I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~ Mark Twain
Have a GLORIOUS TUESDAY EVERYONE!
~Mavis
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Mrs. C. says
Our husbands should talk.
Cat says
It boggles my mind what you find in the garbage bins. Never seen anything quite that good in my neighbors!
Mavis Butterfield says
Technically, they were not in the bins… So I’m hoping the people that set them on top of or alongside the bins wanted the treasures to be *found* by someone who wanted them.
Carrie says
Nice scores! But won’t you be packing to move across the country in the coming months? I’d take the rug but leave everything else for someone else or donate the items.
The best items I’ve found on trash days are a 1970’s Schwinn bicycle and Flexible Flyer sled. The bike still had all original parts so my manfriend changed the tubes, tires, brake pads and chain. These bikes are usually $100 at antique shops! We haven’t had an ice storm in a few years but the sled makes a pretty decoration on my front porch with some greenery and a red bow during the holidays.
erin in IA says
So….have you ever been caught by a neighbor?
Brianna says
Amazing how wasteful our society is and how everything is just disposable. Our dump has a table people can put stuff like that on if they think someone might get use of it. I put things on it I know would be a hard sell at a garage sale or a thrift store wouldn’t take because it isn’t 100% perfect. I figure worst case scenario the dump attendant throws it in the dumpster. I put a box of long johns, half used candles, etc. up there a few weeks ago and they were gone before I could get out of the Lot. Apparently, some people need or want the stuff. I hate that the electric knife you found wasn’t donated. I know they wouldn’t take the hair stylers as those are considered hygiene item and they won’t take holiday stuff after the holidays.
E in Upstate NY says
My brother and sil were stopped by their community police and given a warning about trash pick-up day picking. Unbeknown to them ALL trash pickers must be city hall registered with a non-refundable fee. The police regularly make tours around, focusing on the part of the city with trash pickup that day. Seems their community is “known” as a good place to pic, and the fee is to help pay for the cleanup the pickers leave.
If my brother hadn’t been a resident, they would have had a pricey ticket!
Mavis Butterfield says
That is nuts!
SilverReader says
That is incredibly strange. Trash is public domain, which is why police officers can use what they find in the trash as evidence without needing any form of warrant. I honestly question the legality of any fee associated with trash picking. Then again, I’d probably get tossed in the box for a night for public dissent or something. *cough* Don’t be like me. Hahaha.
Tracy says
Actually, trash is not public domain in my state (and suspect not in most), if it is still placed on someone’s property. Just ask first; it’s not a big deal. Police can do lots of things us regular citizens can’t.
Jeanie says
We had this issue arise in our HOA (yes the reviled HOA which I am on the board of ) and when the police were asked they said that it is illegal for a normal resident to go into someone else’s garbage prior to it being dumped into the garbage truck. It is considered the homeowners property because they are effectively renting the can and service from the trash company. Once it is dumped into the trash truck, it is considered the trash hauler’s property. This seems incredibly petty but it was an issue that was raised at our HOA meeting because pickers were coming through the neighborhood on trash day and removing things from trash cans. Sometimes lids would be left off and trash would blow about, etc.
I know a lot of talk goes on about the evils of HOA’s and I do think some of the situations in Mavis’ HOA are extremely weird but I have to say that being a member of a volunteer HOA board is a thankless job. When your only goal is to maintain your home’s value and keep the commons areas looking nice and you have people debating over whether or not they can take all their shrubbery out because it makes their landscape easy to maintain or paint their house virulent purple…all you can reply is, “read the covenants you SIGNED and agreed to when you moved into this type of community”. That said, I’ve always found it best to have a good listening ear and a kind answer. We might not agree but part of being a good neighbor is finding ways to coexist together.
Carol Strain says
“….and when the police were asked they said that it is illegal for a normal resident to go into someone else’s garbage prior to it being dumped into the garbage truck.”
“Normal”….well, I have never been accused of THAT. I shall proceed with my curbside shopping. 🙂
I never leave a mess. I leave no trace that I was ever there.
Just remember, it is always easier to apologize than to get permission.
