trashpicking, yeah or nay?

[tigereye]

so I saw this wooden bench/settee on the curb in front of a neighbor's house this am. After I dropped the kid at school. I went back and got it. It is definitely in need of wood glue and some TLC, but it had a nice style, kind of neo-colonial. I haven't done nicked anything from the curb for many, many years. But it looked pretty cool and salvageable. If the neighbor had come out, I probably would have asked if they minded, or given em 5 bucks or something.

Sometimes I see things on the curb, and I don't understand why they are being discarded. You?

[skygazer]

1. One person's junk is another person's treasure

Or however it goes. I see nothing wrong with putting something to a good use if it's just going to be tossed out anyway. A lot of people throw things out rather than repair them - to me that's pretty wasteful.

[Deja Q]

2. Don't dig in the dumpster, but otherwise go for it

[petronius]

3. Definitely - most my grad school furniture came from the curb

It's fun to (try to) fix things, or just take them apart to see what's inside...

[trof]

4. Heck yes. My daughter has picked up big plastic outdoor toys

like a slide, swing, etc. from somebody's curbside.
Her 3 year old thinks they're GREAT!
She also buys all her jeans at the Salvation Army.
"Already broken in."

This is the girl who HAD to have Jordache Designer Jeans in high school.
I'm so proud of the woman she's become.
:-)

[WindRavenX]

5. fuck yes

I've found some great shit that the rich kids at my college throw out- I'm gonna take yo!

[evlbstrd]

6. Reduce, re-use, recycle. By all means, do it.

[LynneSin]

7. Where I grew up, twice a year they have trash day where you could...

...toss away big ticket items; furniture like you mentioned.

I swear that was a town holiday when that happened because everyone would put their large items out for the garbage trucks and then they would drive around in their trucks finding out what goodies they could snatch from other folks trash piles.

I came from a very rural part of Pennsylvania - we had so few day-to-day thrills

:eyes:

[XemaSab]

11. They do that in sacramento

and yeah, it's a party!

You can score some great stuff! Once we found a drafting table, but this other chick got it first!

[crispini]

8. Sometimes I put things out on the curb

knowing that they will be trashpicked. And they usually are. It makes me happy! Sometimes you got a new one and you just don't want to deal with fixing the old one. But someone else will! And that's nice.

[Patiod]

9. I do, but my S.O. tries to shame me out of it

Doesn't work - I HAVE no shame.

[Fleshdancer]

16. there's no shame in this...there's shame in throwing away useful items

instead of selling or donating them to people who need/want them. :)

[blondeatlast]

10. Our city picks up the buls periodically, and people drive through

the neighborhoods with U-Hauls and such to reuse it.

I couldn't care less what they do with it, if I don't want it anymore, help yourself.

A big YAY from me.

[tigereye]

12. well. I wouldn't take a couch

or anything that has cushions... but I figure wood, what the hell. I love old stuff.

Now I have to find the wood glue, and then give my new bench a good cleaning!

[AlienGirl]

13. In Olympia there are freeboxes

Freeboxes are where you put stuff (clothes, furniture, toys, whatever) that is still good but you don't want any more, so other people can use it. The freebox is a really good resource, especially for kids' clothes, and I really wish other cities had them too.

Tucker

[tigereye]

17. that is a very good thing!

:thumbsup:

[pitohui]

14. i say yay

this used to be one of my favorite hobbies but i ran out of places to put my refurb'd creations, i was crazy abt doing faux marble, malachite, & other crazy paint jobs on my new finds

no room to do it any more

maybe i should open a store

[Beware the Beast Man]

15. If it's clean and in decent condition, heck yes!

Someone in my 'hood threw out a coffee table in perfect condition a while back. The finish was ugly and worn in places, but otherwise perfect. I coated it with textured spray paint (Rustoleum "American Accents"), and it looks excellent. All in all, I invested $16 and got something that some folks would pay much more for. :)

[swag]

18. Got a great coffee table that way.

Robert Rauschenberg used to get materials for his "combine" pieces that way: walk around the neighborhood and see what he could find on the sidewalk.

My mom got me hooked on this sort of thing very early in my life.

[tigereye]

19. I love "found" stuff

I encourage my son to really look at things when we walk around town, I think people miss so much by being on "auto-pilot" When kids in my office tell me they are bored, I always say, " that's because you aren't looking." ;)