Do you "trash pick"?

[daisyyy]

My DH does it all the time.. and I tell him, that we need to put stuff out ... not bring it in... But we have put stuff out on the curb and it's always gone within an hour... sometimes people ask, sometimes they don't.. but if it's on the curb, it's free for the taking... I wouldn't leave it out unless it was usable... 1/2 way decent shape, otherwise it's in the trash can. My DH & my DC were just discussing that this weekend, and I decided that I am going to put the old little tykes playhouse out tonight... the girls have out grown it.. and the boys could care less... DH hates to mow around it. Hope someone takes it! Oh.. and I also have those glasses that the OP found.. I was laughing when I read it, because I was thinking of getting rid of them, but couldn't do it since they were Disney!...

 

[cepmom]

Bed bugs can live in wood too. I won't take anything fabric or wood off the street for that reason.

hmmm....didn't know that. Guess you learn something new every day!

 

[ShootingStarMom2]

We got our dining room table and chairs from the roadside. It's a 1960s Thomasville set. DH turned around and ran out of the truck to go and look at it. I said let's take it and a woman pulls up with a van and starts taking the chairs! DH says we're already taking it and proceeds to He-Man the table onto the luggage rack. She was alone and no way could have lifted the table so she swore at DH and called us thieves and sped off. Turns out, the table and chairs belonged to a teacher my DH had in HS. His mother had moved out of her home and it was in the basement.

There is a special garbage night in a neighboring city where you can put anything you don't want out on the curb. People drive around for hours looking at the things left out.

 

[disneymom2one]

We are now. We bought a used chest freezer off of Craig's List a couple of months ago. It was the worst $40 I have ever spent. It was inside the house for one day before we saw a baby roach - followed by a couple later. We live in Florida and have regular pest control treatments - inside and out. It's the cost of owning a home in Florida. We have never (in 5+ years) had a bug other than a fly or a moth in my house - until then. Needless to say, the chest freezer was out the door. We called our bug guy (who came out immediately) and he said they can hide in appliances. Who knew? Because we have the house treated regularly and we also had immediate (within hours) service from our guy, the problem resolved itself.

So no ... I would never bring anything inside unless I could be sure.

Well, I don't know why they're throwing it out. Maybe their cat always peed on that couch, or that mattress has bed bugs. If someone I know offers to give me something, and I can use it, I'll take it in a minute. I'm frugal but I'm careful too.

 

[MickeyP]

I got some nice hedgeclippers that were just laying out, plugged in too. They looked like they were brand new, and sure enough I saw the box on the porch. I didn't feel right about taking the box too.

 

[MickeyP]

Jk

 

[kmvand1]

really? If you saw a perfectly good bike, piece of furniture or something on the side of the road, you wouldn't pick it up? I guess I don't understand how it's different than someone offering to give you a perfectly good used item

Nope, sure wouldn't! I visit the flea markets in town, shop smartly, etc. and give to Goodwill throughout the year. I would not dumpster dive or pick up something off of a curb.

 

[Eeyore's-tail-tack]

I got some nice hedgeclippers that were just laying out, plugged in too. They looked like they were brand new, and sure enough I saw the box on the porch. I didn't feel right about taking the box too.

It is even funnier that both of your posts are on different pages. I wish I would of thought of that one.

 

[cepmom]

Nope, sure wouldn't! I visit the flea markets in town, shop smartly, etc. and give to Goodwill throughout the year. I would not dumpster dive or pick up something off of a curb.

to each their own I guess...I don't actively look in dumpsters (I don't think I've ever looked into a dumpster now that I think about it, lol) but I will make it a point to stop and grab something I find useful if it's in decent shape and it's going to be tossed in the trash anyway. I still don't get how that's different than getting something used from a friend or buying something used at a flea market. Used is used isn't it??

 

[QVCshopper]

I got a "new" lamp shade that someone had thrown away. My old one broke last week, so this was much needed -- and appreciated.

Taking things being thrown away is a great way to recycle. And I like to reciprocate through freecycle.org -- but not everyone knows about that website just yet.

 

[smidgen21]

wow. a lot more responses than i thought it would ever get. i work in a college town. i told dh just now that classes are over this week and it's the best week to drive around the dorms and apts looking for treasures he said i can't take the kids trash picking. i told him, fine i'll go alone.

at the college i went to they had special collection bins for things people wanted to throw away but were still useful (tvs, microwaves etc) people can't haul it home so they just pitch it. sad.

 

[kmvand1]

to each their own I guess...I don't actively look in dumpsters (I don't think I've ever looked into a dumpster now that I think about it, lol) but I will make it a point to stop and grab something I find useful if it's in decent shape and it's going to be tossed in the trash anyway. I still don't get how that's different than getting something used from a friend or buying something used at a flea market. Used is used isn't it??

