You know. You’re driving through a neighborhood & you know it’s trash day because people ahve set out their stuff. You’re not looking, of course, but you happen to spy something interesting. have you ever stopped & grabbed it and driven on?
I got me a Foosball table this way–only needed 2 of the little guys replaced.
About a cubic inch of airborne funk in my nasal passages but, so far, that’s been about it.
I did rescue a neon bar sign from a bar’s trash pile once. Does that count?
Curbside treasures I have found include:
[ul]an entry hall table, it was just a little shakey but I tightened up the bolts & it was good as new.[/ul]
[ul]terracotta pots for plants on my patio. Some were brand new, why anyone would have tossed them out I have no idea.[/ul]
[ul]a plant stand that looks like a greek column, made of some sort of pottery.[/ul]
Things I have discovered in the trash:
–a Down Comforter. It had a tiny tear in the middle of it, and a bit of the down coming out, but I took it home, stitched it up and have had it for the past 10 years. It the most warm thing I’ve ever come across, and I use it every single winter.
–A really cool Art Deco floor lamp. It needs to be rewired (which I have yet to do), but it certainly looks cool.
–Our cat, Maya. Stray, unloved and with an incredible personality. She’s been with us for about six years (with the exception of the six months she went on vacation, but she won’t discuss it, so we’re not sure where she went).
Things I have set out for the trash, with the unspoken understanding they won’t last until trashday.
–numerous Televisions and VCRs (some working, some not)
–chairs, tables and odds-n-end furniture
–baby equipment
–clothing
–mirrors
In the most literal sense, a couple French photographers that call make a living off of celebrity garbage
Frankly, the story disgusts me…it’s celebrity worship at its worse. But I have to admit I read it Saturday and it’s still fresh in my memory. Sean Penn doesn’t use Terminix? The Pope’s garbage?!? Imagine the furor in the Vatican if they turn up a used Lifestyles condom.
I also rescued a greta Art Deco lamp (actually, more Art Nouveau.
But a down comforter? Ewwww! You don’t know who did what on that! There must be some reason they are throwing it out.
Anything that I think I can clean up and/or repair and-
Keep-Lamps, various computers and computer parts, a pinball machine which I made into a coffee table.
Sell- inflatable (and inflated, though clearly put with the trash) Darth Maul and Jar Jar Binks chairs, various pieces of furniture (I’ll never forget the day that Mom and I took a chair from somebody’s trash, displayed it at our antique stand, and sold it for $80.)
Use in a bizarre project- Meros has a picture of me in a Halloween costume in his LiveJournal. Sadly, the link doesn’t seem to be working. The lance in my hands is made from an old curtain rod, covered by two ski poles. I left the skis in the dumpster as I couldn’t really see a use for them. The sides of the armor are decorated with the hollow cable used to protect wires and gas lines. I passed a several long pieces of the stuff in somebody’s trash. After getting it home I washed it repeatedly, inside and out, with rubbing alchohol. When I was done, that cable was the cleanest thing in my apartment. A hard, roughly four-feet-long tube of clear lucite (I assume it was originally a cover for a flourescent bulb). I used that, a bunch of light emitting diodes from trashed electronics, and the cord from a trashed appliance to make a walking staff filled with blinking lights. The next year, I used a salvaged piece of plexiglass to make a shield.
A few weeks ago, I spotted a table leg in the trash. It was black, with a brass tip at the base, and inset with alternating brass diamonds and small brass circles. At first, I passed it up because one of the diamonds was missing, and the piece was a bit messy. But, it was still there on my way back from the supermarket. So I took it. I topped it with part of a lamp I had kept for such a project, replaced the missing diamond with some sheet aluminum I keep for just such a project( I currently have three 21 gallon rubbermaid storage chests filled with odds and ends I’m keeping for various projects), and for the head a spherical Rubik’s cube knock off which I painted black with a GM scratch repair pen I kept for just such a project.
I knew someone who rescued a Gramophone from the trash. It needed a new needle but was in ok shape otherwise.
A good place to get freebies is off the craigslist.org site. There’s a column for free stuff people don’t want. Some will tell you that they’re putting whatever it is on the sidewalk for whoever wants it. Some will hold it somewhere for you if you e-mail them. If I had a car and lots of space, I’d be collecting a lot of free stuff.
