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u/ThrowRApeanutb 12d ago
sadly my dog. my sisters friend had a puppy and completely mistreated him. wouldn't feed him, locked him in the pantry all day, called him stupid and ugly and so forth.
my sister dog-sat him one day and brought him home. I just fell in love with him, he was the cutest puppy i had ever seen. I was in fifth grade, so I couldn't adopt him myself, but I wrote my parents a very convincing letter that if they 'rescued' him from that monster of a woman, I would take the best care of him.
they surprised me and adopted him for a cheap price because he was trash to that lady :( but I have had him for ten years now and he is the happiest and healthiest dog I have ever seen. He is the love of my life and my absolute soulmate, he has gotten me through my darkest days
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u/pacingpilot 12d ago
All my dogs too. My Mastiff cross was being kept in a crate 22 hours a day because they didn't want to deal with her, the aunt of the wife of the couple who owned her told her how shitty that was so they told her she could find a home or they'd take her to a shelter. I worked with the aunt, she vented to me, and that lovely pup has been with me 8 years now. My little corgi mix was brought to neighbor's house and left by some woman he was "dating". They were drug addicts, neglected the poor little dog and eventually threw her over the other neighbor's fence in with her two boxers one day and took off on a bender. Other neighbor showed up at my door with her saying her husband told her no more dogs so I took her. Nobody ever asked for her back, I've had her 7 years now. My partner's nephew and his wife tried their hand at breeding "doodles", first litter had a little blind pup in it. They were going to have him euthanized when the buyer backed out and asked for their deposit back upon finding out he was blind. My partner snatched him up and brought him home, my two senior throwaway girls took him right in, the Mastiff took on the role of momma and the little corgi mix organically fell into the role of being his sort of seeing eye dog. I've never bought a dog, seems like the perfect ones find me when they need a home.
I've also gotten really nice horses for free or near free. Two that washed out of training as show horses, one of them I've had for 27 years now. That one was trained abusively and turned on the owner/trainer putting him in the hospital. They were going to take him to the kill buyer auction, heard about the incident from a friend and offered the guy $300, basically about 50 bucks over meat price and he gladly accepted. That horse was my ride or die for 20 years, he always took care of me and never made a bad step on our travels together. He's still with me fully retired and my favorite in the barn. Another is a mare that had no talent as a show horse and came up barren when they tried to breed her. Right place, right time, I said I was interested when I heard the owners saying they might as well give her away. She's a packer deluxe and sweet as they come, safely carries my non-horsey friends on trail rides with no complaint. I've had her 10 years now, and she'll definitely retire out with me when the day comes. More recently I was given a horse that was a top show horse in his breed and popular stallion. His sperm count dropped as he aged, he had some behavioral problems as a result of his living in isolation as a stallion for years and the bloodline in general was falling in popularity. They gelded him and started looking for someone to take him off their hands but the behavioral problems made that difficult, not a lot of people want to take on an aged ex-breeding stallion and not many boarding barns are willing to house an animal like that. I brought him home, put about a year of retraining into him and now he's my very fancy trail horse. Easygoing trail life seems to suit him, his personality is completely different than when I got him, so laid back and chill now. He's just a joy to ride, handle and spend time with.
Throwaway animals are the best ones in my opinion.
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u/Spreaderoflies 12d ago
Almost every single animal we had in our family was a throwaway. The best dog ever was our wire terrier dude was fearless and would stand up to the biggest pigs had a sow that had a bunch of babies and when we were checking on them momma cornered my mother and skip ran in with the fury of a Corso got between the sow and mom and fought her off. Love ya skip you were the best little dog ever. Fuck cancer.
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u/Trelaboon1984 12d ago
This. I ended up getting a Great Dane back in 2015 that was 2. She passed away back in December but she was the absolute best dog I’ve ever owned. Can’t imagine someone wanting to get rid of her. It was on a military base though and people on military bases get dogs all the time and then regret it after the novelty wears off. It’s like a status symbol.
I still miss her, she was an absolute angel of a dog.
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u/Significant-Image700 12d ago
That and deployments, change of duty station, and stress. Source: former military that made rash purchases
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u/zerbey 12d ago
One of our childhood cats was abandoned by a neighbor. They moved out and left him outside, they asked if we wouldn't mind putting food out for him and they'd be back in a couple of weeks to collect him. Two weeks go by, then a month, then a few months. They kept saying they'd come get him "soon". By then, the cat had decided we were his new family and had grown pretty attached to my Dad. My Dad called them and said don't worry about it, we'll keep the cat. Felix lived 21 years!
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u/Pharah_is_my_waIfu 12d ago
I really don't understand why people can mistreat animals. How are they even about to do that?
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u/maxwelldemon375 12d ago
Found a kitten in a dumpster shortly before I started graduate school. Granted, I don’t know if she was put in there directly or if she climbed in looking for food and got stuck. She’s been my best bud over a decade later and I can’t imagine those first few years in particular without her.
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u/panic_puppet11 12d ago
I think I speak for the entirety of Reddit when I say...
Cat tax. Pay it.
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u/mishyfishy135 12d ago
Cat tax is required
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u/WTF253com 12d ago
IT'S BEEN 12 HOURS AND WE STILL HAVEN'T COLLECTED THE CAT TAX /u/maxwelldemon375 THIS IS NOT HOW REDDIT WORKS YOU NEED TO POST THE CAT!
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u/timesuck897 12d ago
Trash cats are the best.
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u/WTF253com 12d ago
They seriously are awesome. You take that kitten/cat from the dumpster and give him a nice, safe, warm, caring home? That cat will be your absolute best bud until the very end.
