The house next door has sold and my neighbors are moving out this weekend. Just by chance, I was out front gardening on both the days that there was an open house, so I actually got to talk to quite a few folks who had walked through. The question that almost everyone asked was how it was to live on my street, which is a busy thoroughfare – in fact, it’s a county road as opposed to a city street.
Everybody got the same answer. I love living on my busy street – it’s easy to get to, easy to get out and around. During the winter, my street is always clear; the plows start early and are consistent. Even when side streets are still snowed in, we can always get out.
The other great thing is that you can get rid of anything by just putting it down on the boulevard. You don’t even have to put a “free” sign on it – if it’s on the boulevard, it’s fair game. Two summers ago, the house across the street was almost gutted and their boulevard was like a second-hand store for three or four weeks. I thought maybe there might be a traffic accident one day because so many people were pulling over to look and grab. Over the years I’ve put out a lot of items and the only thing that never got taken was a mattress (which makes sense) – but the city took it on trash day anyway.
The surprise this week is that someone stopped during the day yesterday and took all the little logs and all but two of the bundles of sticks that YA and I had put on the boulevard after the first day of our “tree adventure”. We didn’t put them out because we thought anybody would want them, but because that’s where they need to be for the city pick-up. But, what the heck – if these little logs and bundles will make somebody’s life better – whoopee.
Of course, I wonder why they didn’t take ALL the bundles. Maybe they didn’t have room in the car? Maybe they have just so much room back home to store the bundles? Maybe there were two of them and they weren’t aligned on whether to take any of them? Hopefully it didn’t start a fight. I also wonder if they’ll come back at some point for the last two. Or will somebody else take them? Maybe I should just put out a table instead of schlepping things to Value Village and GoodWill? I could call it Boulevard Freecycle?
Do you live on a busy or quiet street? Have you ever had a great garage sale?
Trail Baboon 
i live on a busy street in a non busy spot. my street is a connector street that allows tou to get from a busy north south street over to the next busy north south street by using my 1 mile long cut through. the cut through doesnt go all the way through snd you have to take a left for a block and a right for a block to complete your hook up. my house is on the corner where you turn so no one goes by my front door . everyone turns at my house and scoots along the side before either turning again 1 block later or continuing on into the subdivision of homes that is a winding series of curvey roads and beautiful homes that can only be gotten to if youre going there on purpose.
i used to live on interlachen blvd in edina which was also a cut through but much busier. i dis cause traffic jams on that street when i had garage sales every couple years as a sales rep with lots of sample to sell. i had to put up hand written no parking signs to keep people from parking on both sides of the busy 2 lane street and clogging up traffic. i eventually had to move my office from my basement because menards and fleetfarm kept sending returns to my home address instead of my warehouse and it really pissed the neighbors off that trucks were regularly unloding and causing clogs on a smaller but quite regular basis.
the garage sales i had there were epic. total chaos for wednesday thursday friday and saturday with sunday as cleanup day. i always made great money but the wrestling with the cops was an art form. theyd stop to be cetrain id handle traffic in a way that didnt raise hell and they were always satisifed but in a head shaking sort of way.
its probably time for another in this location but id have to truck all the stuff in and then back out again. i guess it would be worth it but im nit up to it this simmer. maybe next year.
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my wife is from chicago and stuff on the curb is the way you pass on your things youre done with. here they have those giant dumpster bags people fill with perfectly good stuff because they dont know what to do with it. i love the curbside mentality. last thing i stopped for was a roof top carrier for your car. too good to pass up but it almost didnt fit in the car
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We are a block from a school so during the school year at dropping-off and picking-up times our street gets busy with parents and school buses. Otherwise it’s quiet, as it’s a block off a main thoroughfare. Only occasionally does something “free” get put out on the boulevard. Because we have an alley, anything deemed junk usually gets put there. If it has significant metal content it often gets scavenged before the city pickup.
The only time we’ve had a garage sale is when we could join others in a collaborative sale. Otherwise it’s not worth wasting a day to sit out with your stuff.