Lace Faerie says
That is nuts! Just another tax because some bureaucrat saw another money grab opportunity!
Julie P says
Oh my I’m so jealous not that I need any more stuff, And certainly not while we are living in the RV but I just love finding good stuff that’s being chucked away. Out here they seem to do the same, either put it to the side of their bins or on top so I assume it’s for folks to have a look at and take if they need. I cannot believe that you can be fined for this but I see their point I suppose. Anyhoo, keep on keepin on because one mans junk is another woman’s treasure!
Mary3 says
I can understand the registering part. I had cleaned out my shed and garage and had things in large trash bags. People came by and ripped the bags open,, searched thru the bags and left a bloody mess that I had to clean up – or I would have been fined for making a mess! It was awful. Not everyone is as respectful as you are when ‘dumpster diving’.
Tracy says
My feeling is that although it’s clear someone no longer wants what they have set out in the trash, if the item is still on their property, it is not yet mine to take. So….I just give a quick knock on their door –before I’ve done anything more than look without touching– and politely ask if I may examine their item and take it if I can use it. I’ve never had anyone say no, and I think it is the more respectful way to handle trash picking. Works a treat.
E in Upstate NY says
When the price for newsprint went sky high a few years ago, cities had to restrict people from pulling it out of the recycle bins on trash day. The pickers were making money, yes, but the city was also making money and keeping their budgets in line without raising taxes with the newsprint profits.
Same thing happened when metal prices became quite high. People were motivated to pull the trash out of the property. Often the lines to the metal recycling place in our area was over a mile long on the highway. And people became angry if they had to close their door due to longer having any place to stage the scrap. Now a day, that company has laid everyone off except the wife and a son to keep the place operational due to low prices.
Laura T. says
I do that myself. I put good stuff out in the open for people to see. Some people put the good stuff out a day early too. We have regulars that come around in their pick ups & pick the stuff up, especially any metal items that they can sell at a scrap yard.
Gail C says
This isn’t about the trash but about HOAs. An HOA in Auburn, California notified their homeowners
that as of January 1, 2018 they must keep their garage doors open Monday through Friday from 8 am
to 4 pm so that they can be sure nobody has people living in their garages. A 9 year old immediately
saw the problem with this as he commented to interviewers that he was worried his bike would be
stolen.
KAYTHEGARDENER says
Things are pretty bad if a 9 year old has more common sense than a HOA Board made up of adults!!
One or 2 members of my HOA Board insert their opinions as explicit interpretations of the ambiguous implied bylaws…
It takes hiring a lawyer to get them to back down, from their attempts…strange how they never have to resign or pay monetary damages themselves.
Julia says
I love love love trash day. I’ve gotten lots of great stuff. I have a like minded friend that lives a block away. Last night I came home to find an adorable corner shelving thing on my front porch. My friend found it onher daily walk and thought of me! It’s nice to have friends that know you so well!
Norma Mason says
Love your friend.
Sea says
I figure if it’s set outside the trash can (next to it, on top of it), it’s probably fair game! As long as nobody makes a mess, it’s okay by me. I have gotten a couple of new Nordicware cake pans that my next door neighbor set out—those are expensive! 🙂 Before recycling day, I sometimes set our bag of soda cans next to the recycling can; I occasionally see homeless people looking for cans, and I’m happy for them to have them; and it seems a little more dignified not to have to dig thru the trash can for them.
Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this, but the “professional scavengers” who come by on trucks are often doing me a service—I know I can get rid of bulky items without arranging for a special pick-up, or without them always winding up in the landfill. Hopefully the stuff gets re-purposed, re-used, recycled, and if they make some money that’s fine by me.
BTW, I currently live in a very large city that’s high population density, has public alleys, and it’s definitely a different dynamic than in an upscale suburban HOA!
Lace Faerie says
I found my large cast iron Dutch oven at our trash transfer station. Someone set it beside the bin so it could be ‘rescued’. Love that thing!
I go to the other extreme, I exhaust all avenues of donating or selling items before I throw anything thing useful away!