Dumpster Diving & Curb Shopping For Free Stuff
There are some who would look at that title of this page and wonder how desperate people can be if they’re willing to dumpster dive or go “curb shopping” for free stuff. However, it is one of the best ways to get free stuff that is actually free, and it can yield some very nice freebies. All it requires are some mild safety precautions, a little shamelessness, the spirit of a scavenger, and some timing and planning.
Urban Foraging
Dumpster diving and curb shopping are often paired together because they are essentially the same thing. They are both types of urban foraging. The only difference is whether you’re looking for free stuff in the dumpster or on the curb. In both cases you’re looking for items that are in decent condition which are being thrown away. Some of them may require a little repair, and learning simple repairs is part of the art of dumpster diving.
A Page on Free Garbage? Are You Serious?
For greater perspective on how it’s possible to get free items in the trash that actually have any value, consider all the various possibilities of when people have too much stuff and they need to de-clutter or downsize. Perhaps they need to move, or there was a major life event, such as a death in the family or a divorce. Sometimes people have the time and motivation to consider different options. They could give stuff to friends and family, donate to a local thrift store, have a yard sale, or at least post it on Craigslist for free. However an option that quite a few of them take is simply throwing the items away. In many instances they don’t have the time or the motivation to be efficient. Sometimes it’s enough just to get something done after planning to do it for a long time. So instead of letting stuff be stored in the garage, the basement, or the backyard any longer, they just need to get rid of it and get rid of it fast. And the fastest option is to throw it away.
I’ve seen items given away on Craigslist worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. If you’ve ever walked into a pawn shop or a thrift store, you’ll see used items that are worth selling. The cliche “one person’s trash, is another person’s treasure” has great meaning here. In any instance where you see a used item for sale, there are another five, ten or even a hundred comparable items that are in the same or better condition sitting in the dumpster, on a curb for bulk pickup, or worse, in a landfill. In fact, the reason why Freecycle.org was created was to increase the reuse of usable items and decrease the mass of garbage in landfills. The founder witnessed that too people throw away good, usable items.
If you have no interest whatever in rummaging through the trash, then by all means click on to another page or blog post on this site. That would make actual dumpster divers happy to know that there are less people digging in their goldmines.
See also
Here are some cases where I’ve observed that nice and usable items can be acquired by dumpster diving or curb shopping:
While I was growing up, my cousins always had a giant trash bag of day-old bagels somewhere in their kitchen. The bagels were from the back of a bagel shop that guaranteed “freshly-baked” bagels every day. So what did they do with the day-old bagels? They put them all in a giant trash bag and left it in the back near their dumpster. They didn’t throw away any trash in the bag and it was just as clean on the inside as any plastic or paper grocery bag. In fact, the bag kept the bagels clean from the outside environment.
While in graduate school, my wife and I managed an apartment complex in a college neighborhood. Whenever the semester ended there was an abundance of freebies that college students left behind as they were moving out of their dorms and going home for the summer. For our personal needs we obtained a fan, a lamp, a dvd player, and other items. Many of these items had only been used for one semester. I guess some students just didn’t have room in their cars for the drive home, and they knew that the “daddy scholarship” would cover any expenses they had the next semester.
Apartment complexes are a great place to look for discarded items. After graduate school we lived in a different complex and we also obtained other items, such as kid bicycles, book shelves, a TV, and other items. There were many times where I wished I had a truck, and it was probably the lack of a truck that caused some of those people to leave their items behind.
It helps to have repair skills, but I’ve only had to repair one particular item, it was actually a combination of two items. I combined one office chair top with another office chair bottom to get a complete office chair. I was lucky that the parts of the two chairs were compatible. Yet, that’s part of what dumpster diving is about — getting lucky. You don’t really know if electronics work until you try them. When we got the DVD player we happened to specifically need one at that time. I didn’t expect it to work but tried it anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it functioned properly.
Safety Precautions
There are some mild dangers involved in dealing with trash which merit some safety precautions, especially if you’re actually getting in dumpsters where all the contents are not readily visible. There could be germs, sharp metals, broken glass, harmful chemicals, and other hazards to be cautious of.
Make sure you are wearing durable, close-toed shoes, preferably steel-toed boots. You should also be wearing thick pants and gloves. In some cases you might want a mask. You might even want to keep a first aid kit, water and other supplies nearby. You could even have a partner doing with you so that they could go get help if there was a serious accident involving a heavy object.
