Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I too never missed a tradition I didn't have .

Had some recent luck with some items my neighbors threw out: A Personal Vornado Pivot Fan that I now have on my work desk; after a light cleaning it works very well. An unopened box of kitty litter that I will gladly use for any accidental spills while working on my cars. 6 DEAN FOODS Black Plastic Storage Carrier Milk Crates that are perfect for storage. A wooden rolling pin that I came across while I was on a long run late one night. Im sure most who saw me running thought it was odd I was running with a rolling pin in hand

@Bigato
Agreed! Reminds me of my older brothers Japanese college roommate. In 1999 my family let him spend Christmas break with us since he decided not to go back to Japan during the holidays. My family partook in the whole nine-yards when it came to celebrating Christmas (tree, Christmas lights, presents, etc.). He thought it was the funniest thing spending an evening driving around the neighborhood looking at decorated homes. I didn't understand his confusion since I was 11 and a little naive but it did help me start questioning certain traditions for their face value. Luckily our food tradition of tamales and menudo was our saving grace. He appreciated that tradition

I dumpster dive in the college campus down the street at the end of the school year. It cracks me up how many cleaning and food storage items I find (Rubbermaid containers, windex, trash cans and trash bags). It seems like Moms’ buy them at the big box store at the beginning of the school year and kids proceed to ignore them .

@Laura Yes, I remember when my wife bought my son an iron and ironing board when he went off to university. You can guess how much that got used.

@bigato
Now that sounds like a lot of fun! I do appreciate when people get together to share each others company, cook and eat.

Went on a nice walk yesterday with my DW. As we were finishing up I came across a large pile of items that were thrown out from a neighboring tenant. Decided to keep the 60 CD Logic Case Portable Carrying Case. It was completely packed with lightly used albums featuring Jimmy Hendrix, Bod Dylan, Pink Floyd, Etc. This is my third CD haul in the past two years. I've likely accumulated >200 albums this way. Interesting to think these were all being sold for >$15 a piece when first sold. I'll likely sell them for a few dollars each once i'm done with them

bigato wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:38 pm

Hey Universe, next thing I could use is a blender, ok? :-p

Hey, don't jinx it!

@Bigato
You say Universe and I say Trash Gods lol. My DW used to always tease me whenever I came home with things we needed yet I managed to find on the side of the road or back alley. I would always exclaim "I'm telling you Boo, its the trash gods. They know when I need something."

The blender will come. I once found a nearly new one after I donated another that had seen better days.

bigato wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 17, 2020 7:40 pm

I like it! How does one praise the Trash Gods? By generating less and less trash maybe?

I always 'sacrifice/donate' back to the alley. I usually accumulate a few oddities from scavenging that I end up not needing. Once a month I'll gather those items, put them in a box labelled 'FREE' and place them out near the dumpster for other scavengers. Within minutes they are usually picked through. I figure others will catch on and would be willing to put things aside for others to take. The Trash Gods seem to accept this

Found on top of the trash last night, vase and all. They must be from Valentine's day but they look fresh-picked.



This morning at the swap meet I was telling a friend about how we are having a party tomorrow and found the flowers in the trash. She is in her late 60s, the wife of a physician, and she loves antiques. As a hobby she keeps a stall at an antique market near her home in one of the most expensive areas of town. We frequently tip off one another to the things we know the other likes. When I mentioned trash picking the flowers she got excited and told me a wonderful trash picking story that I thought some here may enjoy.

Her home has an alley in the back. Across the alley lived the matriarch of the family who owned one of the large mid-western brewery empires. Each year on Christmas eve the entire extended brewery brood would arrive to a lavish party at the house with gifts for the matriarch. My friend hosted her own family party the following day, on Christmas day. One year while parking in the alley a family member noticed the matriarch's maid hauling gift boxes to the trash. They snickered about how the wealth of a blue-collar beer empire bought gifts from Gucci, Ferragamo and other European fashion houses.

My friend couldn't resist the temptation and sneaked away from her party to collect the empty boxes. She was shocked to find that they were all full. She collected them all in her garage then wrote a note to the matriarch explaining what she found, believing that perhaps the maid was robbing her. The matriarch never responded.

