Looking for those side of the road freebies really does pay off….
Posted by: KarenLynnI have to admit that my husband is the world’s best dumpster diver and I know he could compete with Amy Dacyczyn’s husband anyday. My extended family almost thinks that it is magical or something. My husband will declare that he is looking for a ventilation fan for the greenhouse and the next week it is on the side of the road. As a matter of fact my Step Dad did not believe my husband found so much free stuff and he was filled with disbelief and sure enough one weekend he was in town and my husband found four to five different items we had been looking for on the side of the road. He believes he will find these items so he does is the way I think it works. As time has gone on I believe too. Now don’t get me wrong as of yet we haven’t found any gold or millions but the things we do find save us hundreds and thousands of dollars. Our greenhouse was built with virtually free materials we have scavenged over the past five years. The trick is keeping the space we are in clean and neat while we are collecting and over time we have gotten pickier over what we collect.
Books don’t go for nearly as much as they once did so I try to keep a stash to trade at Paperbackswap.com. The rest of them I donate. When we find an item on the side of the road we do not need instead of selling the item we try to locate someone who has need and share the gift with them.
Craft items need to be kept in check that is another area for me that can get out of control so I keep a couple of plastic boxes and try to share my surplus.
Some of my favorite freebie finds are several truckloads of redrocks for our garden but we also found some beautiful stones to surround our front garden. I found a drying rack, a beautiful elaborate candle holder I keep on my front porch, and even a wicker ottoman that is housed on my front porch as well. We have found tons of planters that are wonderful for us to work on our gardening projects.
What others see as trash is definitely someone else’s treasure. Have you been treasure hunting lately?