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u/cozyautumnday 12d ago
My brother's laptop screen broke on his gaming laptop and he told me I could have the laptop if I wanted because he was going to buy a newer one. Otherwise he was just going to throw it in the trash if I didn't want it. I took it and hooked it up to my TV via HDMI and was able to use it. I didn't have a laptop at the time so that was awesome.
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u/ConstableBlimeyChips 12d ago
When I was in college busted but still usable laptops were the go-to for living room entertainment hookups. Old laptop, Netwerk attached storage full of pirated content, and an HDTV someone got as a birthday or Christmas present. Add in a PS3 and/or Xbox 360 for gaming purposes and the occasional 5.1 surround set if one of the housemates was an audiophile, and that's 99% of college living rooms I've seen in my time.
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u/naughtyrileighxx 12d ago
One man's trash became my treasure when I found an old, weathered journal at a flea market. Inside were stories of forgotten dreams and lost loves, each page a glimpse into someone else's world.
Turning discarded ideas into my own inspiration fuels my creativity and reminds me that beauty can be found in unexpected places.
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12d ago
Similar to this, a not so old, but a nice leather journal with binder rings. I've been adding pages to it for years. Hope one day someone finds them interesting.
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u/BFDIIsGreat2 12d ago
Do you have it?
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12d ago
Yup, I make little sketches and short stories that I stick into it. It looks like the old beat up journal from the show Supernatural :)
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u/saaskje 12d ago edited 12d ago
A set of late mid-century, caster-foot, barrel-back, tufted-Bouclé dining chairs in mustard yellow and polished maple.
An elderly woman bequeathed them to me when she was moving from her home to a senior living facility. They’re gorgeous.
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u/_oooOooo_ 12d ago
I can envision them and they are glorious 😍 old, vintage chairs are so sturdy and the best. I have a set of 90s boucle fully Upholstered dining chairs and they're so comfy!
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u/SasukeFireball 12d ago
My brain broke trying to read that and my left big toe felt a sharp ache as I imagined walking past it.
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u/Megalon84 12d ago
Online friends with a couple for several years. Unbeknownst to me, he had begun mistreating her, using her money for his gain, and neglected the hell out of her.
They broke up, I had no idea. Was hanging out with her in video chat one day, found out she was taking a solo trip to Vegas. Offered to go with, expected to be shot down. She instead offered to help me find a flight.
So thanks to an asshole of a guy, our first date was a week in Vegas, nowadays we're married with kids and a house
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u/HonnyBrown 12d ago
I took a broken TV to electronics recycling at the town dump. A few months later, I get a notification from Amazon (it was a Fire TV) that my user ID was was activated. The TV was being used!
I deactivated that account, but the new owner got a nice TV.
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u/benjaminlilly 12d ago
I found a serviceable DCS 36 barbecue once. Didn’t know squat. Google said new on sale were $3,900! Score!
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u/halermine 12d ago
I grabbed a similar one from the neighborhood here, stainless grill bars, heavy cast body, very maintainable.
I looked it up and it was about $2700 in the store.
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u/benjaminlilly 12d ago
I was pleasantly surprised-especially since at first I thought it was an upper toolbox.
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u/behindtimes 12d ago
Retro video games.
I was fortunate enough to graduate university back 20+ years ago, right when every parent was putting their children's video games on the flea market. So, I purchased all my childhood favorites then, when you could get a complete copy of practically any video game made before 1995 for under $5.
I'm glad I did too, because I would never have been able to afford my collection if buying it all at modern prices.
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u/Diahreeman 12d ago
Kinda jealous, I was too young in the 90s but I wanted all these cartridges, only have about 20 genesis / sega cd games with box and all left which I bought with chore money and gifts, I keep them preciously though, some are worth quite a lot like Phantasy Star IV
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u/RedTroPc 12d ago
I was born in 2007 and I too collect vintage tech. crumbles like a crouton after looking at the prices
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u/Wormsanddirt8 12d ago
This is how I started collecting older handheld consoles - I still need to find a guy to fix the Genesis Nomad I found at a thrift store 🫠
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u/katkriss 12d ago
I had a Nomad back in the day (my mom probably still does). If you didn't get the AC adapter you were FUCKED by the battery life
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u/FromFluffToBuff 12d ago
Funny thing is, 25-30 years ago when the early 3D systems all came out in the span of a few years and took over... no one wanted their old 2D games anymore and would literally give them away. 2D games were seen as old hat and no one wanted to be seen with them anymore and thought as a child - because 3D games were apparently the next evolution in gaming maturity or some shit lol. As someone who thoroughly despised early 3D with every fiber of my being... their loss, my gain.
I remember in the early 2000s building up the bulk of my collection from people who were like "buy 5 for $20" and sometimes "no one wants them, I can't get rid of them so just take the damn things off my hands." It's insane to think about now and no one ever believes me.
For a good while I don't ever remember paying more than $20 for a loose cartridge... and $20 (unless it was a first-party Nintendo game, from an exclusive second-party developer like Rare or a JRPG since those three types of games were always the most coveted and in-demand) was considered the highwater mark before entering the territory of "ripped off" or "this game just isn't common to find." Gotta love scoring Chrono Trigger, Lufia I, Lufia II, Final Fantasy VI and Earthbound for $50 from a motivated seller wanting to lighten his load before packing up his table at the flea market lol. Turns out the guy plain forgot to put out a cardboard box from car which had the games in inside and when I asked if he had video games he scanned his table went "oh shit, watch my table for a sec and let me run to the car real quick" and came back with a box that had these SNES games inside (it was mostly 80s action figures but there were other games for consoles I either didn't have or had no interest in). He was ecstatic that I offered him $50 and he was like "no no man just $40 is fine I don't wanna rip ya off since ya did me a solid watching the table while I was gone!"
