Land of the Free

Since Portlanders are largely hip to recycling, a common way to dispose of unwanted things is...The Free Box. The Free Box is the best thing in the world. Cleaning out your garage, and don't want to lug it all to Goodwill? Put it all on the curb, slap a "Free" sign on it, and it'll be gone by nightfall. Scrap metal? It'll go so fast you'll hear a sonic boom. Clothes? Half my wardrobe was free. Housewares? Fully two thirds of our furniture, most of our plates and cups, most of our knicknacks...all free. And when we have things to get rid of? They immediately go in a Free Box. 

Give to the Free Box, and ye shall receive from the Free Box. It's all about karma. I take my Free Box karma very seriously. I've fed it well, and been well compensated in return. 

So, given that it's the beginning of the month and people are moving, and it's sunny outside and people are cleaning out, the pickings lately have been extremely good.

For instance, our amazing Craigslist discovery last week:

It's a scavenger's paradise!

Craigslist is a brilliant invention. Someone wants to get rid of things? I want to acquire things. And last week, I was looking for...things...and I stumbled upon a listing for salvage wood. The owner of this house, built in 1893, is doing a major renovation, and had a huge pile of lumber that was up for grabs. We happen to need some salvage tongue and groove fir flooring, so our contractor won't have to use new fir when he patches our downstairs floors. Since our Free Box karma was sufficiently high, we found more than enough usable pieces, as well as a few chunks of cool old-growth beams and 2x4 sections that will surely come in handy for something. 

Among the debris was also remnants of the original fabric wallpaper, but it was too crunchy and fragile to save.

A couple days later, I even found a fantastic old dresser. (No picture. I, um, forgot I was supposed to be blogging.)

And finally, I met Jesse at the house last night, and he'd gotten me a present on his way over:

Where's the beef? Oh, right, it's...not free.

Ah, the Free Box. We will have to donate generously during our move to repay all this wonderful bounty.