dumpster dive

i haven’t found anything good recently in my apartment’s dumpster.
i thought i had found a nice wicker basket… but it embarrassed my boyfriend too much when i pulled it out of the garbage, that i promptly put it back.
i try to explain to him that it’s no different than buying used from a yard sale or thrift store. you don’t know where it’s come from or where it’s been.. but you can still clean it up when you get it home and use it as your own.
i will still continue to pull useful items out of the trash… just not when he is around.

okay so i have been lucky lately in finding stuff in my apartment’s dumpster.

i found a white plastic storage container in the trash today.
nothing wrong with it, aside from being a little dirty.
i cleaned it up and am using it to organize some stuff in my storage closet.

i need to start looking in other dumpsters though besides my own.
there is no telling what i can find.

i told my boyfriend jokingly that i want to become a dumpster diver and he said no way…. so whenever he asks where i got something, i tell him from the trash. i’m hoping he will realize how dumpster diving isn’t so bad.

i took a bag of garbage out to the dumpster this morning and i always look inside the dumpster just to see if there are any nice finds laying on top.

and sure enough, i found myself an over-the door hanging storage thing with 3 small wicker baskets. the only thing “wrong” with it was it was missing a screw on the bottom basket. SIMPLE to replace.
now i have more bathroom storage that i NEEDED. :)

i didn’t even have to go to the dumpster to get a few free things lately.
seems as though a few of my apartment building neighbors realized that they has some stuff they wanted to get rid of, but knew someone else could you the items.
so rather than being thrown in the trash, the items are placed throughout the apartment building for the taking.

one day i found a plastic grocery sack full of corn meal by the elevator on the 5th floor. i only grabbed one of the packages because i did not want to be greedy. i made hush puppies and corn bread from the corn meal so far.

and today i found a bunch of mismatched plates, bowls and coffee mugs in the laundry room. i took all of the bowls and one of the unique-looking plates back to my apartment with me.

yay for free stuff!

i found a nice tv cart sitting beside my apartment’s dumpster.
so i took it in and cleaned it up.
i don’t need a tv cart, but i’m sure i can find a dual purpose for it.

so, i didn’t have to dive into the dumpster for it… but it’s a step in the right direction.

i always see great stuff in my apartment’s dumpster (or sitting beside it)...
but i am always too embarrassed to take it inside with me.
and i tell myself sometimes i will wait until it’s dark,
but then by that time it’s either already been taken, or it rains and ruins whatever it was in the dumpster.
i really want to start actually going around to a lot of local dumpsters and just taking home whatever i find that is good… and have no shame doing it!

Started this in NYC with a group that did tours. Got a whole lot of free food and sufficiently grossed out my parents. It seems weird until you start to know more and more people who do it (which inevitably happens when you surrounded yourself in these types of things) and then it just seems normal, like, “Oh, is this dumpstered?”
I once went to a Freegan dinner party (read: all dumpstered food) at Rubulad in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s..I think the first Sunday of every month (don’t quote me on that). Delish.

first attempt – not bad… it’s incredibly cold out so we felt ok taking tortillas that had expired by one day. seriously, if we’d bought them that afternoon, they would have been fine, so why not in the evening for free?
also found some really nice buckets – never know when you need those.
a dozen roses – gorgeous
and a pair of sandals.
plus, realized that there are so many cardboard boxes carefully opened and then thrown away that i should never have to purchase one from Kinko’s to ship stuff. i just need to hit up the nearest dumpster for that!

back in high school this girl i was chillin’ with’s dad told her that she threw away his pay check so we had to go find it in the dumpster. after like 20 minutes he called and told her that he found it. back when we were sleeping on the beach in santa barbara money was short and i didn’t have an ID to get a job, so we’d go around to every single trash can and dumpster behind the bars and find their bottles pushing a shopping cart right down state street and turn them in at the crv place just to get high that day. we could work for like 2 hours and make like 50 bucks so it worked out pretty well. haha

I’ve been scoping out dumpsters near-by. I need to start diving real soon – i’ve been wanting to for a while, and now I have a car to load goods in and all. Yeehaw.