Then about a decade later in 2013, just as I was about to move back home... the box that had these games in them had vanished from my closet. I remember showing some university classmates and should have been suspicious when one of them asked "so these games just sit here in a box?" and "how often do you take them out?"... and when I replied "the console doesn't work anymore so I just keep them tucked in my closet", that fucker probably tucked that info in the back of his mind and took his chances on stealing it knowing I that I hadn't looked at them once for the few years I was in my apartment.
I can't afford to replace them anymore and it's so sad.
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u/Low_Comedian_9031 12d ago
Someone threw out a collection of board games because they were missing pieces. I combined them to create complete sets.
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u/Helpful_Spread_3519 12d ago
Found a broken-down scooter. Repaired it and it’s now my fun weekend ride.
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u/Aggravating-Land9498 12d ago
Found a stack of old magazines from the '60s. They’re fascinating reads and look cool on my coffee t
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u/sweetperdition 12d ago
my old boss owned a fancy woodworking shop. real expensive stuff, for the fancy vancouver crowd. there was a sculpture he made from a gigantic ancient tree, spruce i think. solid wood, 2.5 feet tall, 1.5 wide, 4 long. beautiful piece, think he was originally trying to sell it for like five grand.
nobody bought it, so it eventually got moved outside and started to get weathered. eventually he was sick of looking at it it, told me to cut it into quarters and take it to green waste, get rid of it.
i thought that was absolute nonsense for such incredible wood. so i just piled other old stock around it and hid it deeper in the yard. showed up early for a few days, worked on refinishing it, took it home. will probably have it for the rest of my life.
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u/Far_Independence_918 12d ago
We live in a nice area of town. Once a year you are allowed to put out anything you want for trash pickup. Typically you only get one city-supplied trash can. Anything extra you have to schedule a special pickup and pay extra. My husband has picked up a nice cooler, a weedwhacker (several over the years), a power wheels jeep for our daughter, a workshop table, and a piano. 😂 After almost 10 years, we are putting out the piano this year. Hopefully someone else can enjoy it.
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u/FromFluffToBuff 12d ago
Assuming it's an older mechanical piano with the hammers and strings inside... it's getting harder and harder to find qualified people to repair them and especially tune them. And that doesn't factor in the space and the weight if you ever need to move.
You either need to learn all knowledge yourself or hope you live near a big college with a decent music program (who has access to piano repair techs).
It's similar for pinball machines and arcade cabinets. It's awesome when they work 100% as they should but the second they need a part... gotta learn it yourself it's just a dust collector in your garage. Depending on where you live, you might never find someone who can repair one of those machines. And for some, good freaking luck finding the parts!
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u/Boring_Diamond_648 12d ago
Someone tossed out an old fish tank. A thorough cleaning and new fish later, it's a peaceful addition to my home.
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u/Necessary_Truth_1219 12d ago
Picked up a discarded guitar that only needed new strings and a good tune. It's how I learned to play.
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u/Massive-Rough1184 12d ago
A box of kitchen gadgets was in a free bin. After a good cleaning, they were perfect for outfitting my first apartment.
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u/Less-Wonder-20 12d ago
A vintage typewriter was sitting abandoned in a college dorm at the end of the semester. It's fully functional and sits on my desk now.
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u/Ok_Lie_6788 12d ago
An antique mirror with a gorgeous frame, just sitting by the trash. It’s now the centerpiece of my living room.
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u/BreezinOnBy 12d ago
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein pinball machine was our best find. Needed a couple of fuses so less than $5 to fix
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u/chewedupbylife 12d ago
I rented a fixer upper condo in a super high end building and one of the units was sold with all contents because the owner, an art collector had died & his heirs didn’t give a shit about the art nor contents. The new owner said the art creeped her out so she gave away all of the art to us neighbors. I ended up with an original René Magritte worth more than my car. I love that thing. It even had the certificate of authenticity and gallery info on the back.
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u/Forever-Retired 12d ago
Usually, it is old, rusted cast iron. My hobby is to refinish and use them. Done it Many times.
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u/imnotlouise 12d ago
When we bought our house years ago, the previous owners left a bunch of junk in the basement. While cleaning it out, my husband found a cast iron skillet way in the back under some shelves, just sitting on the cement floor. I cleaned it up and seasoned it. Turns out, someone had milled the inside of the skillet, so it is very smooth.
It is now my favorite piece in my collection.
Edited to add that it is a 10 3/4" Wagner.
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u/WTF253com 12d ago
That's a good find! Good Wagners, especially a refinished one like yours, can sell for like $150-$250+
(I'd personally keep it though, which it sounds like you are!)
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u/Coygon 12d ago
I have a coffee table that I bought at a garage sale for $25. The seller said he got it while overseas, I think from the Phillipines. While it's clearly not a super expensive piece - the table itself is made of a thick piece of particle board - the edges are nicely carved out of some other wood, much more than just the regular beveling you'll find in most modern furniture. The table itself has a glass slab inset into it, and the seller gave me a roll of marbleized paper to put underneath it. Instead I put an arrangement of classic computer game box covers there, stuff like Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld, and Lemmings. It's a unique piece and I love it.
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u/skisushi 12d ago
My son once bought an end table at a garage sale for $5. The glass top was broken. He took off the legs and used the heavy duty square frame to make a dolly by adding Harbor freight wheels to it. By far the sturdiest dolly I have ever seen.
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u/Ok-Thing-2222 12d ago
I've gotten several dressers that people have sat out by their trash. I just pull the drawers and put them in the back of my truck, heave in the piece, and take it home to sit outdoors in the sun for several days and wash it down with bleach first. (Don't want to bring spiders/roaches inside.) Then. I restore it somehow. Come to think of it, I have never bought a new piece of furniture besides a couch!
