Dumpster Diving

Whoot!!!!!

so i was taking the trash out last night at my apt and found a 30g tall. no cracks, but had a bit of duct tape over one corner. yep. i am sure it leaks water. i wonder what the guy who threw it away would say if he knew the repair would cost $2.50. And free for me since i've already got the stuff.

you know, i've been thinking about making a rack and i could get all the materials at the dumpster. i know it's got to be cleaned and checked for kritters. but seriously, anyone who dumpster dives should check for that mess before they even bring "item" into their home. i mean, it did come from the trash. Jeesh!

i started this post to brag, but now i think i want to know... THIS ECONOMY SUCKS. do you Dumpster Dive?

I have grabbed a few things off the curb here and there. Unfortunately though once I get them home I figure out why they were thrown out... for one reason or another usually on the next trash day they are out on my curb. Ironicly, they almost always get picked up before the trash man comes!!!

i do this all the time. ive found many many tanks, computers, all sorts of good stuff.

My bf, being a mechanic and a very resourceful one, will periodically find something and bring it home to strip down and take off parts or take off electrical components.

When he worked for the school board, it was amazing what they threw away. He doesn't do it so much now.

I love the term he uses for it, he calls it a "ground score"

our turtle tank is a curb side find. We have found several tanks on the side of the road. but the 70 gallon tank was the best find. it didn't even leak. I did however still reseal it just because i don't want 50 gallons of water on the floor.

Our rat tank was off of kijiji( almost like getting if from the trash). We got a really nice $200+ bird cage out of the trash but we ended up giving the birds away as I thought I was allergic to them but it was just the cuttle bone! I'd take a tank out of the trash no problem. My friend got a really nice $500 girls bed from the curb. All's fair game when it comes to curbside LOL. My son who's 9 last summer would find bikes that were put out and sold them for $5.

I've been a dumpster diver all my life, not just now with the economy! People throw away the most amazing stuff!
If you want lumber, just check out anywhere they are building new houses, sometimes they throw away TONS of good lumber pieces, just because the piece was shorter than they needed, or leftoever. I've gotten hundred's of feet of boards, several sheets of plywood(always pieces), shingles, concrete blocks, bricks, decorative tiles, even once a gorgeous window!
I always ask the crew if I can "have a couple boards" out of the dumpster at the building sites, and they've never told me no. For other dumpsters(behind businesses, or whatever) I don't ask, and usually we'd go right at dark, or after dark.
We picked up statues, glassware, baskets, music boxes(about a dozen), tanks, cages, books(covers removed usually), shoes, and all sorts of odd things! We also picked up 8 tents, although not one had the poles with them!! If you call up the makers, you can order a replacement sets of poles, sometimes for free, sometimes it costs about $20. So a $400+ tent for $20! And it even had the bag!! IT was a week old, and if we'd really wanted to, we could have returned it, since the original receipt was IN THE BAG! It's a treasure trove!
I will say that we never really grabbed anything out of a food dumpster, but generally any "garbage" has been contained in bags, while items tend to be tossed in. So most everything is clean and ready to nab.
I never resold anything I nabbed out of the trash. Always gave it away if I wasn't keeping it.
We did get a futon mattress once.. and then dumped it two streets later... apparently a cat had liked it more than we ever could. LOL!
I LOVE dumpster diving, and curb nabs! On craigslist you see "curb alerts" all the time, so that is most times dumpster diving too.

Heck yeah...flea market extraordinaire! College students here, remember? :D

I've found tanks, cages, wood, and the best of all - furniture! Our coffee table and dining room table, both real wood, came from beside the dumpster with NOTHING seriously wrong! The coffee table was scratched up (wood putty and stain), and the dining table had a leg loose (wingnut). The things you can find in the trash...

We also get quite a bit of stuff off CL, free or ridiculously reduced because they were 'taking up space'. We got our TV stand, rocking chair, and two side tables that way.

