Did you ever take furniture that someone else left out on the curb?

[GatorFarmer]

My wife had been after me to get rid of the lawn chair that I'd appropriated as my "sitting place" in the living room. It was handy since I could keep my back against the wall and thus limit the frequency that I'd be climbed on. But it was getting beyond where I could fix it with duct tape and random bits of string. Plus it was too uncomfortable to fall asleep in.

Then the neighbors next door started setting things out by the curb. Turns out that they are PCSing and thus getting rid of extra items. Today a black lazy boy type chair was out by the curb.... Sure there was a rip in the leather, but... That did look like a fine sitting chair. It sat out overnight since I was busy yesterday, but today I sent my wife over to ask the next door Mrs. if the chair was really being thrown out.

Yes, yes it was....

A bit of bleach to clean it off and remove various and sundry stains, and a piece of gorilla tape... and throw a left over bed sheet on it... And presto. I ended up with a free sitting chair.

Now if only I could have gotten the bar stools that went out the day before. They looked like they'd be fine with some duct tape.

Back in Lansing, my friend Dan and his dad would just drive around in their old truck and pick up other people's garbage from the side of the road, and that's where he got all his furniture. He'd steam clean it and seemed happy enough, but before today I'd never had the joy of curbside furniture.

Anyway, it's like sitting on a nest of pillows, it also functions as a rocker, and I can doze in it. Didn't cost me anything but a piece of gorilla tape and I pronounce it... eh maybe not good as new, but good enough.

Anyone else have the perhaps guilty joy of taking someone's else's curbside leavings home?

 

[Muley Gil]

I had a college roommate who had shared a trailer with another undergrad before moving in with me. Bill owned a black lab who would sleep in a living room chair. As indoor/outdoor dogs are prone to do, she got fleas and of course, the fleas infested that chair.

When Bill was moving out of the trailer, he set the chair out by the curb. Within a half hour, he spotted another trailer park resident hauling that chair into his trailer. Wonder how long that lasted!

 

[mwtdvm]

Not furniture

But I admit to liberating some old Samsonite luggage, a small over nighter and a cosmetics case. Removed the damaged liners and with a coat of spray on camo paint, I have two new "range boxes" .

Beware of bedding as there seems to be an epidemic of bedbugs in certain parts of the country.

I have also looked at the furniture at some of the "mission" stores and it was in better shape than mine.. Cheap too.

In this day and time, every little bit helps!!

 

[hiram2005]

I sure have done that. I used to get lots of stuff at the dumpster of the apartment complex I used to live at. Things too big to throw in the dumpster, so they were sat outside it.

Kitchen table and four chairs, end tables. coffee tables. Three TV's, all 25 inchers that woked fine. I sold those for $25 each. Had my garage full of stuff at one time.

Got a dresser once that had one drawer full of old Barbie dolls and in another drawer was over $40 worth of change!

 

[BaldEagle1313]

My brother and his wife live in a college town, and their area has a lot of rental housing - you know, 4, 5, or even 6 students in a 3 bedroom house splitting the rent.

The week after school lets out and these kids realize what they've accumulated during the year that isn't going to fit into the car you would not believe the furniture just parked at the curb. It's like there's a flea market that goes for blocks. My brother says people will intentionally cruise through their neighborhood that week just checking out what's being tossed. Some is typical torn up stuff, but there have been some fairly nice wood items that anyone who knows how to refinish can do well on. I think my niece got dressers and student-sized desks for two kids that way.

As for me, all the patio furniture came about because someone else was moving and didn't want to take it with them. Borrowed my friend and his truck and only cost me pizza and Pepsi.

 

[Beejabbers]

I have grabbed several items from the curb: two wooden ladders that I sold at the antique mall, a mower that with a new spark plug was better than the one I was using and lots of "scrap" wood.

 

[Jswiney9]

this practice is actually illegal in some areas! be careful

 

[Onomea]

Yep. I once picked up a rocking chair on 112th between Broadway and Amsterdam in NYC that was missing a rung. I used a piece of broom handle and some Elmers to replace the rung, and was in business. I called it the "112rh Street Memorial Rocking Chair." I like it so much that I considered dismantling it and taking it to Tokyo when I moved here in '86, but my then wife would not agree. (So I divorced her a couple years later...)

Then there was a couch that my bro and I acquired for free from somewhere when we were living on W 14th St, might have been off the street, and which we recovered with a blanket and a staple gun. Looked pretty good, actually. But we had these two male cats, unfixed, as it were, who like to use the couch for a latrine. Got pretty rank, so we put it on the curb where it promptly dissapeared in about ten minutes.

