Dumpster Diving-Garage Sale-Goodwill-Thrift Store & Craigslist Finds

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Do you have any friends who are scavengers? Maybe they can pick these items up for you? They haven't signed any agreement, so it would be ok for them to get these items right?

I wish! If they go to the back and try to leave with anything, the crew is supposed to stop them and make them throw it back.. The idea is that it was thrown away for a reason - and we (the company) don't want any liabality if someone takes something that causes damage.... blah, blah, blah.
I HAVE told several of the "regulars" that I'm looking for any usable building materail and they've promised that it will 'fall off of their trailer' it in the parking lot before crossing the scale. One guy came in and told me that he was on his way to remove a 25' dock. I was SOO excited - envisioned a new deck behind my house.... but it turned out that there wasn't a single board with more than a couple of usable feet ... bummer.

Oh well. Was trying to think of a way that you could get the things that you need over there.

It's a shame so much stuff goes to waste.

 

[BairleaFarm]

Lets get a few things straight. The dumpster doesnt belong to the land owner its on. It belongs to the dumpster people. Im fairly certin its illegal to dive just about any where. DO i dive? No, why? because veryone around here has gone to the big compactors.

but if they still have regular dumpsters id be all over it.

 

[jc12551]

I am loving reading this thread!! Rarely do I find such good deals. I do have a recent one to add.

My husband and I got LOST on a road behind town looking to detour around road construction. Found a guy throwing out sheets of painted plywood. We stopped and asked him about them. He was tearing down his tool shed b/c it didn't match the style of his house (crazy, I know!). He helped us load it into our truck and let us have it. Saved him a trip to the dump and $$ for a dump fee. The shed was 8' x 12'. We have made a new bantam coop, a dog house, and are working on a turkey coop from it. Most of it was full or half sheets and we had to pull the nails from it. Pulling nails made good punishment for one of our sons who has been sassing his teacher

Unfortunately he kept the trusses and the roofing material

 

[Carols Clucks]

Quote:
We made a cute garden tool shed/cat house out of the pile of 3/4 plywood my boss was tossing out (7 sheets worth)

 

[hmmcc123]

I love this thread! Yay!

I am always looking for ways to find things I want for free or cheap. I even look around the neighborhood when I am driving and won't be shy to stop and ask if I see something I want. haha. Funny thing is, I am usually successful! I have found fence sections for free, free plants (peonies even!), free rockery, free scrap sheet vinyl for the coop, free flowering plum tree...I ALWAYS look at the free ads on Craigslist.....I am picky too!! I just won't take anything, it has to be in good or better shape and something I will actually use.

My latest find was a pair of (almost new) $100 LaCrosse rubber boots for 3 bucks!! (They were 50% off that day at a local thrift store.) Major score!! I slipped some sheep skin fleece inside and they are so cozy to head out to the coop in!

Also, at the same thrift store, I spotted a dismantled large dog crate (I needed one for my dog walking/pet sitting business), so I went inside and asked them about it and they said I could have it for free!!! I was SO excited!! I just cleaned it up and it is in perfect shape!! I see those things on Craigslist used all the time for $75!!

 

[the Pollo Loco]

dumpsters are a great place for unwanted finds... (well actually next to the dumpster) I have found an Xbox 360 for my kids, a (new) Ronco rotisserie oven, and tons of other great finds!!!

 

[TrystInn]

I find out of fairly obscure out of print books - last one I found goes for $250 on Amazon used, I got it for $12. Problem is, I've gotten really good at it and now we're completely overloaded with out of print books.

Mostly, I'd say I'm a scrounger. I found 4 milk crates and promptly ziptied them together to make 4 nesting boxes. Two Boomba cat litter boxes for free on CL (hubby's in training) for additional brooder boxes. An old Banana Republic store display became 4 more nesting boxes for our Silkies. I scour Freecycle and Craigslist looking for additional things to turn into coops and pens.

Nowdays I'm grabbing old cheaply made wood furniture and painting it all white in hopes that after hubby retires from the Navy in 2012 that we get to retire in Florida.

Its driving hubby nuts (he prefers dark colored wood), but I keep telling him you need light and bright colors in northern Florida and I won't let anyone tell him different.

But my greatest 2nd hand find was hubby. When I first met hm, he was newly divorced and just needing a bit of freshening up!

 

[jc12551]

Quote:
I got a pair of new LaCrosse boots for $0. I didn't know they were so expensive. I have worn them to heck and back over the last six months. A friend of my friend bought them the wrong size, gave them to my friend, who passed them onto me. They fit me!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

They don't do this in my neighborhood, but in my sister's they have an annual bulky item pick-up. Everyone puts stuff out on the curb they don't want. My sister and i have gotten some great stuff:

Complete country style dining table and four chairs
Heavy stone fountains
Wood and screen patio door
Free standing bar with mosaic top
Lamps
Luggage
Plastic chairs (great for inside coops and goat pen)
Pet carriers
Large clay pots
. . . and much more

i missed out on a bunch of fencing panels, since i don't have a truck. We got all this great stuff last year. Now this year, there was hardly anything out for bulky item pick-up day. i'm wondering if it was because others got there before us, or if folks are being more frugal.

Now in our neighborhood, they don't have one annual bulky item pick-up day, it's individual. Everyone gets one pick-up a year. They call and schedule it when they want. i've gotten some good stuff this way, too - plastic chairs, roofing panels, and a cool old rattan couch i use to store hay in on our patio. i just LOVE getting free stuff or great deals. i've found several brand new famous name brand shirts for my husband at Goodwill for under $4 each.

Oh, also, for some reason our 99 Cent Store has been carrying clothes lately. i've gotten several nice shirts and a pair of jeans shorts there for, guess how much? . . . . 99 cents!

 

[cuntryuppiechick]

A friend used to do maintenance at a college dorm. He tripled his income selling the best of the items left behind every semester and of course nearly all his possessions were free. Near military bases, the apartment trash bins are always good to drive by. They purposely put the good items next to the dumpster so someone who needs it can get it.