Bin raider
#100DaysToOffload – Day 11
When I was little we were quite hard up. My whole school career I qualified for free dinners. My mum however was very resourceful and frugal and would often take things others had thrown out. She was forever diving into skips or getting me to carry some item home. Trips to the dump would end up with her bringing more home than we took in the first place. As a kid it would embarrass me immensely and I'd be going “please don't Mum”. Naturally she didn't listen a word I said.
Fast forward to my adulthood and I myself do this all the time. Started when I moved to Brighton 20 years ago as there is quite a neighbourly culture of leaving decent quality unwanted items outside with a “please take” note on. We had a hand-me-down sofa for out first flat and when we finally replaced it we put it outside. Over the next few years I saw that sofa left outside various properties on the surrounding streets at least twice.
Where we live now there are communal bins at the end of the road and they are a goldmine! There was a bag that caught my eye as it looked out of place in placed in a bin so I picked it up and it contained various bits and bobs. Looked like someone had moved out and left some stuff behind so someone had chucked it. Amongst the stuff were various designer bandanas/scarves, a digital camera and an ipod! The ipod was old and not working but I googled the model and it turned out there was an Apple recall for that exact model which was finishing that week. I sent it off and Apple sent me a brand new ipod in return. Result! That went straight onto eBay though usually I only get bits I can use myself and don't go looking for items to sell.
Another time I was passing some small business units and could see workmen chucking loads of stuff out. Seems a company had gone bust or not paid their rent so were being cleared out. That got me 3 laptops that were about a year old each.
There's at least a dozen things in our kitchen that I've squirrelled away (that's what my wife calls it, probably as it sounds more pleasant than bin raiding) and various others around the house. Got a beautiful late 60's/early 70's pottery plant pot on my window sill that I found. Whilst everyone is on lockdown they're all sorting out their cupboards and drawers so there is plenty to be found at the moment. This week alone I've got a hanging plant basket (needed one for some mint plants), some fake battery powered candles (bit odd but mrs Luke has some already and really likes them – which totally surprised me as I thought she'd think they were naff) and these beauties:
It's so easy to visualise the adverts for these in the back of the Sunday supplements. The one with the floating disembodied head is particularly surreal. (For reference I like them ironically, the naffness is the charm.)
100 Days to offload is a blogging challenge started by Kevin Quirk. Check out https://100daystooffload.com to see if you are tempted to join in yourself.