Any good Trashpickers out there??
We just trashpicked an entire new set of bamboo furniture set 30's-50's that is almost identical to the set that we currently have on our front porch, which is getting really beat up from the weather. The set must have been in storage or something and is almost mint. It was a really great find for us and only 10 minutes from home. Took both of our cars to load it. Plus one of my best finds was a Ray Eames Rocker that is worth about $1,000. (Right down the street!) |
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| Hi,
Our city and all the surrounding municipalities had for years had an annual Reuse, Recyle week. Residents were encourage to put out "good stuff" whatever they wanted (with some exceptions such as contruction materials). Residents heartily took full advantage of this and for a week one could drive around and see couches in near perfect condition, lamps, computers, chairs, garden structures, ect. The second week, one added the not good stuff which would also be hauled away by the city workers. Whoever wanted the items were encouraged to take them..Like a giant garage sale for the entire city but was FREE! I had in the past picked up planting barrels, a brand new extra large dog house (not for the dogs but for when my bunny roamed the yard), lattice and a few other nifty things. The first couple years was great as residents cleaned out their garages and basements which may have sat waiting to be emptied for 30 years! By year five most of the stuff was no longer goodies but you may see occasional nifty item. Sadly, last year our city decided they would no longer participate but the surrounding ones do. We instead, are allowed to call the city in advance and have up to four large items in a year which will be taken for free. They purposely leave the item on the curb for 2 wks to give someone a chance to pick it up if they want it. I miss when the entire city did it but people complained about the mess (sheesh it was only a week!) and people whom didn't want to bother placing ads in papers to sell stuff would put it out for others to Reuse. I thought it was a fantastic idea. Marianne and the boys |
| We used to have bulk garbage in the spring and fall here.
During the two weeks there would be people going through the piles all up and down the alleys. I have salvaged several items. The best ones were very old windows that I fixed up painted for Christmas gifts. Sounds bad I know, but they were really an in demand item there for a while. I also found a huge mirror with a beautiful heavy frame. It took several people to move it and we put it over the fireplace mantel. It was just so beautiful. When we moved we had no place to put it, so the landlord got it for free. Broke my heart. I haven't done it in a while, and now we only have bulk garbage in the spring. Seems counter productive for me to do it now, seeing as I have been sorting and pitching or freecycling SO much stuff. Sounds like you really hit the jackpot with your find though! Shellie |
In Elk Rapids we have "junk hogging"  . For a couple of weeks in May everyone puts their junk, I mean treasures out and anyone who wants it takes it. I've never gotten anything big but did get some cool tins and glass hurricanes. |
| Anytime I see something I want out by the curb I just stop the car and pick it up. We got a baby exesaucer in almost new shape before. We got a really cool bird cage (yet to find a bird..lol but sometimes we use it for an extra cage for our ferrets. We have taken chairs and other furniture. Once it hits the curb its public domain!!
Once I saw a guy stop and load a whole entertainment center in his truck! It was huge. It is better than filling the landfills with perfectly useable items. |
| I prefer to call it Treasure Hunting.
My best treasure find was a pair of unfinished french doors, complete with frosted glass in them already... I took them home, stained them cherry and used them for my closet doors.. which I needed at the time. I love treasure hunting.. I ususally have to go solo as no one else shares passion into the grabage picking.. err, I mean treasure hunting business. I routinely go to Re-Home for Humanity, that is a treasure hunt in it's self. |
| The garbage pickers are out at the crack of dawn around our area! Nothing good stays on the curb for long.
There is also a great web site www.freecycle.org where you can post and request items for absolutely free. Good stuff is spoken for within minutes of the post. |
| I just discovered there is a Re-Home for Humanity about 4 mies from my house! I can't wait to go there. I have problem trash picking, except there is no good trash in my neighborhood (except for mine!). |
| 2 things that i got in the past ..they werent free, but cheap cheap cheap...one was my stickley rocking chair....and the other was a seth thomas mantle clock...both were 75 dollars...I shook as i wrote the check for the rocking chair and giggled all the way home!! |
Paula O. wrote: I just discovered there is a Re-Home for Humanity about 4 mies from my house! I can't wait to go there. I have problem trash picking, except there is no good trash in my neighborhood (except for mine!).
What exactly is Re-Home for Humanity? Where is the one by us? |
| It is a place where you can donate your good reusable stuff, in my area, contracts donate usable stuff like cabinets, flooring, doors, lighting, stormdoors, windows, furniture, stove, friges. and when you purchase the stuff at a very good price the money goes to Habitate for Humanity.
On the Habitate webpage, you can search for the nearest store to you. |
| Trash picking holds no appeal to me. It's funny...you could place the same item in a goodwill store and I might buy it, but grabbing things from the curb just doesn't interest me. I'm also bad at seeing what things can become with a little work... |
| Amanda, from what I understand, Re-Home for Humanity is run by Habitat for Humanity and people bring their "discards" for resale at low cost. Apparently there is some good stuff there.
The one in Elgin is on 31 just a little south of Judson College on the west side of the street. It's in with a Mexican market and there is a sign out front. I just discovered this Friday so I haven't been there. It's on my list of places to go! |
barney1 wrote: Trash picking holds no appeal to me. It's funny...you could place the same item in a goodwill store and I might buy it, but grabbing things from the curb just doesn't interest me. I'm also bad at seeing what things can become with a little work...
ditto... 
same w/garage sales. my gf found a stroller that's worth 500+ bucks for 20 bucks, but I just don't have the energy to stop at all the garage sales. I'm sure there are some good finds, but the times we make the effort, we get embarrassed we even stopped b/c the stuff is so crappy. luck isn't our side, i guess. we threw away a REALLY old bag that has mr j's name sewn on really big, and the second i threw it in there, a couple drove up and SNATCHED IT with a huge smile (as if they had been looking for it for years). we got a good laugh imagining them carrying around this bag w/mr j's name on it. |
My entire studio is furnished with cast-offs, garage-sale finds and funky thrift-store stuff...My best finds were: an entire 1950s kitchen (cupboards and cabinets) made of metal (the cool thing about this, is that with a lot of magnets, the whole room becomes a giant "cork-board"  )...a pair of wheeled chairs rescued from a doctor's office dumpster (thanx, Liz!)...and numerous sets of "map cases" (largely obsolete in the computer-age, so fairly often abandoned by government agencies) that are ideal for storing paper and completed artwork!  |
I love finding things at garage sales and at curbs that can be saved and repaired. Bentley (of fond memory) would come with me to some sales in our neighbourhood. People would laugh because I'd say: "Now sweetie, this is a garage sale" and he'd sit quietly attached to a tree or post while I looked around. Then he'd say hello to everyone. He also helped me carry all kinds of things home. 
Willoughby is learning the ropes, but we travel by car to look around as it's easier. He loves to see what I'm up to when the car stops. |
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