Use common sense and don’t do anything stupid. That should go without saying but you might be surprised how many people need that advice. Also, make sure dumpster diving is legal in your area.
Curb Shopping & Dumpster Diving Tips:
Timing is everything. Try to figure out when bulk pickup days are in various neighborhoods. Be aware of when college semesters are ending. These are opportunities when people will leave stuff out at the dumpster or on the curb.
Dumpster Dive outside retailers about a half hour after closing and after the last employees have gone home. The end of the day is when they’ll take out the final trash to unload what they think won’t sell. Some retailers will have locks on their dumpsters. Don’t break into any locked or sealed structure. See also Local Retail Leftovers.
Go curb shopping outside the thrift store. People will often leave items at the drop-off door when the store is closed. You’ll be able to see what is there before the store collects the items. There may also be donation bins for the thrift store outside schools and churches.
Get to know the managers of apartment complexes. They may be willing to give you information on when leases are expiring and people are moving out. Local apartment complexes may have a separate location for large items such as furniture.
Foreclosures and pre-forclosures are particular cases where people leave a lot of good stuff behind. It’s sad that it happened but there is no reason to let that stuff go to waste. You can get foreclosure lists from local realtors, and potentially small banks (the large banks like Bank of America or Wells Fargo, won’t give you that information). These are also resources where a lot of real estate investors go, so you could potentially work with real estate investors to clear out properties they’ve purchased. You could also network with property managers.
There is a difference between a “sell by” date and a “use by” date. Food is often discarded after the “sell by” date, but it’s still good. If it’s a bakery, mini mart or fast food restaurant that promises “freshly baked” items or same-day production and delivery, then the items expire at night when they close. Employees will have first dibs if they’re allowed to take anything at all, but there is always the possibility of excess. Produce with thicker peels, such as bananas and oranges, are protected better from the outside environment. Don’t use cans where the seal is broken. Avoid meat and fish.
The available loot increases for you personally as your repair skills increase. Can you repair electronics or computers? Do you have any carpentry skills. Can you clean a variety of surfaces and materials? If so, then a lot more will be available to you and you’ll be able to recognize the easy fixes compared to the impossible ones. Most of the time vacuums just need a new belt and they’re discarded all the time. If the item is from the home of a smoker then it’s very unlikely you’ll ever get the smoke smell out. However, I’ve heard that an ozone machine would possibly do the job.
Conserve as much as you can. Even garbage has value if you can find a purpose for it. Extreme Couponers might dumpster dive to find more coupons. You could potentially find reward codes in DVD case inserts, under bottle caps and scratch n’ win packaging. You can get paid to recycle. There may also be resources in your town that would buy scrap metal, dead car batteries, tires, unused blood glucose strips and other materials. You’ll also want to explore specific niche markets similar to what a pawn shop owner would do. They know where to sell the gold, the antiques, and so on because they know all the markets for those items and they have contacts for information. See the Cash For Stuff Directory.
Leave the place cleaner than how you found it. Don’t give anyone a reason to complain. Dumpster diving can help your personal budget, but it can also be a service to others if you’re tidy and you’re helping reduce waste.
Get more tips on the Trash Wiki and One Man’s Trash. If you happen to live in New York City, pick up a copy of The Cheap B@$t@rd’s Guide from your local library. There is a whole chapter on getting freebies through dumpster diving (and New York City is probably one of the best places in the world to dumpster dive).
Who Are The Freegans?
The word “freegan” combines the words “free” and “vegan”. Freegans are dumpster divers who are motivated by a philosophical agenda. They are anti-consumerist. They believe there is a surplus, not scarcity. The are willfully unemployed. Many of them don’t ever buy food because they can always find enough dumpster diving. Besides dumpster diving, they may also forage wild plant life for food and live in abandoned buildings. Read more about Freegans on Wikipedia and Freegan.info, which also has a lot of good information and links on dumpster diving. There is much that can be learned about dumpster diving from individuals who dumpster dive as part of their way of life.
Almost all freegans are dumpster divers, but not all dumpster divers are freegans. You can choose to be freegan if you wish. But you do not have to be a freegan to be a dumpster diver.
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