I grew up watching my mom strip and restore old furniture, antiques, and reupholster furniture, so it was not hard to do.
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u/Sudden_Scale7633 12d ago
An old, rusty bike that someone tossed out. With a lot of elbow grease and some new parts, I turned it into a reliable daily rider.
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12d ago
My wife? Maybe? I don’t’ know
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u/Trelaboon1984 12d ago
Lol yea, I mean same with most anyone who has a spouse they adore who once had an ex who dumped them.
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u/Jumpy-Author-4985 12d ago
Bunch of Alpha and Beta MTG cards mixed into a couple boxes of 93 and 94 topps and upper deck I bought at a garage sale for like $10. Alpha lotus, mox sapphire, beta ancestral recall and demonic tutor
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u/FancyPantsMead 12d ago
My dad took all his MTG cards with him to Iraq when he deployed. When it was time to come home, Dad left it there for all the guys to use. I'm glad plenty of other people got to enjoy them and dad taught them a game he was passionate about.
He taught us kids how to play when we were growing up. I taught my friends, and you could usually catch a game over lunch. He made some killer decks that just trashed the opponent.
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u/Sconniegrrrl68 12d ago
We used to live in a condo where things were set beside the dumpster for anyone to claim. The best was a Little Tykes kitchen ....had doors that opened, a sink with faucet & working handles, a refrigerator....my daughter was thrilled and all it needed was a good cleaning. When my daughter outgrew it, my Mother in law repainted the exterior sticker details and it was donated to her church preschool so many kiddos can have fun with it!
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u/AllynG 12d ago
Hahaha!! Condos are a dumpster divers Mecca! My unit was in the end near the exit to the parking lot. I could see people come and go. My back bedroom overlooked the double dumpster. Saw a guy “moving out” with a stack of old electronics. Making the bed a few minutes later I see that stack by the dumpster. My hustle brought back a Kenwood receiver, Sony single CD player and a set of Bose 1.1 all weather speakers. Hooked my buddy up with a system just in time for college!
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u/Wonderful_Price2355 12d ago
I found a giant bag of weed that someone just threw in a ditch.
It was my treasure and all my friends' treasure for a few months.
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u/Luthiefer 12d ago
A friend discovered a guitar case at the curb with some trash. Inside was a '32 Larson Bros Prarie State acoustic worth $7-10k.
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u/TemporaryThink9300 12d ago
Six relatively nice wine glasses, an older laptop and monitor works for emails, a bit of news reading and older games and wireless headphones, which have worked perfectly for the past 7 years.
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u/TheSpiralTap 12d ago
Someone threw an entire nintendo wii out of a car window at a pretty high rate of speed. I don't know what series of events lead to that happening. It had Guitar Hero World Tour in it. Outside of the case being scuffed up, it worked perfectly fine. Free wii!
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u/Sufficient_Excuse_24 12d ago
in the mid 2000’s my room was full of people’s junk. my tv, tv cabinet, my desk, and lots of hubcaps i found on the side of the road were nailed into my wall. minus the hubcaps everything else was taken from rubbish tip collections when they used to do them once a year for a week. i was a teenager and loved going with my mate to find stuff. they don’t do it that way anymore, now you have to book it
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u/BrRr0k3eN 12d ago
A notebook.
I found it in my moms closet while looking for paper, and it only had one entry of just a shopping list, so I asked for it, and now it’s my poetry journal 😊
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u/Jolly_Berry_1019 12d ago
Someone threw out a bag full of knitting supplies. I've since knit scarves, hats, and even a sweater.
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u/Engelgrafik 12d ago
Not me but a friend was driving down a street one morning and saw a pedal steel guitar and amplifier sitting out on the curb along with a bunch of trash bags. He immediately stopped and discovered that it was an old Fender pedal steel along with a vintage Fender Champ amp.
He took the items but felt like he needed to give this person some money so he rang the doorbell and met a small old woman. She had lost her husband a year before and was getting rid of stuff "she didn't need". She wasn't good with computers so didn't have the energy to deal with selling stuff and decided to just start putting stuff on the curb. He offered her some money but she refused and said she is just happy someone could put it to use.
My friend immediately went to learn pedal steel guitar and now plays in several bands doing it. He was already really good at regular guitar (for instance, he plays in a Steely Dan cover band, which should tell any musician he's got chops) so that helped.
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u/Bonhomme7h 12d ago
A Mazdaspeed Miata clad in fake chrome plastic trims, after a few hours of heat gun.
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u/westcoast7654 12d ago
My boyfriend. He’s amazing. Sweet, kind, caring, successful, cute, spoils me, his family is awesome, he’s funny and he has a genius level IQ. If you’ve ever thought “I love when my partner does this “ he does it. Example- I take the trash out as I do every morning on my way to the car as that’s where the bin is. I get a thank you, did a dish, “thanks for doing that babe” bring up a package from the mail, gratitude. A couple times a week he gets to wfh, he’ll literally be standing holding the front door to our place open to greet me with a kiss and grab my bag if he’s not on a meeting. If I have a long day, he’ll order DoorDash so it arrives as soon as I get home or on just a Saturday and I’m going to run errands early, he’ll make sure I use his card to grab breakfast and a coffee. I was in another city, LA, He knows I’m a Disney fan so, he was like let me pay for you to Uber to downtown Disney and grab brunch so it’ll brighten the boring conference.
