…interesting word; ‘bartering’. Never heard it before.

We are desperately trying to sell cartons of my Mom’s belonging. The items range from chandeliers, Persian rugs, fine porcelain to precious costume jewellery. They are much too valuable to throw away. At the same time, we aren’t looking to make big money here either. Where are all the people looking for bargains?

I have put all her appliances, including a washer and dryer in EBAY, where the bidding starts at 1 Euro, or one dollar. No responses! Not one! We finally sold her beautiful couch for 15 Euros. She has an elegant English dining room...I put it in for 300 Euro...it's worth about 15,000€. No responses. Her single bed with the electric motor to adjust the foot and head area was expensive. We can’t give it away! No one wants her TV sets. They even have expensive holders to monitor on the wall.

We have at least 12 cartons of flee market articles, we would love to give to anyone looking for such items.! Not one call came in from the newspaper advertisement.

The salvation army took only some of my mother’s clothes. The rest weren’t fashionable enough? Whaaat? I am forced to throw out her leather pocketbooks, some never used...the list goes on and on.

I have also contacted organizations that bring goods to poor countries. They are overloaded with stuff, and don't need anything at the moment. Can you believe it?

We live in a throw away society. I can’t understand this. I would have been pleased as punch to receive some of these items as a young mother, struggling with every penny.

So although I know many people are trying to make ends meet, and bartering sounds like an ideal solution, I don’t understand where the people are when we want to ‘give’ them something. Maybe they don’t check Ebay or buy the newspaper? I don’t know,…but still, there are ways to do that for free.

Our world lives in overabundance it seems. And many young people are filled up in their apartments with things from their relatives. My own sons don't have any more room. I think that is a reason as well.