As for “charging admission”, aside from a way of recovering some cost in line with good asset stewardship, it restores “equality” to the event. I sensed in a couple of friends reluctance to just come and take without a chance to give.

As I was decluttering I found a dozen swanky laundry bags I have taken from from stays at five star hotels. I will give them to everyone on arrival as their “book bag”.

True! We have found a few thrift stores where you can find very nice solidly-made (none of this compressed wood type) for a lot cheaper than new. Quality is important. My mom’s had the same washer for 25 years, never once has it broken down. Same with the solid-wood armoires and bookcases that my uncle has made for us (wedding gift for my parents, still in optimal shape).

I’d rather pay for something that’s going to last, even if it’s slightly more expensive now (though you may find them cheaper in thrift stores), than for disposable furniture.

What bothers me most about this used item affair is the absolute waste that goes on. Someone may go to a furniture store to buy a Queen Anne bed and pay upwards of $1500 for it, when there are plenty of used ones which are actually made of good solid hardwood sitting in used shops. These have no cheap materials, and simply need repair and refinish. I suppose we get into the economy of time, effort, research, and rebuild, which most folks won’t deal with.
I always liked to say that I could furnish a one bedroom apartment out of junk shop furniture for less than $250.00, and you would think that apartment could be featured in “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine.
Recently I thought of replacing a wardrobe chest that was inherited from my parents. The closest match I could find in a furniture store would cost $749.95, and on inspection it was made with a LOT of particle board support pieces. The old wardrobe chest was solid Maple with NO cheap materials. A couple days, a sander, a can of stain and new knobs, and I would not trade the redone chest for any new one I could find!!! So I feel I made $749.95 in two days, got a much better product, enjoyed what I did, and the materials cost was less than $15.00.

Went through my 70 ties, and found 30 to give away to staff. Going through the “collectibles”. I make gift baskets each year at Christmas so lots can be recycled here.

Clothes not worn in a year will be sent to Gaza.

This feels BTW very energizing. Thanks for the inspiration

My grandfather was famous for putting a lot of stuff he wanted to get rid of in a box with one or two good things on top and selling the whole thing for 2$ at a yard sale. He would say people were paying him to haul away his junk!

By the way, it’s very depressing what you say about not being able to give away furniture in CA. It’s just gross that it has gotten so wasteful. . .

What I do is hold your typical garage/yard sale, or to sell things on Craigslist. I try to do this whenever I buy something new (say, we just bought a new dryer–our first actually, because air-drying doesn’t work so well during winter–so I try to sell as much as I can of stuff I don’t need/want anymore to cover some of the cost).

If I find stuff for free or I get second-hand gifts from family that I don’t really need, I sell them, too. I just sold a whole box of VHS movies that an aunt gave us. I didn’t need them, we don’t even have a a VCR. Same thing with hand-me-down furniture we’ve gotten. It’s all money.