Joined Jun 2012
Trash Connoisseur
Forum Thread
You threw away what?!
June 21, 2012 at
05:05 PM
in
Finance
I decided to put my log book on this forum so you can all see the crazy amount of free stuff in good condition that I find while walking my dogs at night in NYC. My girlfriend and I recently moved into a new apartment on the Upper East Side and we had been noticing how much brand new (or antique) stuff is left out on the curb.
So for fun (and because we are both as cheap as they come), we started grabbing stuff that is in good condition. Either we use it, try to sell it, or give it away.
Oh, and keep in mind, bottles and cans have a $0.05 deposit on them so we return those.
We just started keeping track, here is what we have so far:
6/18 - 18 books, 1 milk crate, 4 deposit cans ($0.20)
6/19 - Aero-Swiss Humidifier (Valued over $100), Keurig Coffee Machine ($120), Small Dust Buster, Best Fitness Leg Developer (Over $100), 11 deposit cans ($0.55)
6/20 - 7 deposit cans ($0.35)
6/21 - 37 bottle deposit cans (took the dogs on a long walk this afternoon) ($1.85)
That's the last four days, I'll update this as we get new finds.
Anyone else do this either out of necessity or as a hobby?
Stephen
Check out the new blog @ http://youthrewawaywha
So for fun (and because we are both as cheap as they come), we started grabbing stuff that is in good condition. Either we use it, try to sell it, or give it away.
Oh, and keep in mind, bottles and cans have a $0.05 deposit on them so we return those.
We just started keeping track, here is what we have so far:
6/18 - 18 books, 1 milk crate, 4 deposit cans ($0.20)
6/19 - Aero-Swiss Humidifier (Valued over $100), Keurig Coffee Machine ($120), Small Dust Buster, Best Fitness Leg Developer (Over $100), 11 deposit cans ($0.55)
6/20 - 7 deposit cans ($0.35)
6/21 - 37 bottle deposit cans (took the dogs on a long walk this afternoon) ($1.85)
That's the last four days, I'll update this as we get new finds.
Anyone else do this either out of necessity or as a hobby?
Stephen
Check out the new blog @ http://youthrewawaywha
Community Wiki
Last Edited by stephenNYC
July 30, 2012
at
06:41 PM
Here is the master list of all of our finds to date! It also includes what has sold, the upcycle projects and any other benefits we have gotten from our trash!
Found:
TOTAL: 8 milk crates
TOTAL: 635 My Coke Reward Points
Upcycled:
Converted to Cash:
Found:
TOTAL: 8 milk crates
TOTAL: 635 My Coke Reward Points
- 18 books
- Aero-Swiss Humidifier
- Keurig Coffee Machine
- Small Dust Buster
- Best Fitness Leg Developer
- Giorgio Armani Sunglasses Case
- June issue of Backpacker Magazine
- Verizon Phone charger
- 7 dresser drawers
- 2 Wilson Titanium Tennis Rackets
- Large Kitchen Garbage can
- Michael's Arts and Crafts drawers
- A crochet purse
- Shannon Hand-Crafted Lead Crystal Cake Plate and Server
- Cooks Panini-Maker
- 3 Magazines -- Elle, Cosmo, and Glamour
- 2 Picture frames in their original plastic
- Film Quarterly magazines from the 1960s and 70s
- CAT5e Ethernet Cable
- DesignForLiving Water Bottle
- Broyhill Nightstand
- Cheese Grater
- NIB Wilson Titanium Tennis Balls
- Some eating utensils
- Two Hard Rock Cafe Glasses, NIB
- 254 my coke rewards points.
- Black and Decker mixer
- Frying pan
- Lemonade pitcher
- Coffee table
- HP1040 Fax Machine
- HP Floppy Drive & Smart Card Reader
- Dell Keyboard
- BodyBlade Classic 4
- Bake King Cupcake Pan
- Step stool
- United States Annotated Code Chapters 28 (Federal Rules of Evidence) and 42 (Public Health and Welfare), 2001 edition with the 2012 supplements.
- A Trash Can
- Laundry Basket
- Kelty Kids Ridgeline Backpack
- Budweiser Billiard Cue
- HP Toner
- CAT 3 Cable
- Holmes AccuTemp Window Fan
- "The Naked Nude Nude" screen print art
- HP OfficeJet Pro K850
- 2 Electronics Stands
- Laptop Desk with Built in Fan
- Signed Artist Proof, Fragment by Arline Sherman
- Small screwdriver set
- Players Image Alignment Golf MIRROR Training Aid
- 2 Family & Friends CPR Training Kits with Manikins
- Pantone Color Tint Selector by Pantone Library of Color
- 3 Books on Woodworking
- 10Base-T Concentrator
- A bunch of cedar shoe-horns
- S-Video Cable
Upcycled:
- Two dresser drawers into kitchen shelving
- Film Quarterly Magazines into Art for wall
Converted to Cash:
- HP1040 Fax Machine, Recalled for $100 rebate. Used to buy new printer
- Bottle Deposit Returns: $16.30
- HP Toner and HP1040 Ink Cart, HP OfficeJet Carts/Toner (11) -- $26 @ Staples
- BodyBlade Classic 4 -- $68 via Ebay
- Michael's Storage Drawers -- $25 via Ebay
- Air-O-Swiss Humidifier -- $25 via Ebay
- Both Wilson Tennis Rackets -- $27 via Ebay
- Kelty Kids Backpack -- $36 via Ebay
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52 bottle deposits ($2.60)
1 MCR Cap
1 CAT5e Ethernet Cable
YTD Bottle deposits are $15.80!