Well of course, used is used, but there is a huge difference between shopping at a flea market,yard sale or Goodwill versus weeding through piles of garbage that may be infested with bugs, dog feces, etc. Not my thing - thanks!

 

[cepmom]

Well of course, used is used, but there is a huge difference between shopping at a flea market,yard sale or Goodwill versus weeding through piles of garbage that may be infested with bugs, dog feces, etc. Not my thing - thanks!

no one ever said anything about weeding through piles of garbage covered with bugs and feces. I would never open a garbage bag looking for something I'm talking about seeing a bike for example, on the sidewalk meant for trash pick up. If it looks in good condition, I see nothing wrong with picking it up. Not any different than shopping at Goodwill,flea markets etc.... well except for the part where it's free

 

[NiftyJ88]

I totally trash pick. If we're driving by and I see something I could use, I will shove it in the car. Last fall, I found a Little Tikes playhouse. I took it home, powerwashed it, and it looks great.
This year, I found a hard plastic swimming pool, cleaned it out and it's like new. I also found a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe. It wasn't working right so it was thrown away. My husband put a washer on it, and it worked perfectly. We turned around and sold it for $20.

 

[Kathi OD]

We do it every spring, but we're only looking for patio sets or gas grills that people are getting rid of. We have a lot on a lake and don't want to put a lot of money into it since oft-times things like that get stolen. Almost every year we are able to add something new and then get rid of the stuff that is really falling apart.

Last month I had two dining room chandeliers in the garage that I was going to take to the Goodwill. DH didn't know and put them out at the curb for trash pickup. In the morning, when I went out to go to work, the chandeliers were not in the garage, so I asked DH about them. He told me about putting them out at the corner. Well someone must have liked those ugly old things...at 6AM, they were gone!

 

[twanner]

I dont' mean dig through the trash. I mean if you drive by and see something sitting out on top, do you take things out of other peoples trash piles? I don't do it regularly, but once in a while. That being said, today I scored!

We were heading to dinner. I saw 2 big boxes with what I thought were canning jars (i figured I could wash and sterilize them). DH backed up. Turns out they were glasses...WDW collectors glasses you know, the ones from McDs??? I got 6 (2 each HS, MK, Typhoon Lagoon/Blizzard Beach) plus 6 winnie the pooh glasses. I'm going to scrub them, soak them in a bleach water solution then run them through the dishwasher. They are like new!!!!

Congrats! I love finding treasures that other people are throwing away. I just wanted to mention (and I haven't read through the whole thread so forgive me if someone already mentioned this) You might want to be careful in your endeavor to sterilize the glasses with bleach water because you can fade the decoration on the outside. Ditto with excessive scrubbing. Just running them through a very hot dishwasher cycle should be enough to get them clean! I know I would be if I accidentally damaged some of my prize Disney glasses!

 

[twanner]

I got some nice hedgeclippers that were just laying out, plugged in too. They looked like they were brand new, and sure enough I saw the box on the porch. I didn't feel right about taking the box too.

 

[CathrynRose]

Ive told this story a few times on here.

My husband is a 'trash picker' He gets giddy on the Spring Clean Up Days.

And Ill be honest with you - I did a lot of this: when he first started doing it.

One say he walks in the house practically shaking from excitement. He couldnt even talk. He shows me this ratty, beat up, old guitar amp. Fender something... tube amp.

Long story short - I now encourage him to find stuff because we sold on eBay, that ratty old amp that I was actually angry he brought in the house for almost $2000 - two thousand!!!

So now I actively seek out 'spring cleans up' garbage pick ups for him.

 

[twanner]

Ive told this story a few times on here.

My husband is a 'trash picker' He gets giddy on the Spring Clean Up Days.

And Ill be honest with you - I did a lot of this: when he first started doing it.

One say he walks in the house practically shaking from excitement. He couldnt even talk. He shows me this ratty, beat up, old guitar amp. Fender something... tube amp.

Long story short - I now encourage him to find stuff because we sold on eBay, that ratty old amp that I was actually angry he brought in the house for almost $2000 - two thousand!!!

So now I actively seek out 'spring cleans up' garbage pick ups for him.

My husband did something similar at an estate sale. Paid something less than $5 for an old Fender Vibrolux tube amp. It's worth over $2,000!!! Unfortunately, I can't convince him to sell it so it's currently collecting dust in the basement. He claims that he uses it every once in a while and I can't get too mad about it since it was practically free.

I have found other stuff curbside and sold it on ebay. We found a couple of puzzles for free that sold for over $100 each on ebay. They were Frank Frazetta pics. Ya just never know...

 

[LovePug]

I wish I could score on something curbside, but I never seem to see anything. I have "given" so much stuff away this way, my neighbors must love me. Anything I put out is gone in no time at all. I always feel good about helping someone out.