rod, to name a few. The cool thing is the amount of good that can come out of Buy Nothing groups. People donating items to shelters and organizing single drop offs at one person’s house, people collecting brown paper bags to take to food pantries (remember during the first months of Covid when we couldn’t take reusable bags to the grocery store and people had hundreds of paper grocery bags?), and people in need asking for items they need (e.g., the foster family in need of immediate baby items). This is one slice of incredible on a social media platform that has a lot of un-incredible things happening. 

If you knew my mom, I likely don’t need to get into a ton of detail here about why she would’ve loved Buy Nothing. But to remind you…she was up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays to go to yard sales. She was so into yard sales that other people would tell her what they were looking for and she would go to yard sales for them. She was basically a yard sale personal shopper. She was also very into getting a good deal. The excitement of a good deal from a yard sale was what kept her circling those newspaper ads, plotting her route, and always debating how early was too early to be outside of someone else's house. 

There were truly so many yard sale gems from my mom….the $1 prom dress she got me was always her biggest source of yard sale pride. But a close second was the vintage Electrolux vacuum. News to me, but I guess Electrolux vacuums were cutting edge? My mom already had an Electrolux for our house, so the one she found at a yard sale was an “extra,” which made it's way to one of my first apartments in college. While once 'cutting edge,' it is still just a vacuum, so one would assume that using it was self explanatory. The directions below (one of my favorite keepsakes from my mom because of the laughs it brings me) tell a different story.

WHY did she buy this vacuum? Likely because it was priced as a steal and she knew it was a once trendy vintage item. So you can only imagine how much shit she would've collected had Buy Nothing been a thing 11+ years ago.

Buy Nothing and my mom are on my mind a lot. Mainly because every item I snag, or get rid of, has me knowing that my mom would feel some sense of that original yard sale pride. I've had some really great Buy Nothing finds, all from very generous neighbors- a rain suit for Anna, far too many toys, a kids book titled "Goodnight Vermont" and many, many more. My best, most treasured find came about a month a half ago-

I mean, incredible, right?! The original owner of this chair is now a teenager and her mom was "having a hard time letting go." She was thrilled it was going to another Anna. My Anna could care less about this chair, which just makes me thrilled I didn't buy it for her.

In honor of the Queen, check out your local Buy Nothing group. Don't have one? Do what the Queen probably would have done and start your own. Or, stop by the next time you see a sign for a yard sale.