Most recently: a roll of sod. It was very unhappy, very very unhappy, but some of it should survive and I used it to patch a hole in my neighbor’s yard where (ahem) my 6 year old took a shovel to a spot where a rose-bush had been removed.
I have been known to swoop down upon those clothing drop-boxes where people have dumped all kinds of non-clothing items, and come up with good stuff. I got a very good stroller that way (needed a new pad) and some gorgeous king-sized sheets with a very high thread-count. Sometimes I’ll take whole bagsful of mixed stuff from in front of those boxes and sort them: trash, clothes to keep, clothes and other assorted non-clothes items to send on to the thrift store when the charity truck comes around.
Recently, my roommate and I found a set of surround sound speakers (only 4.1 out of a 5.1 system, but still good), a lamp, some history books, and a 2000 Dell computer in the trash room in our dorm. We managed to figure out who threw them out, as the guy also threw out his checkbook (wise move, eh?). So we divided it up so I got the speakers, and my roommate got the computer and the books. And obviously the first thing we did with the computer was look for any interesting blackmail material, and sure enough, we found hundreds of porn clips involving golden showers and leaky orifices. Most obscenely, this guy had RealOne as his default media player! :eek: The porn made for some fun surround sound test material too. My roommate ended up deciding to reformat the hard drive to turn the computer into a server.
I got two cool vases, no chips, no cracks (one Lenox, one Bavarian porcelain). Years ago I got two crummy chairs for the patio that were indeed crummy enough that I could leave 'em out all winter and not worry about ruining them. I had those suckers for a couple of years, too. I also recently acquired two live aloe plants in nice little earthenware pots. I’d bring home more stuff if I could, but my boyfriend would flip.
I think this affinity for other peole’s trash comes from many trips to the dump with my dad when I was a child. My sister and I used to salivate over all of the neato stuff that people just threw away. Foolish people! Now I finally get to have some of that stuff. Yes indeed, I do like other people’s trash!
A nighttable, two couches (sign saying “decent condition-Free”), a table I just got and am going to repaint for the kitchen, and some chairs.
I love checking out people’s garbage. You can get great stuff that way.
shudder
It was throughly cleaned before it came anywhere near my bed.
Besides, who’s to say what I did on it afterwards?
3 friends and I own some property in the Andirondacks. We have an old house trailer parked on it and use it for recreational guy-type pursuits.
The locals come to visit almost every time we’re up there, and we usually spend a lot of the evenings sitting around the campfire, bullsh… um, conversing.
Whenever I see outdoor furniture at the curbside I grab it. I’ve gotten some pretty good chairs etc. Even though nothing matches, it adds to the ambience, what with the 1957 pink house trailer, outhouse, and other general rustic-ness.
My best find was just this last fall. i was driving on a street, and I see a computer on the side of the road. I turn around and pick it up. It was missing the side panel, RAM, a hard drive, optical drives, and video card. All it had was a motherboard, processor + heatsink, floppy drive, and modem. Anyways, I figured it was an old POS, but took it back anyways. I plopped on old video card I had in it, turned it on, and got the ‘no RAM’ noise. Good, this means that the MOBO and processor worked. I took of the processor to look at it…it was a pentium 4! 1.4GHz. Not a bad find!
I sold the processor on eBay for $100, cause I didn’t have the money to buy the RAM and a hard drive for it. I still have the rest and when i get some money I’ll make it into a server.
A perfectly working turntable.
Last month I fished some discarded drywall out of a neighbor’s rubbish pile, and used it to patch some small holes in my place.
I didn’t factor in the free material when I deducted the repair costs from my rent cheque, either.
Score!
Last year, I got a 6 month old Toro Self Propelled Lawnmower. We had the Lawnmower Repair guy come pick it up along with one I confiscated from my Dad (the thing is at least 20 years old and will easily cut down small trees!).
Total cost including pickup, tune up and delivery…$75
Sweet!
Busted mechanical stuff in Yuppie neighborhoods are the best! This fall I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for a good rototiller in need of, oh I don’t know…gas? 