The Craigslist post said free, and it said everything.

“EVERYTHING’S FREE!! Furniture! Clothes! Books! Toys! We’re giving it away, so come take it away!”

It didn’t say, “Walk into the house when no one is there.”

Craigslist ads with different start times, a lightly secured house and some particularly bold “garage sailors” — as some serious garage sale aficionados have been known to call themselves — cost two Boulder roommates the loss of plenty of things they never meant to give away over Memorial Day weekend.

Three days after the May 28 giveaway, a new ad appeared on Craigslist: “Due to miscommunication and confusion over start time, many items were taken that were not meant to be free. PLEASE return the following items as soon as possible if you have them.”

The list includes the lawnmower and garden hose that belonged to the landlord of the home at 501 Evergreen St. in Boulder, plus tools, a comforter and “anything from upstairs.”

“Please be honest and return these things,” the ad concludes.

According to a police report on the incident, Elaan Brudno, who lived at the home, wanted to give away a number of items, as she and her roommates all were moving out. She posted the ad on Craigslist, with an 8 a.m. start time — but then changed it to 10 a.m. The revised ad read: “No Early Birds, Please!”

Then Brudno left the house that morning “unsecured and open,” according to police.

“She said she was surprised when she returned home at approximately (8:45 a.m.) and discovered that people were already there taking the ‘free’ (things),” the police report said.

Boulder police are not treating the incident as a criminal matter, and the report was taken for documentation purposes only.

Brudno did not return several phone calls seeking comment.

Her roommate, Stephanie Schraeder, who was living at the home with her two sons while looking for a new house, said she thinks her roommate was irresponsible, but people still shouldn’t have just walked into the house.

At least one person who showed up to the giveaway realized things weren’t right, Schraeder said. That woman, as well as a friend of Schraeder’s who stopped by to pick up her futon, tried to stop people from taking things until the owners could be located.

The Good Samaritan called the number on a card she found in the house. It turned out to be Schraeder’s mother, who called police. Officers arrived about the same time Brudno did, but, by that time, all the early birds had left with their finds.

Schraeder said she had left the house around 5 a.m. the day of the giveaway for a road-trip over the Memorial Day weekend. She knew that her roommate, whom she has known for years, planned to get rid of a number of things, but she didn’t know the details. She was picturing a garage sale with items being sold out on the lawn.

When she left, the back door was open, but the front door was locked, Schraeder said.

Things are now “a little awkward” between her and Brudno, Schraeder said.

“I don’t blame her for people walking into the house,” Schraeder said. “They shouldn’t have done that, but I do think it was irresponsible to handle it the way she did.”

After a new ad was posted asking for things to be returned, Schraeder did get back a large camping backpack full of her husband’s clothes.

She’s still missing two other large camping backpacks, an expensive toolbox full of high-quality tools for everything from household repairs to jewelry-making (a hobby of Schraeder’s), furniture and a number of smaller items.

Of less monetary value but more concern, she’s also missing her passport, though she’s hoping it will turn up when she unpacks in her new home.

She hopes that anyone who took things from the house will respond to the Craigslist ad or email her at stephschraeder@gmail.com.

And she hopes other people learn from her misfortune.

“It’s nice to put the word out that things can go wrong and not to trust the universe,” she said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Erica Meltzer at 303-473-1355 or meltzere@dailycamera.com.