Edit: No one likes our Upcycle project I guess! Lots of views of the pics but no feedback
Edit 2: Chelsea has launched her blog about our upcycle work! http://upcycleyourstyl
52 bottle deposits ($2.60)
1 MCR Cap
1 CAT5e Ethernet Cable
YTD Bottle deposits are $15.80!
Edit: No one likes our Upcycle project I guess! Lots of views of the pics but no feedback
Edit 2: Chelsea has launched her blog about our upcycle work! http://upcycleyourstyl
Coke Rewards has a "sale" on their Shutterfly rewards if you like to do things like that with pictures...this doesn't happen that often, so you could "maximize" your MCR codes if you watch for "sales" with them. I stopped drinking pop, so I haven't been following MCR closely, but maybe they have trade value as well.
Coke Rewards has a "sale" on their Shutterfly rewards if you like to do things like that with pictures...this doesn't happen that often, so you could "maximize" your MCR codes if you watch for "sales" with them. I stopped drinking pop, so I haven't been following MCR closely, but maybe they have trade value as well.
My current apt complex has a trash room on every floor, and people always leave stuff behind when moving in, moving out, or redecorating. I know some other neighbors who keep their eyes peeled for stuff as well.
In the 4 years I've lived here, I've scored, off the top of my head:
- Pier One Asian-style black headboard that looks great, and matches the rest of the furniture close enough.
- TWO IKEA Mikael desks with hutches, they're huge desks and pretty nice. The hutches have been taken apart and used to build shelves. I found the second one Sunday night. It was NOT fun taking it apart and moving it at 3 am in the Texas heat, lost about 2 pounds of water haha.
- IKEA TV stand, use it in my office to sort paperwork on until filling
- IKEA coffee table
- IKEA shelf brackets
- Small bookshelf
- 2 modern coffee table lamps
- Upright lamps
- Storage and moving boxes
- File cabinet (finally put my work files in something other than a milk crate!)
- Plastic stacking drawer units of various sizes
- Various IKEA table tops
- Metal desk legs (used with table top above to make a workbench)
- IKEA bed frame end piece, made a nice 5 ft long shelf out of it.
- Clothes steamer ($100)
- Steam clothes press ($250!!!)
- A few kitchen spatulas (these were thrown away by the anorexic chick down the hall, they were virtually brand new and she decided to redo her kitchen, lmao!)
- Shoe racks
- Various electronics and stereos and computer stuff (donated most to Salvation Army and such)
- Upright fan
- Subwoofer for the living room
- Poster frames
I usually go on Sunday nights. We have 4 buildings here and 23 trash rooms, I'll only use the stairs unless I have something heavy, so it makes it a GOOD 1 hour workout even if I dont find anything.
Good luck junking! My parents have always kept an eye out, we are immigrants and sometimes money was tight, so we did what we could. Got some sweet like-new couches from a neighbor, and I used to pick up lawnmowers and weed eaters and try to fix them. I learned a lot from working on them, but I wish I would have known how to adjust carbs back then, I now realize that most of them only need to be tuned and would have run fine.
But it feels so good to have the space back. Aren't you getting cluttered?
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But it feels so good to have the space back. Aren't you getting cluttered?
I just went down to grab the mail and picked this water bottle up. It seems to have never been used!!
Edit: The Nightstand is a Broyhill -- which they sell at Raymour and Flannigan for $350+. Score!
We just took the pups out. We weren't really collecting any bottles today, we have a couple hundred bagged up and we decided we wont have more than two garbage bags worth at a time, it forces us to take them back to get the money for em. So our total for today was:
10 Bottle Depos ($0.50)
2 My Coke Rewards Caps
DFL Water Bottle Never Used (costs about $5-10)
Broyhill Nightstand (Sell at Raymour and Flannigan for $200-300)
A Cheese Grater (we needed one of these)
NIB Wilson Titanium Tennis Balls (3) -- great for the dogs
Some eating utensils
and two Hard Rock Cafe Glasses, NIB
I also took pictures of a couple of piles that we didn't end up taking anything from. There was quite a lot out there tonight but until we move some of our "inventory" we can't take on anything new.
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Also, several years ago I called the Salvation Army to donate a couch when I bought a new one. I actually thought the couch was in pretty good shape. It would have been perfect for for someone wanting something for the basement to sit and hang out on. When the guys came to pick it up, they wouldn't take it because it wasn't in good enough shape. What were they expecting, brand new condition?