Our apartment complex dumpster

[ThoughtCriminal]

I'm really amazed at what people have been setting by the dumpster lately. We pass on most of the furniture, but here are a couple of items I salvaged in the last week.

Plastic child's desk. Almost perfect condition except for many crayon marks and what were probably droppings from a hamster cage. The latter was a big concern, but I cleaned it thoroughly with bleach, and put it in the back of my pickup to take to the carwash. While washing the truck, I gave the desk a good power washing and it looks new.

Today there was Eureka vacuum cleaner. It had obviously quit working when the brush roller became too clogged with hair. A couple of minutes with sharp scissors tp clear the roller, cleaned the filter and washed out the collection cup and it works perfectly. Not a top-of-the-line vacuum, but we sort of needed something small that would do a better job than our sweeper.

[Longhorn]

1. I think it's great that you take the time to salvage stuff like that!

I'm afraid I'm just the opposite -- I won't through anything out! I was thinking the other day how I should get some new laundry baskets because the ones I have must be 20 years old. They're cracked and even peeling but they still work just fine so I can't justify replacing them. :shrug: I just wish I was handier so I could repair things.

Good for you for keeping those items out of the landfill! :hi:

[Warpy]

2. I furnished serval successive apartments in Boston from castoffs

I found left out for the trash collectors. Mattresses were iffy, so I'd haul them up to the roof and leave them out on bitterly cold nights before I'd trust them for use. I have a lamp in my living room that I dug out of somebody's garbage, rewired, and keep to remind myself where I came from. I taught myself how to redo cushions and make slip covers and reweave damaged wicker.

I've come up in the world and now my place is furnished out of thrift shops. Nothing matches and that's how I like it. If I ever want matchy-matchy, I'll just invest in a quart of high gloss paint.

Unfortunately, the pickings have been on the slim side since the 80s, both because people can no longer afford to toss good stuff and because the yard sale fad took hold as a permanent fixture.

However, if you have access to a good dumpster or two, please make use of it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. In my old neighborhood this would all be yard sale stuff

In apartments, it's a little harder to arrange those. Not sure why they're not taking this stuff to to Goodwill and other non-profits. Lack of time I guess.

[kestrel91316]

4. It's more energy efficient to keep the stuff in the same apartment complex

than drive it who knows how far to Goodwill.

[yy4me]

5. In these parts, people put their discarded goodies out on trash

day. Anything there is free for the taking. Biggest Gordie, 9 X 12 oriental rug. In good shape, picked it up and drove right to the rug cleaner. $65.00 deliver and pick up price, I have a lovely Den rug.
Just missed...Circa 1800 hooded baby cradle. Between the time we saw it and turned around, someone else had scoffed it up.

I always drive with half an eye on the side of the road on trash day.

I have put out things for people to pick up and use. If someone needs it, it is OK with me. I shop thrift shops and donate also but sometimes it is quicker and easier to leave anything of size for someone else to enjoy.