I have been to some memorable estate sales, though, like the one where I found my 1904 film negatives of a trip through Europe and the one at Brenda Ueland’s house where I discovered a hidden sheaf of lithographs drawn and signed by Fritjof Nansen. I couldn’t buy them, of course. They hadn’t been evaluated and priced and I wouldn’t have been able to afford them.
There have been several instances where I have been able to pick up potentially valuable books for next to nothing—they become valuable if and when I sell them. You can never predict which estate sales will be worthwhile, though. Often as not they are disappointing.
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Yes, estate and garage sales are very iffy – it’s like gambling – you have to go to a lot of ‘dogs’, but once in while you hit the jackpot.
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I have a friend who treats garage sale-ing almost like a religion. In particular, she looks for small vases, which she uses to bring flowers as a hostess gift. The other thing she looks for are vintage cookbooks which she uses as prizes at her twice a year soup swap.
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For a while, Robin’s most-sought item was small Lane cedar boxes. In the style of miniature hope chests, they were given to high school girls as a promotion for the larger Lane chests. They were made in a variety of styles, making them collectible now. But Robin uses them primarily to store miscellaneous small items and notions and occasionally she will gift one as a container for the present inside. She has, at this point, a sufficiency of Lane boxes and no longer seeks them as avidly.
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How small are they? (I may have seen them, but I forget.)
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Without measuring (or going up to look at one), I’d say about 4” x 8” x 3”— the size of a brick.
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Ours is a relatively quiet street, but I used to be able to leave something on the boulevard and have it disappear. I’ve wrecked that by turning the boulevard in to flowers/weeds.
I would leave zucchini out on a table by the sidewalk, though, and have takers last summer.
I did have a garage sale back in the 90s. WOW they are a lot of work, and the return is hardly worth it unless you have big-ticket items that are pretty sure to move. Also had a yard sale back in ’85 before we left Winona for Mpls, and we got rid of our old piano, so that was worth it!
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Branch bundle update. Overnight somebody took the last two bundles!!
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Our street is pretty quiet. We are a block from the Catholic Middle School/High School, but yey take other routes to arrive and depart.
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Congrats on the removal of the branches, VS!
I’ve been thinking about your post yesterday, and I think you’re either very brave or completely crazy to go up on your roof to cut those branches. I agree with tim and Bill about notching the tree and felling it toward the street. I know it will have to fall on some of your perennials though.
I live in a fairly busy area. Jefferson Road is a main thoroughfare going north to south in the south end of town. It connects with County Road 1, which is a county highway, and a short cut for truckers. County Road 1 is noisy at certain times of the day, like between 7 and 9 a.m., and after 3 p.m. until around 7. I’m used to it now and it doesn’t bother me. The loudest things are farm equipment and trucks using their engine brakes. Jefferson Road can be noisy once in a while, but not too often.
People put things on the boulevard of Jefferson Road. Unfortunately it’s often just junk and nobody stops to pick it up. There has been some complaining about this practice in the community, because people don’t always return and remove the things they put there if no one takes it. The City had to send a crew in a few cases and remove the junk. There have been sofas, chairs, and mattresses left in the rain for a couple of weeks. Obviously nobody wants these and whoever put it there never returned to remove it.
We have a Buy Nothing Northfield facebook group which is very nice if people cooperate with the rules. If you have an item that is curb worthy, you can post it on this site with the word “Give:” and then describe your item and include one photo. People comment that they’re interested, and after a few days, you choose someone to give it to. They are responsible then to come and pick the item up. All kinds of stuff have been given. I just got a serviceable little dresser that needs some cleaning up and a coat of paint from the Buy Nothing site. I guess it’s like Freecycle.
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With the somewhat transient nature of students and faculty from the colleges, Northfield at the end of the school year is renowned for the sorts of items one can find on the curb.
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True.
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I used to live on Hwy 61 on the North Shore. After awhile your mind just blocks out the sound.
My apartment building is on a dead end that leads to lots of places for people to live. That street leads to a not very busy street which leads to a very busy street and getting busier. Two new major businesses are in development and two more lots in the corn fields are marked as sold. I live on the back side but a little more than a block from me is one of the busiest roads in the city. Air ambulances fly right over head. A thick woods stands between me and the street, making my patio quieter in the summer. In theory I am leaving this in a few months.
