Hi all, as I still deal with family issues (no change at the moment, for those of you following….) I have friends stopping by and guest posting as I try to keep things together on the home front.
Yesterday I introduced you Jennifer, to one of my roommates at the upcoming SNAP! Conference. Today I would like you to meet another roomie: Karen from Redoux. Karen has guest posted here before and I love her trash to treasure philosophy. Since my guys often cringe and shrink down in their seats as I drive by some curbside treasure, I am anxious to hear Karen’s tips on dumpster diving. No seriously. I am all about the freebie..
Yesterday I introduced you Jennifer, to one of my roommates at the upcoming SNAP! Conference. Today I would like you to meet another roomie: Karen from Redoux. Karen has guest posted here before and I love her trash to treasure philosophy. Since my guys often cringe and shrink down in their seats as I drive by some curbside treasure, I am anxious to hear Karen’s tips on dumpster diving. No seriously. I am all about the freebie..
Le Comprehensive Guide to Dumpster Diving, Part “Un”
Hi V Spot readers. I am honored to be guest posting here today at one of my favorite blogs. If you have happened by my blog before, then you might know I am passionate about “Le Junque”. I love to restore and refurbish furniture. If I am lucky enough, even use pieces I find on the side of the road, Craig’s list Free, or my favorite….DUMPSTERS!
In fact, I recently became a certified member of this club:
Dumpsters, my friends are not just repositories for stinky garbage and dirty diapers. They are treasure troves of Architectural Elements, trim, cool moulding, old boards. They are often the secret place people go to get rid of broken chairs, ugly old mirrors, Oil Paintings by Aunt Bertha, and any number of salvageable furniture items that may have a scratch, dent, or just be plain ugly. These items end up in various dumpsters because of one reason. People are lazy and don’t want to haul their stuff to the dump and pay the fee.
There are always friendly workers at my local dump.
What is a cheater’s misdeeds can be your gain if you follow these simple rules:
In order to yield the best results from a dumpster dive, you need to keep these rules in mind.
1. Bring work gloves, and a flashlight. You might have to dig around a bit for something good, and you don’t know what you might encounter in the process. (sidebar, I have NEVER encountered a live animal, i.e. Mouse or Rat)
2. Wear old clothes, this goes without saying.
(overalls are my personal favorite)
3. Go in the early morning hours, before the garbage trucks come and people start arriving at work for the day. It is slightly embarrassing to explain to people that the nice looking mom in the van is diving for garbage.
My dream to dumpster dive here someday….
4. Bring a large vehicle. My van has seats that fold and stow, and it doubles as a pick up truck. You don’t want to discover an amazing collection of chairs, only to realize they won’t fit in your economy sized car.
(not my actual car, mine is far yukkier)
***If you don’t know where to begin a good dumpster dive, here are some suggestions. Take a tour around your city. Stick to the Mom and Pop type stores, independent furniture stores, flooring stores, etc. Don’t bother looking behind strip malls. Dumpsters here are always locked and most stores have industrial sized trash compactors that immediately destroy any goods you would hope to score.
5. Look for smaller groupings of businesses that are not necessarily on busy roads. These dumpsters are not locked. This is where people will go to throw out their almost perfectly good items. If there is an unlocked dumpster in your town, and it is in a secluded area, trust me, the trash rule breakers know about it and put their goods there. Often, the good stuff is not just in the dumpster, it is often behind, and next to the dumpster.
5.When running your daily errands, scan the roads, esp. residential neighborhoods for “reno” dumpsters. I have even trained my children to keep their eyes open for these. Reno dumpsters are gold mines for Architectural Salvaged pieces, old doors, cool mouldings and trims. And, if you are lucky, furniture! I always try to find the owner of the dumpster first before beginning my raid. Just to be on the safe side.
7. Once you have made your plans and pinpointed your dumpster locations, head out early. If you live in a city, I recommend you go with a friend. I live in a small city with a low crime rate. I feel comfortable diving on my own. However, I once encountered a man in a dumpster. I pulled up to my favorite dumpster and heard noises. I paused in my car, rolled down the window, and lo and behold a man popped out and waved at me. When coming upon a dumpster in the dark, I highly recommend giving a quick tap to your car horn to alert anybody that might be there of your presence. I don’t recommend joining them in the dump dive. Just say a few angry words under your breath and come back in a few days.
This concludes Part Un of the Proper Way to Dumpster dive. I will be reposting this on my blog on Monday, and stay tuned!! Come back Tuesday, I will be posting Part Deux. Dumpster Diving at Apartment Complexes. Everything you need to know, including how to get into gated complexes, (where the really good stuff is).
Thanks so much Karen! I’m looking forward to meeting you “in person.” Please be sure to check out Karen’s fabulous link party every Friday at Redoux.
MiMi says
March 9, 2012 at 4:50 PMHoly mackerel! This has me giggling out loud. 🙂 Seriously business though!
Emmy says
March 9, 2012 at 6:36 PMDumpster diving – well I had a friend that did it- allowed me to be th crazy coupon queen I used to be. Good times
At The Picket Fence says
March 10, 2012 at 2:23 AMOh we just love Karen!! She is so hysterical and impressive! 🙂
Vanessa
Debra from Bungalow says
March 10, 2012 at 6:43 PMLOL How I wish I had the nerve to do this! Bet there is lots of great stuff just waiting for a new life!
Help me celebrate my move to wordpress, come on over and enter the giveaway for a Cutting Edge Stencil!
Impulsive Addict says
March 11, 2012 at 5:57 AMOH WOW! Nope, I couldn’t do it. Never. I’m too prissy or scared. But I love that you find some treasures! AND FREE! That’s the best part!
Hiiiii Viv! Hope you’re doing well. oxoxo
Kathryn says
April 2, 2012 at 5:56 PMAnother gold mine coming up is if you live in or near a city that has dorms at the end of the term. Students almost always end up with more stuff than they moved in with and as they are pressed for space (and usually time as they have to be out by a certain date) and quick to put perfectly good items in the dumpster.
If you are not comfortable with diving into dumpsters, if you know the trash schedule of different neighborhoods and can go later at night or in the wee hours, people usually (at least where I live) leave the “good” stuff outside of the the trash containers in hopes that someone can use them.
The mother of one of my son’s friends that had 6 kids would do this and pick up furniture that needed to be recovered, repaired refinished or repainted and would fix up and sell them to make extra money. In some neighborhoods the items were perfectly good to nearly new and all she had to do was steam clean them.