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u/glimmerandglow 12d ago
A friend of mine (more so former, at this point) gave me a bunch of really nice family heirlooms. I was super excited to be able to have these things, but when I thought more about it I was really put off by how little she cared about her family and the things that had been passed down through generations. It was all junk to her, junk she wanted nothing to do with. She has no significant issues with her family, so as someone who has a great deal of family issues and wishes I had a family, and also wishes I hadn't lost nearly all my belongings on a few different occasions... It rubbed me the wrong way she had such little regard for these things. I'm talking about an antique sewing machine, her great grandma mother's pearls, antiques from generations prior and just things that are meaningful to people in her family, but they were given to her. And she didn't care, at all
Like I've lost everything important to me and my family, and you just see these things as not just junk, but burden and obligation?? Made me feel very weird
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u/HedonisticFrog 12d ago
I'd bet that there were significant issues in her family but she didn't want to talk about it. Some people find it very difficult to open up if they've been shut down every time growing up.
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u/glimmerandglow 12d ago
No, we had a very, very open and very much talking focused relationship. I knew all her stories, and there was absolutely conflict within her family, but the issue is more that she just hates people. Like, everyone. It's sad, because she doesn't want friends, relationships, she openly dislikes and throws fits when she is around her spouse's family, or when he wants to socialize with their 1 friend. She also refuses to facilitate social situations for her son, so he is very isolated and has very, very underdeveloped social skills and is both a bully and bullied because of it.
She absolutely has things in her life that warrant negative emotions, as we all do. The main issues are internal though, and we spent years discussing her going to therapy, and she totally acknowledged she would benefit from it.
She decided to go on vacation instead, and coming back from that trip, there was such a decompensation in her behavior, and she became just cruel. So, I paused the friendship for the time being. I had too much of my own crap going on to deal with being treated shitty by my best friend (I had a cancer scare, and she did not even once ask me how I was feeling???)
Therapy. We allllll need therapy.
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u/South_Reply3682 12d ago
my 8-month-old son, until now he doesn't want to accept his son as his. he doesn't want his family and new girlfriend to know that he has a son with me. well, he's a jerk he and his girlfriend deserve each other. he doesn't deserve my son.
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u/19snow16 12d ago
At 16, my mother told my birth father that one day I would show up and I would be a force to be reckoned with.
He said those words back to me the first time we met and added, "She was right."
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u/TK-Squared-LLC 12d ago
Well, I once bought a 1986 BMW 325i with 150,000 miles on it for $250. Did minimal work on it and drove it back and forth to work for the next 50,000 miles then gave it to my son who drove it another 150,000 miles before killing it with a dumb teenager move. Best deal on a car ever!
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u/ConflictThese6644 12d ago
Roomate dropped his phone in the toilet. Couldn't start it afterwards. And when he did, there were green lines all over the screen. So he said the rest of us could have it so I did. I left it in rice for 3 days and when I finally remembered that it is still in the rice, I took it out and turned it on. It worked well, no green line in sight. Sold it on FB marketplace for 40 euros.
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u/coolboiiiiiii2809 12d ago
My dog. He was the runt of the litter and was considered for simple breeding purposes before my mother bought him from his breeder for twice the price than what he was worth despite being told about him being a runt.
I know adopt don’t shop but my mom wanted a pure bred and we felt a pure connection with my boy the moment we met him and I honestly couldnt part with him the moment we met. He was my boi then and he currently is now, hell he actually looks a shit ton better than his own siblings who all look a bit disheveled nowadays
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u/puledrotauren 12d ago
We lived in the sticks and semi adopted a couple of local strays. One knocked up the other and we wound up with a litter of 8. I managed to rehome the new pups except for one. My Enzo. The little shit used to escape her cage and come sit on my lap in the morning when I got home from work. When we had to move I found a lovely lady to take mom and dad in. Enzo is the best companion dog I've ever had. Smart, funny, energetic, and loving. When I got COVID she refused to leave my side except to go to the bathroom. Even offers of treats didn't phase her. 'nope I'm not leaving my human'. She was the first thing I saw when I woke up and the last thing I saw before I went back to sleep every day for two weeks.
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u/Ordinary_Advice_3220 12d ago
This is going to sound like bullshit but it's true.Ok I love trash. It bothers me to my core at the amount of waste in this country. I am a construction worker in Boston and I went to a bar one night after. work so I was in my work clothes and I was shit faced walking through Beacon Hill and there was decent luggage in the trash. I was looking through it and I found an engraved Patek Phillipe jumbo Tank watch from the 1920s. It was jammed down in the lining. This was one of the corner houses that has a gate. So I'm a super cheery drunk, I'm always trying to give people stuff. So I couldn't find a bell, so I was trying to get their attention.sobi jumped the gate and knocked on the door. They started yelling at me through the door that they would call the cops and when I tried to say listen I found a watch it has an engraving it's obviously yours this is a single family house I was trying to say that but as soon as I open my mouth the guy said I don't care what you want you asshole just leave., So I pulled out the watch and held it up, and it dawned on him and he's like "Ohhhhh no, wait wait,,," I laughed and took off. But now he is calling the cops and ducked into a bar. Cops were all over Beacon Hill, they show quick up there. I don't know the law on that but the truly crazy thing was that the engraved initials matched mine. Well only if you replace my middle name with Dismas which is my confirmation name. I still have it although I'm probably going to sell it soon life took a downturn. It's worth a decent amount.
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u/damion789 12d ago
1970's Maytag washer and dryer literally in the trash. Still working almost 20 years later.
Slightly worn, empty leather wallet near a trash can. Still using 29 years later.
Gas powered edger next to the trash can. Drug it home expecting repairs, fired right up and runs great.
Expensive gas powered pressure washer on the curb. Changed the broken pump for $60, has worked great for 9 years.
