I’ve been saving this give-away for last because of weather, I couldn’t get anyone to take it, and I had moral qualms about giving it away anyway. You may recognize that the object in the photo was once a baby crib. I have now re-purposed it as a couch. Here’s the story.
All four of our young adults slept in this crib as babies. Being frugal and responsible parents we carefully stored it for the day when we might have a grandchild. When the happy visit of our first grandchild came we energetically cleaned the crib and proudly put it out for the new parents – only to find that times and standards had changed. Duh! We learned that no longer were drop side cribs allowed to be sold in stores. Certainly we didn’t want to risk any baby’s safety, much less our only grandchild, so we researched what the potential safety hazards were for drop side cribs and whether the brand we owned had ever been recalled. Our crib passed on all accounts. Still, we knew that our adult children would never use it.
Plan B was to offer it to several family shelters and churches we were connected with. I wanted to support needy mothers who chose to have their babies. I fully disclosed that drop-side cribs were no longer able to be sold and why. I explained that we put it together ourselves and as long as it wasn’t disassembled and put together by someone else, we felt confident that this crib was safe. All four charities declined the crib. They were probably right to do so, both for moral and liability reasons, but I was still stuck. I hated to just put it out for the trash.
Ah, now that’s an idea. Put it out for the trash on a pleasant evening and maybe someone will come by and pick it up. This, however, didn’t solve the moral issue of my responsibility if they used it for a baby and the baby got hurt. (I thought about putting a warning tag on the crib for any midnight marauders.)
Plan C was then hatched. A friend told me about a friend who transformed baby cribs into love seats. Hmmm. I didn’t want to drive 100 miles to take the crib to this person, but I decided I could re-purpose the crib myself. I took off the drop-side, put a couple large upholstered pillows on the back, and covered the mattress. It’s not fancy, but it’s now clearly a couch, not a crib. I also found out that Viet Vets will pick it up. If that fails, I can always wait for a warm, dry night before garbage day.
PS: Although this is Ash Wednesday and thus I’ve officially been giving things away for a whole year, it’s hard to stop. I keep seeing more possibilities – like that old bike with the flat tire in the garage. I’m going to take a break next week and then will periodically post when I have something worth saying, maybe monthly instead of semi-weekly. Let me know what you think and want.
To balance my last blog about giving our car away (and deciding whether ecology trumps saving money), I thought I’d turn to chocolate. One of our sons gave me a delightful Christmas gift of a box of chocolates delivered once a month. Unfortunately, the third and final installment came right as Lent was starting – and I had given up sweets for Lent. (I know, it’s very “old church” but I also gave up complaining which I figured was very “new church.”) Anyway, I had the chocolates tucked away waiting for Easter when I would carefully ration myself to one a day to make them last almost a month.