If you're not picky, and are prepared to do a bit of handy work, dumpsters and CL are the WAY to go! :D

Freecycle!! And craigslist, especially the Free section!

oops, I meant to vote for the third option, but picked the second one, oh well.

a few years back i got a bunch of stuff from a local college they were throwing away.
hang on the wall snapon tool box
old library card drawer setup metal one
about 200 4' lights which i sold at an auction made about 1000$
and i got tons of other various stuff which i kept

this was about a ton worth of stuff i saved from trash

I live Plateau Montreal... dumpster diving is a municipal sport here.

I have been moving and left my stuff on the curb for 45 seconds too long and come down to see it being carted off.

If you see it, you grab it, or someone else will within a few minutes. I have had people phone into work late because they found a dresser or some other thing on the side of the road on the way to work and needed to trot it home first.

Bruce

(Nice thing about having a can of Black Knight and\or PAM handy at all times - You can spray furniture with it as well as enclosures).

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Originally Posted by Bruce Whitehead

I live Plateau Montreal... dumpster diving is a municipal sport here.

I have been moving and left my stuff on the curb for 45 seconds too long and come down to see it being carted off.

If you see it, you grab it, or someone else will within a few minutes. I have had people phone into work late because they found a dresser or some other thing on the side of the road on the way to work and needed to trot it home first.

Bruce

(Nice thing about having a can of Black Knight and\or PAM handy at all times - You can spray furniture with it as well as enclosures).

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lol
i use more PAM than probally any other product! its got tons of great uses the other thing i use alot of is sevin-5

i see a lot of furniture at the dumpster of apartment buildings. I try to limit it to gated communities. i just feel it's better quality there. there are still those few items i would NEVER get. Never a mattress or bedding. It creeps me out just thinking about sleeping on someone elses bed bugs. blech!

about 6 months ago i was looking for a tv stand for my new apt. everyone i called said someone was coming to get it that afternoon. then, that night i got 3 calls and took them all. one is a in exsqusite condition and is $700 from the mfg. the other two were in great shape so i stuck them in the bedrooms. Win Win Win!!!

I live in a college town and it's crazy how many things get thrown away at the end of the school year. People just can't store it anywhere so they just throw it away.

College towns are student turnover are AWESOME for curb alerts.

There are definitely some things I would NEVER take out of the trash, but if I were to pass by scrap lumber, or an aquarium, or a piece of furniture that catches my eye as something I would want to strip and refinish, I would absolutely stop and grab it...

This is how we furnished most of our apt, and filled up a storage shed. The biggest thins we have gotten are our futons, 2 nice computer desks, a realy nice diningroom table, and our entretainment center.
This past summer a few tennants moved out and left a lot of stuff, I keep kicking myself now there where a few mini-fridgs' that I did not take.
My husband also takes all the parts out of "junk" computers, I just got another vac, it works fine. Out of all the tanks I have I think I only bought one 10gal, and the 55gal that we have, out of a dumpster came 4-10gal, a 20gal long, a 20gal tall, and a few bird cages(all those tanks house rats and mice)

I have to clean out the storage shed, so a lot of the "tresure" we have found may end up back where it came from:tears:. Also in a few months, when I get somme rodent racks, all of the tanks and bird cages are going.

Reptile tanks, bird cages, dog carriers, pet dishes, plant stands, shelving for the garage. Nothing a little bleach won't fix. Even found a 3 boxes of collectable books that I have since sold. One time I found a box of figurines thrown out when the elderly woman that lived there passed away. Some were very nice antique animal figures in mint condition. They went into my antique sales case. One appraised at 220.00. I sold it for 175.00. Not bad for taking out the trash. My girl friend was a little embarassed when I started loading my trunk. Now she is always right with me when we make a find.:D

The town of Farmington CT has bulk trash pick up 2 times a year. I leave my house around 11 PM and cruise out by 50 cents house until about 3 AM. Everything in my house once belong to rich folk out there.

