I went up to Girly Girls house to borrow some pine nuts for my Spinach and Basil Pesto Farfalle recipe and noticed another neighbors trash was overflowing in to the street.
Our neighbor had these 3 fake Cinderella pumpkins sitting alongside her trash can waiting for Mr. Garbage Guy to pick them up.
Oh I don’t think so!
After a quick 3 second inspection all I could find wrong with them was a little damage to one of the ribs on a pumpkin. Nothing a little glue and paint can’t fix.
Wahoooo!
I love it when other people throw away good stuff!
What do you think?
Trash, or treasure? Would you have swooped these babies up off the side of the road or would you have kept driving by?
~Mavis
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Danielle O says
We found two bikes next to the recycle bins the other day. The frames were in tip top shape! One needed a new chain & new inner tube. The other needed two new inner tubes. FRACTION of the cost of buying new bikes.
Unfortunately tho, I woke up this morning & found someone had stolen one of them from our patio -__- I can’t wait to live out in the country away from city-dwellers….
Jesse says
People steal stuff in the country too!!
Diane Bernath says
I agree – I hate it when people throw out perfectly good useable stuff. My brother used to be a trash collector and worked in an affluent area of Toronto, and it said it broke his heart to crush the antique furniture etc that they just put to the side of the road. It’s such a waste when there are so many needy people that could benefit from it.
Same thing with people who have fruit trees and just let the fruit fall to the ground in the fall when they could probably call a church and the youth group could probably pick it and donate it to people in the church who can use it, or to a food bank etc.
There’s way too much waste in this world.
Diane
Kamiko says
Thrift stores dont come get furniture anymore. we tried to give away a full house of furniture, and they wouldnt come pick it up. so we dragged it outside and put a sign on it that it was free. when we came home from work it was gone.
you also have to worry about HOA. you can get fined heavily for leaving furniture outside for someone to pickup. if HOA sees it, youre in violation of their codes in some neighborhoods, property values go down if they see this. youre not even allowed ot lave your garbage cans where they can be seen.
as far as the fruit trees, you cant just go onto a property and pick downed fruit anymore. once upon a time, remember picking your neighbors fruits for them. they smile with the goodies, and let you have your own box full of it, all you had to do was ask? neighbors now will call the police of you touch 1 fruit!
i agree, way too much waste with people needing it more!
Michele says
I would have left them; I prefer decorating minimally and not storing a bunch of seasonal junk.
But putting them by the trash can is fine. If someone wants whatever it is, they know that can just pick them up if they are out there. Last fall we had a file cabinet with a handle broken during our move. DH wanted to get a different sized one anyway so we put it out with a free sign on the street and it was picked up. Taking large pieces to the thrift store isn’t always feasible and we’ve been turned down for pick-up before so I can certainly understand putting it by the curb/trash.
Evelyn says
We have 2 different people in little pick-up trucks that drive down our road every tues and fri.(trash day ) One day hubby said ‘who are those people” I said garbage pickers 🙂 But yes Mavis I would have got those pumpkins if not for me to keep, then to give to our oldest for his house so the grands could enjoy them.
I am STILL kicking myself for NOT stopping and getting this wooden rocking chair I saw one morning in someone’s garbage.I could see the seat was broken out of it. As soon as I saw it ,a picture of it in my garden with sweet peas or morning glories climbing up through it all over it popped in my head. Shoulda woulda coulda 🙂
Beth says
We paid for an entire Disneyland trip (plane tickets from Texas, 3 day park hoppers, food in the park, rental car, hotel–about $2500) by collecting stuff (mostly furniture) people threw in the trash and selling it. Only took us about 4 months to earn that much.
simkins, Judy says
WAY TO GO!!!!!!!
Brandy @ The Prudent Homemaker says
Fascinating!
Shereen Travels Cheap says
That’s resourceful! I’ve used money from my own garage sales, but not actually thought about this. Nice job 🙂
Lisa says
What to go Beth! That’s amazing!!!
Lisa says
*Way…I can’t type today!!!!
Ellen says
I totally would have grabbed them. I think the gene must be hard-wired! My Dad would stop on the side of the road to pick up stuff in the road like ropes or rags or tools. As a kid it used to embarrass me but now I do it too!
Jenn says
If we see something good we stop. I had my husband pull up on a sidewalk one evening in a nice neighborhood in our town because someone had thrown out a kids fisherprice workbench. Those are so expensive. We got it, cleaned it up and our nephew is enjoying it now.
Katie C. says
I totally would have grabbed them! Also, a ribbon/bow might cover that blemish quite nicely.
I’ve picked up lots of stuff over the years. It always makes me feel a little funny, but I fight that ridiculous feeling as I help somebody out by taking what they set out on the sidewalk. I set out a lot of stuff myself. My husband always teases me that nobody will want the items, but I have yet to set something out without it quickly finding a new home.
It’s so interesting to me how incompatible the desire to not waste (aka, setting something on the side of the road) and picking up somebody’s unwanted items (the “ewww” factor) are. They should go hand in hand. Is it pride or shame on the picker’s part?
Diana says
I routinely pick stuff out of the cardboard recycling center when I go hunting for small boxes for shipping. Today I sold on Ebay a lot of 10 magazines that I pulled out. I once pulled out a vintage copy of Mein Kampf by Hitler and sold it for $50!
Wynne says
I would’ve taken them too, though I don’t know where I’d keep them. Yay for reusing and Freecycling.
Carly says
Question…so if stuff is sitting out by their trash can…can you just grab it or are you supposed to ask the homeowner if it’s ok?
Mavis says
Right next to the trash can. 3 neighbors actually are bummed I got to them first because they wanted them! 🙂 Good times. You snooze you lose.
Aggie says
I call it looking for ” curbside treasures”. I just found a very nice Little Tykes wagon alongside someone’s trash can. All it needs is a good scrubbing. Reuse, reduce, recycle! Thanks Mavis for all your good work in taking care of our planet !