Don't Throw Me Away

By Sarah Hinze

There’s nothing I love more then a bargain. I mean, a hallelujah-call your best friend bargain or in my case, a call-my-daughter bargain. My daughter, Laura and I aren’t just thrifty shoppers; we’re down and out bargain hunters. I raised her right, that girl.

A few years ago, Laura and I hit a yard sale thrown by a restaurant owner/chef who was selling his business. We purchased stainless steel cake pans, professional waffle irons and other kitchen tools we never even considered owning, let alone knew existed. To this day, we are both still happy with the bargains we found and use them daily.

But Laura has taken this whole thrift store/yard sale thing to a whole new level. Why? WHY?

Because she’s a writer, that’s why.

She started a blog, a writer’s blog on treasures she finds at thrift stores & yard sales and what she does with them. Sometimes she shops out of necessity and other times it’s just for fun, but when writing about bargain-shopping there’s never a chance of writer’s block.

The title of her blog, My Dear Trash (www.mydeartrash.blogspot.com) came to her in a dream. It’s cute and catchy and I certainly thought it was great, but soon realized it had more meaning to her then just finding bargains. It was finding value in things that others didn’t see anymore and even deeper, finding value in relationships and even in ourselves.

Writing is a tough industry. We get told over and over again, “No thanks, not today.” The rejection can be brutal, but our writing is not trash and it’s certainly nothing to throw away. Sometimes Laura brings home something in need of repair or out-dated, like this little beauty. This picture frame was purchased for $2.00 at Goodwill.











With a little paint and inventiveness, this is what it became.

















If our work is rejected, we have the opportunity to re-work it and make it better. Something that’s been rejected and tossed away, with some care and polish can become a treasured thing of beauty and become more valuable then we every realized.
Continue to find value in what you do, value in yourself and treasure your dear writing and for a little fun, visit My Dear Trash. You won’t be disappointed.