For ten years the matriarch continued the tradition and every year the family would have one of the kids watching the trash. Together the entire party would raid the neighbors trash and enjoyed opening the boxes more than the gifts they had brought one another. Finally the matriarch died and the tradition ended.

She told me that last Christmas her sister-in-law who is not one to dumpster dive admitted that those were the best Christmases ever.

One of my friendly swap meet sellers has been showing up with interesting assortment of items from a grocery store recently. She gets all of the bruised organic fruits and vegetables which she sells by the grocery bag full for $1. Today she showed up with a half-dozen coolers full of heat-and-eat foods and eight Tofurkys. She saved the Tofurkys for me as I'm the only person at this particular swap meet who would buy them. Regular price is $14.99. She sold them to me for $1 each. Expiration date is 2021.

I am seeing this kind of thing more and more. There must be a name for it in the retail world (seppia?) It reminds me of remaindered books. Seasonal foods that get pulled from the shelf and auctioned (or donated?). In the past they would have gone on sale until they were gone. I assume the grocer get a refund from the supplier.

Anyone know what is going on?

From what I remember those items would get dumpstered along with anything else that wouldn't sell for any reason. It was tracked by the stockroom because the store would get a refund from the manufacturer.

There are parallels in other industries. Big box home improvement does the same thing. End of season plants that haven't sold go into the dumpster. Older lights and light fixtures that were being replaced by a newer model didn't go on closeout, they went in the dumpster.

@C40 Sorry for jumping on you about Christmas trees. I was stuck in my lizard brain for a while with too much work. I agree logically it's stupid, environmentally it's stupid, etc. What I was trying to explain was the sense of wonder that kids have that is really awesome and encouraging that is great. But there are other ways to do that. Just like there are other ways to keep a tradition going as @bigato points out. I put myself on a forum ban for a week to recuperate .

Ego wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 21, 2020 4:07 pm

She told me that last Christmas her sister-in-law who is not one to dumpster dive admitted that those were the best Christmases ever.

What a great story! I find these instances to be the most interesting aspect about dumpster diving. I've been doing this since I was about 8 years old and it's only been recently that people, who typically wouldn't dumpster dive, appreciate the act. I guess it helps when they get something out of it like a nice freebie

@Ego

Same reason the Fed doesnt want deflation. Once you start selling below a certain price that becomes the new price "floor". Consumers will hold out for deals. Its better to call a few percent a complete loss than drag down the entire inventory.

Car dealerships have been at this model for 20+ years now. MRSP has never gone down. Rather its "deals" and "sales events" to adjust to market demands.

This evening I sold a sleeping bag to a guy heading to Denali, a rope-bag-crash-pad=backpack to a rock climber girl headed to Joshua Tree and a pair of crampons for $50 to a guy who climbs in the Sierras regularly. I paid $22 for everything.



I predict camping away from it all will be the activity of this Covid summer.

SavingWithBabies wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 24, 2020 11:45 am

@C40 Sorry for jumping on you about Christmas trees..

It's ok. I didn't think that you were jumping on me, just that you were being a bit defensive and maybe not getting my point.

A tenant moved out and told me she no longer wanted the bike she left locked to the bike rack in the back of the property. I cut the u-lock with a grinder and listed it on craigslist on Tuesday. Sold today for $25 to a guy who repairs and resells second-hand bikes on craigslist.

I'm surprised that people are still buying stuff on craigslist. In the past three days I've sold two tents, a hammock and a kids kayak paddle.

On Thursday I sold a North Face 2-person tent for $125 to a guy who decided he was going hiking around the desert to get away from Covid.

I also sold the paddle for $30 on Thursday to a guy who wanted to get his daughter out of the house and onto the water during Covid.

On Friday I sold a well used MSR four season 3-person tent for $155 to a guy who was going to Wyoming to visit family and said he needed a durable four season tent to withstand the winds.

Just now I sold a Hennessy Hammock for $85 to a guy who just landed on the West Coast and was beginning a bike tour across the country.

Strange. I thought maybe it had something to do with the fact that REI is closed except for online orders and these guys were all looking to use the stuff right now.