Once stopped at a house up the block that had just had a moving sale/garage sale and they were gone - moves out and put whatever was left in the garage on the curb
Got a brand new dehumidifier and a 1600 PSI pressure washer.
Both worked like new (pressure washer after I replaced a $1.50 rubber gasket and still use them today

also have a 30 Gal High and a 20 Gal High - no leaks or anything

I have almost all my tanks the ASFs are in from the curb. I take the bleach, and all down to the curb, and work on it before it comes in the house... now I am looking to move most of them again.

I may just walk them down to the curb...

3 rabbit cages that I keep my adult rat breeding colonies in.... curb finds.

We have pulled out new canvases... gesoed and still wrapped, one that was 4 feet x 4 feet, as well as frames.

My partner and I had a show that was purely found objects, all of them curbside. We made the rent for two months (at the time our rent was A LOT!).

I have a few old stackable lockers in the snake room that were curb finds. As well as a few of those really heavy old industrial green file cabinets... I use them for clothes.

B

I had to go dumpster diving behind a strip mall Saturday for some boxes that my buddy needed to put rodents in that he sold.

I slipped on some snow jumping in...

I used to work in construction. The company i worked for built giant Office Parks.
They had the huge dumpsters everywhere. And there was always nice new things thrown out just because it didn't look perfect. I grabbed all kinds of Nice Junk.

I found a 22" flatscreen samsung at work in the dumpster all it needs is a power cord i already tested it witha different one!!! pumped.

I've been pretty damn poor. I've dumpstered food, furniture, you name it.

Not like half eaten yougurt with a tissue in it... But like from dumsters behind grocery stores. Wrapped stuff.

FOOD? I don't care if its wrapped or not thats asking to get something!! LOL.


Only a tank that I need, or maybe some scrap lumber, but I normally don't unless there is something that cant be passed.

Queen sized air mattress (no leaks) - clean as a whistle and had the plug in air compressor just sitting on it;
Multiple dining chairs that happen to match our own set;
A perfect condition DVD player;
A very clean dish strainer;
Pair of cross country skis...

College towns are the best... :rolleye2:

Free99 is the greatest price ever. I have had good finds in dumpster, from sofas and loveseats to desks and tanks. There is no shame in my game if it's nice and in the trash I'll take it.

I work in lighting... a small 3 store business, but every now and again I check the dumpster on smoke break.

Found a Tizio (Artemide) once that just needed a new cord and driver. Sold it on Ebay for 250.00...

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Originally Posted by dizzy

I've been pretty damn poor. I've dumpstered food, furniture, you name it.

Not like half eaten yougurt with a tissue in it... But like from dumsters behind grocery stores. Wrapped stuff.

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I've heard of people doing that at Trader Joes, because they throw some food away after only a day of being there...or something like that.

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Originally Posted by reaxion07

I've heard of people doing that at Trader Joes, because they throw some food away after only a day of being there...or something like that.

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that place just had tons of stuff on recall with the peanuts

I've never been in a dumpster but I have curb cruised lol.

Funny Story..

I saw a really nice ferret cage. it was better than the one I had. so I asked my sister & her hubby to pull over..

Here I am, holding this cage, checking out the condition of it, my sister n her hubby are yelling loudly to draw attention to me.. (i was embarrassed and almost didn't get out to get it)

Then what do you know, the home owner drives right by me into their driveway, me looking at them like a deer in head lights, mortified... My sisters hubby thought it would be even funnier to start driving away, their hatch still open.. Im running behind their car with this huge cage in my hands yelling for them to stop. I'm pretty sure my sister laughed so hard she peed her pants lol

I was so embarrassed but it truly was hilarious lol

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Originally Posted by filly77

I've never been in a dumpster but I have curb cruised lol.

Funny Story..

I saw a really nice ferret cage. it was better than the one I had. so I asked my sister & her hubby to pull over..