Always wondered how whoever took the couch felt about it when he/she got it back home and into the living room and took a whiff...

 

[ArcticFox]

I had a neighbor who was cleaning out and washing his van. He took out the middle seat and put it on the sidewalk. Woops, he had to run an errand and when he came back the seat was gone. It took him two days and the Sheriff to get it back.

 

[DeathGrip]

Couldn't resist.

I saw a guitar case in a trash pile and had to go look.The danged thing was empty.As I turned around to leave the home owner caught me and asked me if I played.I said "yes".She returned with this and gave it to me...A mid '60's Sears silver tone guitar.Not in the best shape but a good wall hanger worth about a $100 or so last I checked.
It's the one on the left.

 

[feralmerril]

I had a mentaly challanged nephew that parked his bike in front of a goodwill store while he went in to browse. He came out and no bike. A clerk had sold it!

 

[DeathGrip]

I had a mentaly challanged nephew that parked his bike in front of a goodwill store while he went in to browse. He came out and no bike. A clerk had sold it!

Danged,

I hope he got it sorted out.

 

[tennexplorer]

Yep, early last week. Two three-shelf pine bookcases. They are now serving as bullet and reloading gear storage devices.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I took a report a while back from a guy who had run out of gas in his lawn mower. He left it out by the road while he walked back to his house to get his gas can. When he came back with the gas the mower was gone. No idea who got it or where it went.

Jr. and I were riding down the road one day when he saw an old rocker sitting on top of a pile of trash by the road. We saw a lady in the yard and he asked if she was throwing it away and she told him to take it. He put it in the truck and drove over to Steve's Trash and Treasures and sold it to him for $50.00. It was probably worth more than that but it was free.

Another guy complained about his crack head neighbor stealing his gas can out of his yard. He'd done it twice. I told him he could either file charges on him or put a pound of sugar in the next one he puts out there. I drove by a few days later and crack head was pulling the engine out of his car. He never got another engine and the car is still sitting there without one.

Used to be folks around here used dead appliances for yard ornaments or targets because they couldn't get rid of them. Not anymore. Since the price of scrap went up all you have to do is get it to the road. It'll be gone in a few minutes. Back to the original thread. Will I pick up something from the side of the road? If it's worth something I will, but I ask first.

 

[fat tom]

this practice is actually illegal in some areas! be careful

Pickin' it up,or puttin' it out?
f.t.

 

[Ron H.]

Sir, when I was in college, I used a "U-Stor-It" space as a garage for my motorcycle. I was there a lot and became friendly with the manager, who'd alert me if anything of interest turned up when someone abandoned their stuff. I still have some bookshelves from there, as well as a a wood drafting table top that I later cut up and made into a cabinet. Nothing upholstered, though. Not interested in other people's bugs, even if they're free.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

 

[peyton]

In Germany they have a designated "Junking day" for neighborhoods. My wife was driving by an apartment building and saw a man bringing out a wall unit to the curb. She stopped and with her limited German speaking skills not only got the wall unit but also the gentleman loaded it in the VW Van!! It was 3 meters long 2 meters tall and had glass mirror doors. He had put all the hardware in a coffee can and we had everything. When it was time for us to go it got passed to my soldiers. That wall unit was passed to 5 different families in my unit.

 

[labworm]

Trash Day. Only those looking, know of some of the treasures waiting to be found.

A friend of mine (now retired) worked for the DPW trash pickup, you would not believe what people throw away. Fur coats, new appliances, how about a Sony complete stereo system still in a opened box, brand new. I bought a beautiful 1950's era GE Fan off him that was used for at least 20 years before it hit the curb for the second time, paid him $15.00.

Don't get me wrong I am not seeking these treasures myself, but I see nothing wrong with those that are. Not everybody has a money tree in their back yard.

PS Just think gang, you don't need a metal detector to find these treasures, seek and ye shall find.

 

[Qball]

The hous lived in 12years ago was located within walking distance to a dumpster.
Boy what some people throw away
The chair i'm sitting in now, brand new shoes (still in box) automobile parts.
I wish i had room for all the things i could pick there.
And then sell (sold many old windows that some one just dumped there)

 

[blujax01]

Every Monday evening our neighborhood has two or three "pickers" come through in their pickup trucks. I think it's wonderful as these guys recycle, fix and resell, or in general find uses for objects others have tossed.
They are allowed by the local police as long as they don't get overly aggressive and do something stupid like take the metal cans from the recycle bins.