Are there any curb crawlers or dumpster divers in the cafe? My daughter is a huge one. I just got a new living room set in perfect condition from her and last night she get between $400 and $500 dollars in fisher price,seseme street and Dora the explorer BIG toys and a prelite christmas tree numerour books and small toys for the great grandbaby. She said everyone is getting rid stuff right now to make room for the christman stuff. Every thing she gets is like new, she says there is too much good stuff out there to mess with the junk. She has several friends that have furnished their whole house with the stuff they get and they can sell the extra at flea markets,e bay and Craigslist. If money is really tight you might want to try this. There are several sites on the internet that tell you how.

I wish I was that lucky! I do watch the curbs but have never scored anything big. The last thing I picked was a small metal shop vac.

She must live in a REALLY nice neighborhood. No one around here throws stuff like that away in the garbage. Hopefully most usable stuff gets donated instead of put at the curb or thrown in a dumpster -- what a waste

Count me in as a dumpster diver or as I call it bulk nite stalking lol. Every other tuesday nite is bulk nite for people to throw away large furniture items. One time me and my dh found a beautiful brand new back yard furniture. Then another time I found a whole bedroom set I only wanted one smaller dresser it was handpainted and old but in excellent condition, these people were moving because there was so much stuff out on the curb.I also love garage sales, sadly with the cold weather , there are few around this time of year.. Peace and stay safe in this holiday season... Catherine

My SIL found a DVD player put out with someone's trash.
He repaired it with a $1.59 part and it is working great!

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In our area, it's against the law to dumpster dive.

In my town the best time to stalk the curbs is the week that the college students move out in May. The stuff they throw out is unbelievable! Perfectly good working TVs, microwaves, furniture - it's just unreal the things we have picked up.

We have a yearly "spring cleanup" week where people can put their bulk items/any items out to the trash. I usually take a drive and see what people have put out. I have gotten some good things in the past: a Little Tykes big toy type thing that had a platform/ladder/slide (you could crawl under it) looked brand new, Little Tykes Table and chairs, Turtle sandbox with lid, dresser, chest of drawers, various boxes of books, bedside table, lots of other odds and ends.

I have never been dumpster diving, but would love to go if I could find someone to go with. I am a vendor in stores and I see the things that go into the dumpsters, lots of new stuff from different vendors (including myself) going into the trash. Also, in stores I have seen their employees throw sets away (instead of marking them down) like a desk set that had a trash can, paper holder, pencil holder, stapler, paper clips, etc. and maybe one item was dented or damaged, so lets throw the whole set out. Some vendors are allowed to remove their items from the store after giving a credit, but many just throw whatever it is in the trash, you can only have so many books, magazines, greeting cards, makeup, candy, snacks, chips, perfume etc. at some point it goes in the trash.

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>>>I have never been dumpster diving, but would love to go if I could find someone to go with<<<

Isn't everything better w/a pal? ;-)

I lived in NYC many moons ago, land of the royalty of dumpster divers, and that's where I learned the basics of dumpster diving/ street pickings.

The first rule is to make sure you have one or more cans (large size) of kennel dust. Works like a charm on any and all furniture. Can be bought in many suburban pet shops as well as discount places (like Tar-zhay ;-)

And any other rule after that was pretty much a moot point ;-) I mean really, what good is a freebie if it makes you itch for weeks/months? 8^D
You can always refinish or change stuff, but the itchies are a no go in my book.

I now live in a mid-western suburban community, and the *dumpster diving* here is primo if one knows when and where to look. (And I have yet to become an insider here on that score)

I like to check out the tonier neighborhoods for garage sales and check up on their trash days.
Easy peasy, no?

It's truly stunning to those of us trying to survive, how much, or how many things, things the richer segments of society consider *disposable*.

Ahhh, the bennies of being middle class/middle income, eh?

MZ

I don't dumpster dive or curb crawl but 25 years ago when I lived in Germany, they use to have what was called in the area I was in "junkin day" once every few months, and you could really get get things there. I had several friends find shrunks (wall units) furniture and tons of great thing. I think it is great the if someone can get use of something instead of filling up landfills.

In my neighborhood, people will put out the 'good stuff' a day or two early with a 'FREE' sign on it and hope that someone takes it before the garbage collectors get there. Most of the time someone does.

My grandfather was an 'alley picker'. He got some really good stuff over the years. He lined to tinker, so he would take broken stuff too and try to fix it or scavenge for parts. It was a great hobby for him.

Sarah........mom to Jason & Devin

My college son loves to move out of the dorm a day after everyone else moves out and dumpster dive through everything the other students leave behind. It is amazing the expensive or brand new things the kids toss out. He even gathers all of the used text books that the kids are too lazy to return to the book store and gets a refund for them.