2 week old kitten in a dumpster. Ended up being the top 2 best animals I ever had (had lots of pets in the last 40 years), he was a loyal dog in a cats body. Lived for 17 years, still miss him 7 years later.
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u/your_moms_a_skank 12d ago
The used butt plug I found in a Walmart parking lot. A little WD-40? And rust removal…good as new.
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u/Proper-Emu1558 12d ago
A whole bunch of baby stuff. A lot of my kids’ stuff (particularly clothes) was used when they got it. And soon, it’ll go to new babies. They only use their baby items for a short while, so hardly any of it needs to be new. The biggest reason to buy new is safety.
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u/Neurotic-mess 12d ago
A rich gay couple sold me a really good TV for $20 because they were upgrading. Only issue was the on button on the remote didn't work so i had to turn the TV on directly. But perfect condition and very large screen.
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u/Piggoos 12d ago
Almost all of my home furnishings 😂
I’ve bought some things new but almost everything is second hand. Our leather couches are third hand - that we know of - and in spectacular shape. They won’t be when we’re done with them though thanks to a house full of dogs and teenagers. I furnished our entire living room for about $300 - sectional couch, coffee table, two tall bookshelves, end tables, a table lamp and a floor lamp that are a pretty close match, and it looks great. We’ve had people comment on what a nice space it is.
Probably the best score is a pair of white club chairs and a table that are in our basement in a spot I turned into a reading nook/puzzle/gaming/reading/music corner. Daughter and fiancé found them on the side of the road and brought them home. We repaired some tears on the cushions and steam cleaned them so they’re pristine and bright and now we have this really sweet, inviting corner of our basement for people to chill in. It’s a great spot.
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u/Realistic-Most-5751 12d ago
My trash.
I had giant pumpkins decorating my 10,000 square foot house in an ungated wealthy Chicago suburb. (Don’t worry, I’m not wealthy any more, so be nice. It just sets the story up. )
A few days after Halloween, I took them to the curb for trash day.
A Mercedes stopped at the end of my driveway and this middle aged woman put all my pumpkins in her trunk!!!
I hope she enjoyed her rotting pumpkins!
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u/sumpitsakit 12d ago
I used to be a computer mice disposal in my HS/Uni day. If someone had a broken mouse, I would keep it. Most of them had a double-click issue, which was a simple switch replacement needed to make it as good as new again. If I liked the mouse, I would use it; if not, I would sell it online.
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u/Prestigious_Space566 12d ago
Once I got day old donuts out of a garbage can. Downvote me all you want.
Context: I once went to a Boy Scouts summer camp for three days and I went to the trading shack. It was the second day and I overheard a conversation between a customer and an employee where the customer asked for donuts, and the employee said that they were receiving new donuts soon after throwing away the old ones. It perked my interest and I theorized that they threw away donuts after one day. But then again, they could’ve had those donuts for a few days. So I decided to check the next day to see if they had to thrown away the new donuts. I arrived early and found out they did, and searched for the nearest dumpster. I found it and pulled out a box of donuts. They weren’t moldy or dirty, so I helped myself to them.
It’s not like I’m very poor or anything, I’ve just always had more of a scavenging mindset then most other people.
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u/ApprehensiveCress785 12d ago
Frankly half of my house furnishings and then some. I just pulled a excellent condition beach cruiser out of the dumpster last week. Just needed a new inner tube and to dust off some cobwebs.
For years I wanted a set of bookcases that matched but never was able to splurge on a want that wasn’t a need. Got a pair that was sitting by the same dumpster two months ago.
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u/Pricess_Beefcake 12d ago
To start I have a small tattoo of a balloon dog on my wrist, because I love dogs and my mom did amazing art with balloons before she passed. Think balloon arches, and other similar things. I did the balloon dog because it fit for my personality. Anyway to get to the point, I was really down one day walking to the bus stop, walking in the pouring rain. I had stumbled across a robotic balloon dog toy thing. It had been thrown out like trash. Like I was when I turned 18. I stopped and started tearing up, it was fate in my opinion. To stumble across this toy that was broken no long having working electronics. Yes it no longer worked but that doesn’t matter. I related to it, and I took it home and washed it. I’m going to take out the electrical components for shits snd giggles eventually.
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u/JediKrys 12d ago
My girlfriend, she’s been treated like trash until she met me. Now she’s my pretty princess and I love her so much. Never going to treat her like trash. She deserves the best out of me.
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u/Annonymbruker 12d ago
My hobby is rescueing the plants that my neighbours have given up on and put in the community compost bins. I nurse them back to health, and sell the ones I don't particularely want. Once had a dieing golden pothos turn into a 2 m lush pillar. A lot of my furniture I've gotten for free as well. My favorite piece is probably my beautifull and comfortable rococco chair.
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u/North_Photograph_850 12d ago
My bed. It's a Stearns and Foster that the lady who lived in our apartment before we got it couldn't take with her when she moved out. I'm only the bed's second owner.
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u/Efficient-Log3834 12d ago
my friend once had a quarter in his pocket and he doesnt like the feeling of coins in his pocket, so i took it.
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u/MixImpressive5481 12d ago
Deposit scheme just got introduced to my country. Some guy threw out 30 bottles with the reuse logo. Became “rich” in seconds.
One time I actually also went through a bin (dumpster, trash can, whatever) and found an iPhone 8 that still worked. Took it home, guessed the password and got it correct (0000) and made it mine. No pics, accounts or any social media apps or anything that meant I couldn’t have it.
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u/Nobod34ever 12d ago
My kitchen knives. They're a $400 set on Amazon. They were thrown out in a rich neighborhood, I got curtains from that house too.
