Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Sharing & happiness

Just a few thoughts on how much I'm enjoying sharing right now, & how much positive energy it brings into your life. Despite all of the chaos of the day to day, it really cheers me up & makes me happy. A few recent examples. 


Buy Nothing Group:

  • I've been giving a ton of stuff away on Buy Nothing, and it feels so nice to make someone else happy, provide utility to others, and get stuff we don't need out of our house. I feel like I'm really on top of decluttering, but there's always more. I swear that stuff multiplies. Pool toys, goggles, snorkel gear, swim trunks & shirts, hoodies, soccer gear, food we won't eat, etc. 
  • On the reverse side, I was able to pick up two P.E. uniforms from a mom I'd never met, who lives two blocks away. She didn't want them to go to waste (hear, hear) & I would have had to buy them for the boys .I'll probably end up buying them each one extra set, because...laundry. But, we kept useful items in circulation, instead of in a junk pile.

Food sharing:
  • Those of you who have grown zucchini before can sympathize with my plight. There are SO MANY. And, we're heading out of town on vacation soon, and won't be here to eat lots of zucchini. I've been giving these away left & right. Friends, neighbors, strangers picking up stuff on my porch from Buy Nothing, etc. (All with permission, of course.) Not as many people garden in my neighborhood, so people are thrilled to have the free fresh produce.
  • On the flip side, sharing begets more sharing. Two neighbors who took zucchini dropped off items for us (unexpectedly). One was a Persian yogurt dish M hadn't had since childhood. Another dropped off fresh lemons. What a treat. 

Time/expertise sharing:
  • I helped out with reviewing a project for the non-profit I volunteer for, which should help accelerate the program. It feels great that, what takes me not much time, is a skill someone else really needs right now. 
  • Likewise, I'm volunteering with a few groups at work: new interns, mentoring through a diversity program, etc. It's so much fun to be able to answer questions & help direct people when they are overwhelmed, or need guidance. 

I'd love to hear any examples of sharing & happiness from you! We all need more positives in our lives. 

14 comments:

  1. Awesome! I've been decluttering my storage room and putting things out at the curb with a free sign and making trips to donate anything that isn't taken by the end of the day. I live on a fairly busy road so it works out well.

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    1. Excellent! I love it when I can walk by & see what fun things neighbors have out. It makes my walks feel like a scavenger hunt.

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  2. Hear, hear! Paying it forward is just the best. Two recent examples: 1) Received a Dairy Queen gift card from an organization where I volunteer. After we made our purchase, the card still had $5 remaining so I turned to the person behind me in line and gave it to them to enjoy the rest. 2) At Aldi, after returning a stray cart for 25 cents, a man asked if I had change for a dollar so he could rent a cart. I gave him the quarter.

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    1. Love these! Tiny things in your life, but likely made someone else so happy.

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  3. Since I can't be bothered to list things on a site to sell, I give things away all the time. I either ask around, or donate to my favorite thrift shop, whose profits go to the local food bank. Funny story: Earlier in the year, eldest and I were prowling around said store when we saw the dining room set we had the shop pick up from our house earlier in the week. (We bought it second hand years ago, and, while it served us well, last summer, I found EXACTLY what I had been spent years looking for in the very same shop.) We would have gotten the old one out of my garage and to the shop earlier, but COVID halted their truck service. As son and I were chuckling, another customer came up and said "Oh, we just bought that, sorry, but isn't it gorgeous!" I liked the set o.k., but was never overjoyed, as they were. They made us laugh, they were so excited! My entire family is overjoyed with the one with which I replaced it, though, so win/win.
    When we moved here, I treated myself to two new recliners--leather, mission style, very similar to the fabric ones I was replacing. One fabric one, which had more wear, went to aforementioned thrift shop, (where it sold as we were carrying it in) but eldest asked if he could show the other to his best friend's mother, since she had just painted a room. Of course I agreed, so off he drove with the chair. He returned with no chair, a big smile, saying LOVED the chair, and had to call her husband and send him pictures of it.
    The best feeling, though, is from Girl. She stayed her for almost 6 months, while her mother worked out a plan. (In fact, she was the only one home when Son and I pulled up with the new dining room table, and she couldn't spring to action fast enough to help unload.) I hadn't given her stay much thought, actually. The day after Mother's Day, however, Girl phoned and said she just wanted to tell me how much she appreciated me. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Seriously, though, her presence in our home in the height of the lonely COVID summer was actually an elixir for my kids, particularly DD.
    Finally, though I don't always enjoy it, I almost never say "no" to watching the elementary school girl next door. (Somehow, our school district, in its infinite wisdom, put her and her h.s. brothers on separate hybrid days. When mother IMMEDIATELY brought mistake to their attention, she was told they couldn't change the schedules.) I would never accept payments, but I find things like shepherd's hooks for hummingbird feeders, and dish towels on my porch all the time, with "nobody" seeming to know where they came from.

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    1. These made me so happy to read! Thanks for sharing. I love to hear particularly, about your daughter. It says a lot about your family that she feels that way, and your relationship. So, so lovely!

      My 15 y.o. thanked me for something (which, frankly, is rare) & it also made me very happy. It was a minor thing, but just hearing the words is nice.

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    2. Girl isn't my daughter, Girl is the "girl" who is my daughter's best friend, who had to live her for 6 months or so, as her mother was in a bad, bad place.

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    3. How lovely that you've opened your home to your daughter's best friend. My BFF through elementary & middle school had a pretty terrible home life. She lived with us off and on at a variety of times, and upon reflection, I think about how amazing my parents were about it. They never made it into a big deal, they just integrated her into our lives with no questions asked.

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  4. OUr garden and chickens should be going full tilt in a couple of weeks and beleive me we will be sharing, with neighbors, kids, friends .

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    1. A road side stand would do well here, because so few people garden. I'm guessing that's not the case in your area. Otherwise, you could put your husband to work with his stand. ;-)

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  5. I told all of our neighbors last year to make sure their car windows were opened when they drove by or I was apt to toss zucchini into the car. I gave away so much because we could only eat it so many days in a row.
    I am a huge fan of the buy nothing group around here and have about 5 things I need to list right away.

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    1. Remember to offer your Buy Nothing group squash & zucchini with their pickup. People have been very excited with my offers, and have thanked me. It's a special treat for those who don't have a glut of it at home!

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  6. Hopefully the garden will be producing very soon and I will be busy giving away cucumbers, beans and tomatoes....Perhaps even onions this year.

    I need to find our Free site and put a few things on it. Setting things by the curb just does not work on my quiet street.

    God bless.

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    1. Yes! Giving away produce is such a lovely feeling.

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