Clyde
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I think you’re near Madison and Victoria Drive, aren’t you?
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Nooooooo!
I’m trying to show a possible Fossil I found.
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That is funny, tho’. : )
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Dump Your Junk, Baboons,
I live on a quiet street that I enjoy a great deal. We get noise from a nearby police and fire station, but that is not often and not so close that it feels like an assault. One of the noisiest things we experience is WWII era airplanes that fly over in formation as part of an Air Museum at the Flying Cloud Airport when they demonstrate the planes. No bombs, though.
I decided many years ago that garage sales are not for me. They are a lot of work and it is not work that I enjoy. I will participate in garage sales for charity or non-profit institutions, though. As a group those can be fun. Years ago the church I attended had a very large one that made lots of money for programs. It was days long, and wouldn’t you know, someone had a funeral in the middle of it, so everything had to be taken down, then re-assembled. Ugh. On the last day everything was half price, then $1 per grocery bag at the end. On that day the customers were obviously very poor. It was amazing what they could get into one of those bags–sheets and towels rolled, clothing densely folded, dishware nested together and all in the bag. At the end of the day we looked up to determine the time and when to close the sale. The clock on the wall had been stolen and stuffed into one of those bags. Gone.
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Jacanon today
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Here’s one for you. I got in the mail a check from my former internet provider, the ridiculous intricacies of why I won’t bother to explain. The check is written to Sandra and me. My bank will not cash it. They accept my power of attorney signature for her. BUT I opened accounts there after she went into care. Her name is not on the checking or savings account. They won’t cash the check because everyone to whom the check is written has to be on an account for them to cash the check.
I will go back next week when I have the time to talk to someone further up the money chain.
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I know 3 people higher in authority at the bank. One of them called me to say to bring it back and on her authority they would cash it.
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…when it’s good to know people in high places…
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If I left something at the end of my road, the neighbors would probably bring it back to me and tell me it was sitting at the end of the road…
Never had a garage sale myself. Our driveway is not conducive to a lot of traffic coming and going.
But one of the theaters downtown is on a busy street and I put a lot of stuff out there for it to disappear. sometimes I take it around the corner to a little bit less busy street because I feel like the people over there could use it more. The only thing they didn’t take was a table full of wood trim and a cabinet. Eventually I had to dispose of it myself.
I end up picking up a lot of Township garbage. If you’re gonna dump stuff in the ditch, at least leave it in the bags and place it nicely. Don’t scatter it out over 200 yards.
We used to say when the deer were alive they belong to the DNR. When they’re dead they belong to the Township. But now with the threat of CWD, chronic wasting disease, we are not allowed to transport them. You can drag it off the road, But you can’t move it anywhere. I’m OK with that, at least it hasn’t died in my front yard…
There’s even stories that someone will put a table outside to paint it and when they come back an hour later it’s gone.
It’s always amazing what people will take.
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I live on a cul de sac in the northern St. Paul suburbs, just a block in from a thoroughfare. My street is rarely busy and even the thoroughfare is only busy when people are going to and coming home from work. Large trucks are a rarity.
I helped a good friend with a garage sale many years ago and quickly learned that I will never have one. Too much work for too little return. Already this month I have walked past quite a few neighborhood garage sales. My goal is to get rid of stuff, not collect it anymore so it is easy to just walk past them.
People around here do put items out on the curb (myself included) and it usually gets picked up within a day or two.
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Yep, the trick with garage sales is pricing things too high – it meant something to you, but if you really want it to leave, it has to be almost free.
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The most successful garage sale my family ever had was due to the sale of an item that wasn’t even out. A fellow came in and asked if we had any jewelry. We didn’t, except for some kind of trendy stuff my nieces were selling. What he was looking for, it turned out, was metal for the meltdown value. My sister asked if he was interested in my mother’s silverware, which hadn’t been used for at least six or seven decades and was packed away in my sister’s basement. She went inside and dug it out for him to look at,and he weighed it and offered eight hundred dollars. We were pretty happy to get that much – the silverware didn’t really have any sentimental value and wasn’t doing anyone any good languishing in the basement.
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