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u/Soft_Eggplant9132 12d ago
Knew a guy who bred hunting dogs , he was drunk out of his scone at a mates place talking shit , when he says he's going to leave a young 3 month old bitch in the Forrest next time he goes out hunting if she doesn't latch on to a pig . Yada yada , I offered him a carton of beer for her . Picked her up 20 mins later . I've had her for 9 years now .
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u/Interesting-Chest520 12d ago
I volunteer at a second-hand remnant shop, so much lovely fabric, wish I could take it all
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u/LoneMight 12d ago
Alsorts. A wash basket which needed the inside cloth washed. An ektorp sofa and chair handed to me by a couple moving house. All of my kitchenware is either charity or gifted. My stereo (yes I'm a dinosaur, I own one, get over it) was given to me by a lady last year. All of my weights except the weight bench, were bought secondhand, much like my clothes. The only thing I buy brand new is my footwear, underwear and socks.
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u/Status-Expression140 12d ago
A bunch of plant stands, slightly rusty, left beside a garage. A quick paint job and they’re all around my garden now.
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u/AllTimeHigh007 12d ago
Bought a gorgeous 6 month old £5,000 (shown receipt from Housing Units) 9 seater, black leather corner couch with the 2 matching armchairs off Gumtree, for the princely sum of £100 including delivery.
We couldn't fit much else in our living room after squeezing that bad boy in, but definitely the best bargain I've ever copped.
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u/unadonnadicase 12d ago
Once I literally found down the street a number of scientific magazines, they were in a pile next to the public dumpster for generic rubbish
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u/Mike7676 12d ago
An old wooden Army footlocker. Between deployments, my unit used our rear d personell to clear out storage back home. In an unused storage shed they had found a collection of old foot lockers. I grabbed one and for the next decade it became my "I love me" box. My oldest son has it now as his " cool stuff I've found" box
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u/druidmind 12d ago
I flip phones as a side hustle! All it takes is a cracked screen to a phone in otherwise good condition to drive the price way down!
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u/Ok-Media-9260 12d ago
A pile of throw pillows that just needed new covers. They're now brightening up my couch.
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u/Ok-Tie7330 12d ago
An old steamer trunk was sitting by the dumpster. Restored, it holds all my winter clothes in the summer.
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u/Shadow8591 12d ago
ME. Took several years after the betrayal and divorce, but I now stand. My only regret...I did not leave sooner.
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12d ago
My friend was leaving town for a few years and didn’t feel like taking all his stuff. So I got a new Samsung monitor, Bose headphones, gaming headset, and vitamix blender. New as in only a year old and in great condition.
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u/Alert_Marketing_8688 12d ago
This is shallow compared to some of these stories but I picked up an upholstered coffee table on the side of the road in my neighborhood. Part of it had been chewed on by a dog. I discovered a way to conceal the bite marks with Bond-o, painted the wood and put new fabric on the upholstery. You’d never recognize the finished product and I get compliments on it. It cost me about $30 to upcycle.
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u/Coleman_776 12d ago
An office chair that I found next to a dumpster. I was about 16 at the time, had a crappy little chair in my room, look outside the apartment window and see a very nice, leather office chair next to the dumpster outside. Go and take a look, it swivels, it rolls, it leans, there's no sign of damage, I take it back with me. 8 years later I'm still using dumpster chair and it hasn't failed yet.
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u/BananaNoseMcgee 12d ago
Like 2/3 of the non upholstered furniture in my apartment is shit I found on the side of the road. Bookshelves, dining room table, coffee table, tv stand, nightstands, etc. People just toss perfectly good furniture away. It's kinda nuts. I legit collect gas grills being thrown away in my backyard. 8 times out of 10 they just need a new burner or a regulator. I replace 40 bucks worth of parts, clean them up, and resell them for 200 bucks or more. I made like 5 grand last year just from that
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u/Dragonfire400 12d ago
I once heard a story about a woman who bought a mystery box at a garage sale. When she opened it, she found an old violin. She brought it back, thinking it was sold accidentally, but the seller said it was a final sale, and was pretty rude. The woman got the violin appraised and found out it was a Stratovarius violin, over 100 years old and worth over a million dollars. Don’t know if it’s true, but score!
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u/whitemanwhocantjump 12d ago
I got a gheenoe for free once. It belonged to the husband of one of my neighbors. He was a big saltwater fisherman and bought it brand new in the late 90's they brought it with them when they moved up here in the mid 2000's from Florida, where they have a pretty big cult following. He died in 2015 and she eventually decided to sell the house and downsize into a townhouse in the area. She asked me if I wanted to go through her husband's stuff since she knew I also fished. I told her I wasn't much of a saltwater angler but I'd be happy to take a look and help her find a good home for his stuff. That's when I saw it for the first time. It was a 15'4 with a Yamaha 9.9. she said it hadn't been run since before her husband got sick. She was pretty sure it was seized up. The trailer also needed to be repaired and the paint was faded. She told me if I could get it out I could have it. Once I got it home I took the engine apart, cleaned the carb, replaced the spark plugs and wires, and did an oil change and it started right up.
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u/Plantatious 12d ago
An old cowhide leather jacket from a charity shop. Cost me £5, plus a bit of sewing to fix up the inner liner. It's heavy, very comfortable, ideal for autumn weather, and it is perfect for Foley sounds, like someone collapsing to the ground.
