Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a child. Not too young, but still the oldest in a family of four offspring plus two parents. We all lived, incredibly, crammed into a single-wide mobile home. You can picture it, lovely white and gold toned, kids and pets crawling all over the place.

As was often necessary, mom did deep cleaning. She had to, in order to keep up with the vast assortment of STUFF that accumulated in our small home. During these times of cleaning (and might I add, my siblings were really not good at keeping track of their belongings, and often stored them on the floor or under the bed or dressers), mom dug out closets, under beds, and behind bureaus. That being said, I was the thrifty type. I also was developing my super organized skills and methods of storing massive amounts of junk. (READ: packrat).

Mom always threatened us. “If you don’t clean it up and put it away, I’m going to through it away.” She was telling the truth. At the last possible moment, just before the dust pan scooped up the garbage stored on the floor by my siblings, I swooped in and rescued trash. I think I may have been one of the pioneers of ‘trash to treasure.’ I pulled out anything that was in good condition, unbroken, cool, or whatever I deemed save-worthy. I transferred my new stash items to my top drawer. Saved from certain garbage burning, I practiced recycling before it became popular to be green.

Occasionally, and my siblings employ much ganging up and coersion to share their twisted side of the story, I opened my top dresser drawer and offered specific collection items for sale (nevermind that it was back to their original owners). Inflation not being what it is today, I charged fair (scavenger rates) prices, ranging from a few pennies to nickels, dimes, or maybe quarters. Great deals, huh? After all, I needed to recoup my time and energy costs. And I had to support my horse. Horses are expensive! It was a win win situation. They got great bargains, I kept the landfill empty of good stuff, and I added the change to my cash flow.

To talk with them, one would think that I stole the stuff and hid it until it was open store time. NOT SO! They are way younger than I am, so they do not remember correctly. I was like a vulture, waiting until mom had her back turned from the pile of soon-to-be-disposed items on the floor, and I played search and rescue. Who can complain about that? I was practicing humanitarian social responsibility plus keep the world green goals.

This is to set the record straight. Back in the dark ages, when I was a kid, I practiced recycling and helping mom keep the garbage can less filled with good stuff. I did not steal the toys and assorted items from my siblings. Really. I believe I even remember a few items being given to me by a brother or sister, and then they wanted them back later. Can’t blame me for wanting to turn a profit. Let’s call it storage unit fees.

So we’re even, right?