Here I am, holding this cage, checking out the condition of it, my sister n her hubby are yelling loudly to draw attention to me.. (i was embarrassed and almost didn't get out to get it)

Then what do you know, the home owner drives right by me into their driveway, me looking at them like a deer in head lights, mortified... My sisters hubby thought it would be even funnier to start driving away, their hatch still open.. Im running behind their car with this huge cage in my hands yelling for them to stop. I'm pretty sure my sister laughed so hard she peed her pants lol

I was so embarrassed but it truly was hilarious lol

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thats part of the fun of it :rofl:

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Originally Posted by nixer

thats part of the fun of it :rofl:

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Oh I agree.. it was a riot and still something we laugh about to this day

hell we find stuff all the time.people are dumb some times they throw stuff any way thats good.i only get stuff that i can resell online.

I have gotten stuff from people's curbs. But I would not take anything from certain areas of Buffalo; I do not want cockroaches!! I can handle native insects in this old farmhouse; spiders, flies, whatever. But roaches would make me want to die.
It is a gamble, but in the past I have found cool mirrors, fish tanks, a dresser (it was actually from my neighbor! but I knew that they kept a clean house) from the curbs of others' trash. I would not take anytihng cloth on principal (think of mattressses and what could have stained them) or anything that I could not spray down with provent-a-mite.
I did get a WHOLE BUNCH of vintage Fisher Price Little People stuff from one house. Sold them on ebay and made about $400! If you see those toys, you should grab them.. they're worth a pretty penny usually.

what does the green mall mean?

We have also gotten our entire kitchen through, basically, dumpster diving :) My husband worked for Aaron's Rental, which deals with appliances n' furniture. He delivered, and it turned out that people would get rid of perfectly fine appliances, just because the color didn't match their taste..

Our over-the-stove microwave, gas stove, fridge, and dishwasher were all in new condition when their owners (usually people who bought brand-new homes, in which the "old" appliances were installed in and which the new people didn't like)all were free. There was a guy who bought the "olds" for a nominal fee, and he didn't mind my hubby's taking a few pieces.. so it was not even stealing! We also got our sofa and loveseat from a friend who was moving to Hawaii and would otherwise have tossed them out; they're large comfy "Big Chill" models from Ashley Furniture! Free is for me :)

Ha ha.

When i was a kid in the early 80's and in the deep south; we didnt have trash pickup. once a week we would load up the truck and drive about 7 miles to the community dumpsters. There were always 5-6 of them. They are the large green dumpsters. Everytime we would go, there would always be some random items of good quality sitting in front of each dumpster. if you didn't need something but it wasn't trash, leave it in front instead of actually throwing it "IN" the dumpster. This way the item wouldb't get broken or nasty with regular garbage.

anyway, my dad called it the green mall because when we go there we would unload the truck then "Window shop" past each dumpster to see if there was anyting we wanted. Just like they do at the mall.

when i got older and moved away, i heard the term a few times. It may be a southern thing or maybe a redneck thing.

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Originally Posted by redpython

what does the green mall mean?

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When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike all around my neighborhood looking for stuff on bulk pick up day. I found some great stuff..I remember turning a set of old kitchen cabinets into gerbil enclosures....

I still drive around to this day and look....I could always use something...

I know for my family, we through out all sorts of slightly used stuff in the trask....just last week we chucked a 5' pool table and my sons crib (he got a bed..lol) I like it when someone picks it up rather than it going to the dump.

Looked out the window while I was at dinner a week or two ago, noticed a man sitting in the dumpster across the street. All I have to say :p

i do this but my ole man is the worst he is the only person i know who when we are driving somewhere at night, stop in the middle of the road back up like a mile and be like did you see it did you see it ( im expecting big foot) and it will be like a black screw driver. im just like how in the hell did you see that.

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Originally Posted by dmaricle

i do this but my ole man is the worst he is the only person i know who when we are driving somewhere at night, stop in the middle of the road back up like a mile and be like did you see it did you see it ( im expecting big foot) and it will be like a black screw driver. im just like how in the hell did you see that.

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my mom does that shes found more tool buckets on the side of the road than anyone i have known.

the only thing i found was this year was an 18 volt dewalt xrp 1/2 drive impact with 2 batteries and charger in the case.