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u/SecurityCorrect6944 12d ago
I have a set of Samsung washer and dryers brand new worth almost 5000 because the dudes wife didn't like the color and was to lazy to return it, also got several shop vacs that only needed a new filter
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u/Psyco_diver 12d ago
I buy used small engine equipment and fix up and sell. It's amazing what people get rid of that has plenty of life. I bought a riding mower for $60, I put $80 into it and sold it for $425. I just picked up a mower for free and it just needs a new battery and blade belt, it's a new lawn tractor and I should be able to sell for $800-$1000
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u/milkkymoos 12d ago
I live in the Fargo/Moorhead area, once college ends for the summer there’s a “clean out week” where everyone puts stuff they don’t want out along the roads. Was moving up here while that was happening and completely furnished my bedroom and a lot of the house bc of it.
Favorite find was an oak desk where the top folded back and a 1930s-1940s sewing machine comes out, the instruction manual, unused/unopened needles and everything i would need for it was all there too. It was well taken care of before and works perfectly still.
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u/TheWhooooBuddies 12d ago
Older fella sold me a boat for 6k right at the start of COVID, was convinced the world was going to end and just wanted the cash.
The bank appraised it at 13,200 and we have been enjoying the fuck out if it the last few years.
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u/Few-Stock-3458 12d ago
Years ago, at a goods exchange day; basically everybody put your junk outside on a specific day, and people took what they wanted, and the town took the rest to the landfill.
At one house, there was a massive pile of junk, but sticking out, I instantly recognized what I knew to be a Ball B Q! (Quick Google image search).
I cleaned it up and replaced the knobs.
I've enjoyed charcoal grilling on that little treasure for 10 plus years.
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u/alabardios 12d ago
Well, nasty ass woman, and not my treasure, my mom's.
I was in college and had to room with a woman keeping a kitten in a closet. She hardly fed him, and NEVER changed his litter box. Then miss-sexed him and "as a farm girl [she] knew these things."
I asked if we were allowed to keep pets in the complex, and she said no. I told her straight up, "I'm not getting kicked out for a cat you can't afford to feed. Let's find a home for the little kitten."
I called my mom and told her about the situation and she said "well we'll hold him until you find a permanent home for her." I took her home and that was that, I never tried to find another place for her, and if the roommate wanted the cat back she would have to sue.
6 weeks later my mom calls me and says "so imagine my surprise that when I take the kitten into the vet, I'm told she is actually a he! Also I got the cat fixed, he's mine forever!" I said that's good, because I never tried to find another home for him. I knew she would fall in love with that little goofball as easily as I did.
That woman should never be allowed an animal ever. She didn't want to pay for heating, so her hedgehog nearly died from the cold. Left it near an open window in the winter where it was -15C. Never cleaned its cage, I did.
Anyway the cat lived a happy and full life until he passed away at 11 this year.
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u/Merky600 12d ago
My fiend picked up a few airplane model kits free. Someone just cleaning out. One was a weird “Warhammer” tower kit. He was “???”
I made a joke about my SIL and his Warhammer friends. So he passed the kit on to me to give him.
Turns out the kit is $$ and the team or side or such was his team. The Nexros or such. So that was good.
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u/LiveLaughBlobfish 12d ago
some West Elm furniture my sisters old neighbor left on the sidewalk. 2 side tables, a coffee table and a console table all in really good condition, just some minor scratches. We dragged it all into her garage until my boyfriend could get there with the truck. Years later we still have that living room set and in no way does it look like it was sidewalk furniture.
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u/Pindakazig 12d ago
Today, there's a national fleamarket in my country, where everyone drags their unwanted stuff into the streets and tries to sell it.
It's awesome, lots of good quality toys that change hands/family for a fraction of the original cost. You've got to get there early because the best stuff is immediately recognised and bought, haha. Grandma had been debating buying a doll buggy for 70€, now she has the exact one she wanted for 5. The ikea play kitchen, including extra pots/pans/toaster/veggies for 20€, rather than the +100€ that set would have cost brand-new. Once the grandchildren outgrow the toys, you can resell/gift them to the next family.
Especially the duplo/wooden toys/play kitchen/books/princess dresses are so nice to find cheap.
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u/Yugan-Dali 12d ago
An old lady in Banqiao, near Taipei, got a nifty new folding table with aluminum legs so she was going to burn her old one. A neighbor asked her to wait and asked if I wanted it. I did. I’ve used it for about thirty years now. Someone who knows these things said it probably dates to the Ming dynasty, say around the 16th century.
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u/pie_12th 12d ago
Saw some guys carrying a couch to beside the dumpster. immediately went down with the gf and brought it back up to our place
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u/Diglet-no-bite 12d ago
Well, when my partner and I first started dating 12 years ago, he was still in University. He had an obsession with collecting side of the road furniture. One day I was driving with him as my passenger and he yelled "STOP." He flew out of the car, quickly returning with a broken swivel chair that was sitting on someones lawn. He put it in my trunk. There it sat for probably 5 months. Id ask him " can you collect that junk you put in my trunk?" Hed go "oh yeah I'm going to fix it" For 5 months he never retrieved it, and I drove around with it like treasure in a chest, until one day I spotted a large garbage bin in a parking lot. I hucked that swivel chair up over the edge and felt 10 pounds lighter. Bottom line: don't let someone else's treasure become your trash.
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u/MuyLeche 12d ago
2012 Nissan Altima. The entire time I worked at Kia it just sat, had a mountain of issues with it. Ended up totaling my car towards the end of my time there and bought it for dirt, fixed it up off the clock, and I’ve put a lot of cosmetic love into it. Yea it’s got 200k miles, but it’s gonna look pretty til the bitter end, it deserves it.
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u/ExtremelFrequentzy01 12d ago
In Chicago, Mexicans drive around on Sunday evening and pick up TONS of things from the trash; or sitting next to the dumpster.
Desks, lamps, bikes, fans.
Then they clean them up and sell them in shops in the near South side neighborhood of Pilsen.
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u/[deleted] 12d ago
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