Looking around my tiny house and my large front porch, I am aware of the fact that they are fully furnished--no, *over*-furnished--almost entirely with free STUFF. I paid nothing for almost everything I own now, except for a few clothes (thrift shops and yard sales) and some tchotchkes (sp?). Every piece of furniture, large and small, was either a found object or a donation...
The furnishings include: an off-white leather sofa and matching recliner chair in perfect condition, an antique peach velour wing-back chair, a vintage desk, a full-sized Serta Perfect-Sleeper bed, two antique "distressed" wooden dressers, an old oak dining table, various and sundry small tables, book cases, a butcher-block table, and a myriad of lamps. The books--and there are many--were either free or purchased from the local public library's "bucka' bagga' books" sales. My printer and my scanner both came from a dumpster and they work perfectly--in fact, the ink in the printer cartridge seems to be bottomless, as it has been working for a year now.
Fabrics that hang at the windows: free. Mirrors: free. A large electric piano keyboard: free. All kitchen appliances: free, or no more than $1 at a sale. I have one couch on the porch that I paid a whole $5 for, and a huge worktable that cost me helping someone else load an armchair into a pickup, and then he helped me with the table.
My antique Singer sewing machine, worth hundreds, cost me $8 plus a $4 belt. My treadmill and rowing machine were free. I did pay $14.99 for a fountain that graces my front porch, and $2.99 for a bird-feeder. Cameras (four of them), free. Kitchenware, free. Microwave, free. Audio equipment, free. My car, a Volvo Station Wagon (old), was a gift from a friend.
This all pleases me immensely, because I once owned a whole household full of STUFF, and all that STUFF was taken from me. All that was left was some artwork on the walls and a file cabinet full of papers. (Thank God for that!) Everything, just gone, while I was very ill in Arizona and couldn't get back to California in time to sort through and move my STUFF--so I lost it all. But, it turns out that new STUFF has been easy to come by, and too much of it, at that.
Friends have given me a lot of these items. I have also found many of them behind a thrift shop that was very choosy about what they kept for their own "collection," so they regularly discarded very attractive and usable items behind their store. (Sadly, they have moved to a new location now and the STUFF that they throw away is now piled behind locked gates, and I will *not* break the law, not knowingly anyway, when scrounging for STUFF.)
STUFF is everywhere, free for the taking. Try college dumpsters at the ends of semesters--your haul can be unbelievable. TVs, laptops, fine music equipment, major furniture, down comforters, beautiful clothing--just waiting for you.
Also, try www.craigslist.org and www.freecycle.org for more free STUFF. Sometimes you have to travel a bit of a distance, but almost anything you can think of eventually turns up on these lists. STUFF you can use, STUFF you can sell so you can buy more STUFF. Repeat after me: "There is no shortage of STUFF in the universe. I can find almost anything I want for free!"
What you *do* have to be willing to do is humble yourself. Put your pride away, and go over the top of that dumpster, after making sure first that you have a good way to get *out* of that dumpster! (Pulling your car right up next to it is often a good idea.) Again, be sure that local regulations do not preclude you from entering said dumpster--and then, go to town. Be prepared to get some odd and haughty, and even evil, looks from passersby, who just *know* that you are some kind of terrorist collecting parts for a major bomb. You might make new friends in or around the dumpster. Be prepared for anything. Smile. Carry ID, and Handi-Wipes in your car, though good STUFF dumpsters are usually a lot more sanitary than food dumpsters.
Other stuff may just be lying around outside, waiting for you. This is the easy stuff, as you don't have to plunge, hopefully feet first, into a large metal container that contains you know not what.
Carrying off a nice oak bookshelf that needs minor repair usually presumes that you have a vehicle. If you don't have a vehicle, you are more liberated than the rest of us! Free vehicle acquisition is not my area of greatest expertise, although I have managed to pull it off on three occasions. Be friendly. Convince people to *like* you, and you will get lots of free STUFF from them, perhaps even a car.
To be continued tomorrow. Right now, I have to go test out the free coffee grinder that a nice lady gave me at a yard sale today...
Anyone reading this, please feel very free to contribute your own ideas for procuring STUFF for free!!
ReplyDeleteLadywolf
it is unbelievable what people will throw away. I have a black metal folding-type bookcase that I found next to the dumpster when I was taking out the trash. The shelves are thin and the whole thing is pretty lightweight (which can actually be a good thing) so it can feel a bit flimsy, but it's surprisingly strong. The thing is, it was in PRISTINE condition--as in, not even a single superficial scratch in the finish.
ReplyDeleteBut that kind of find is pretty rare for me. Once in a long while I see furniture by the side of the road labeled "FREE" but not w/ any regularity. I once signed up for Freecycle ages ago but never quite got the hang of how it worked--but maybe there was some "New Members Please Read" type of notice that I never bothered to read?
sorry, I guess that wasn't too helpful.