We Give Away

When I was growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, I remember my parents when they replaced something (not including automobiles), they would give that item away to a needy family as identified by members of the Methodist Church to which they belonged.

In my first marriage that lasted for 23 years, I was never in a position to give anything away because everything we purchased stayed with us until we divorced although like our parents we would trade in our old vehicles for new ones.

During my second marriage, I never purchased a new vehicle only vehicles that were a year old and had been leased.   While families around us had yard sells to make money off of items they were replacing or no longer using or needed, my wife and I gave those items away and never sold anything.

Although my wife did participate in yard sales but the items she brought for sale, if all were purchased, she would make less than $10.  She was there mainly for the conversation of being with friends and neighbors.

We have given away living room suites, kitchen tables, refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, riding lawn mowers, 50 inch televisions, and dish washers to name a few either to people we knew that had a need or we called Habitat for Humanity and gave it to them.

Did we need the money?   Not really...

Could we have used the extra money?   Yes...

We just thought it was better to help people that were worse off than us.  And with that said, my wife and I for the last 30 years of being together have been in the lower middle class...  which means we are well off but not that well off.

When we give it away are we trying to be GOOD CHRISTIANS?  No...  not really...

We are trying to be good neighbors...

Are we expecting to get paid back somehow some way?  No...

We are not against people having yard sells we just see our purpose in this life a little differently.