Such was the case with a neighbor who just happened, poor man, to have a bunch of stuff in his garage to crate off to the dump. Whoa Nellie! While it may embarrass family members, I am not at all shy about asking for things that would otherwise be discarded. Such as:
Woot! Nine pint jars with lids and six quart jars - four with lids, two without. These are some older jars, as the glass seems to be three times as thick as today's canning jars. I have already got plans for most of them. I also intervened on a big box of old towels (with three dogs, one can never have too many - plus I pass them along to the rescue), two sweatshirts - brandy new, a pair of brandy-new sweatpants (FAT pants, Sylvie!), a plastic bin of crafting stuff, and three empty plastic bins. I am so excited!!!
Heaven only knows what I will be like thirty years from now. I see some intervening on my person in my future by my dear sisters - you have been warned!!! :)
35 comments:
Why should anything anybody else can use go to a dump or to be crushed at a recycling center? Love those old jars. In sorting my canning jars earlier this winter I, too, noticed that some older ones were made of MUCH thicker glass than the ones you get nowadays.
That IS a great score! Congrats, you Pre-Dumpster Diver!
Mama Pea - It just drives me crazy to look down in those bins and see so much stuff that could be reused. But, once they are in the big bins, they are off-limits. Drat.
The thrill of a good "find". A neighbour gave me five huge bags of well rotted horse poop this week with the promise of more-it could be Christmas the way I'm carrying on.
To my surprise not everyone shares my joy, even finding it strange, but I know you will understand.
Carolyn - Thanks! I would be in the dumpsters if I could get away with it.
Susan - Oh, black gold! I can relate - I get positively giddy when my neighbor brings a load of cow manure! It's like putting something in a safe deposit! We will have the final laugh, as we look over our wonderful, productive gardens...
what a great 'get'! those jars are wonderful. i don't think i would want anything that my neighbors were throwing out. i don't think they have good stuff like you got!
I always think we should go back to having a place at the dump that you can put "useables". It makes me sick now that all that stuff is covered up for eternity, when there are SMART folks that can use that stuff. This is progress??
Great score you got! Love those jars!!
Yes, those are wonderful old canning jars. I have several cases of them in the attic waiting to be used. They were my grandmother's jars and I was the only one who wanted them when she quit canning. My Mom has them, too, and is saving them for me. You can still buy the rubber rings needed to can in them. I thought about repurposing some of them - I have seen some really neat ideas on Pinterest. We have been using one for our coffee when we grind the beans for the week.
Great score! Love those old jars plus sweat shirts & fat pants to boot. Wow, I'm a little jealous.
those old jars are getting pretty hard to find nowadays, well done you on rescuing them.
SCORE! I have a small table on my deck from dumpster diving, added some left over paint, love it.
WOW...how awesome! I know where all this is going cause I will be there with you. So much good stuff gets dumped now because new is better and you have to have new all the time. Plus despite the cost and unhealthy nutrition of industrial food people still are not learning to grow and can like they should! We get 90 % of our clothe from Goodwill and I am amazed at what we find, Ralph has three Eddie Bauer Shirts and an Ambercrombie and Fitch that cost us a total of 6 dollars! They are like new....its crazy! There is always the option of a garage sale????
Woo hoo! Blankets!! Jars!! Stuff!! Love it all....especially the blankets. With 3 dogs and 4 cats, oh yes, blankets come in handy, especially when it rains....
Oh, those jars are treasures!! Can't believe they were going to be tossed.
Susan,
Now talk about a great find!!!
Jars, towels, and clothing talk about a perfect day to have a field trip to the transfer station.
and how many cats do you now have?????
dont worry; i dont think you are at the intervention level yet...
xoxo
Good saves on some good stuff! Neighbor kids moving in next door here recently cleaned out their grandma's things and piled it outside to go to the dump. They invited me to come pick the pile before they junked it. I brought home a bunch of antiques as in real wood furniture including a washstand dresser they had set out in the rain/ snow.
What a seriously good score. I'd be excited too :)
That is a great score! I had a score like that several years ago. My neighbor showed up at my door with about 10 boxes of canning jars. His friend were cleaning out the basement of the house they just bought and were going to throw them away. Imagine!
Jaz - Well, there is certainly a lot of junk that gets offered. Sometimes one person's junk is another person's junk...
Sue - I think progress is entirely overrated. I cannot even bear the thought of what and how much of it is piled in landfills. There is no "away", after all. It's always going someplace.
2T - I've been using any that I find as outdoor lights during summer - I fill them halfway with sand and then nestle in a tea light. Sort of like a built-in hurricane light!
DFW - A girl just has to have a pair of fat pants!
Gill - Thank you! It's almost sad to see how much better things were made 'back then'. That was before everything was so carelessly tossed out.
TL - Isn't it amazing what some people will throw out? I am also a fan of freecycle, although the no-shows will drive you mad.
Fiona - We shop at the same store! I would much rather comb the aisles of the local Goodwill (well, I'd rather comb the aisles of the South Portland Goodwill...) for whatever I need. I have found some amazing deals.
Mrs DM - No wonder I like you so much! You've outranked me by two cats! My dogs love to be towel-dried after being out in the snow or rain. They line up according to size! The cats? Not so much....
FFG - I almost gasped!
Sandy - You know, I never thought about it that way, but it IS like a field trip!
JG - Only two. But they have enough personality for six. Does that count?
Michelle - Thank goodness you rescued that dresser! Goodness gracious! It boggles the mind at what people will throw out. I am so glad they extended the invitation to you - that would have been such a loss.
JM - Now, you are the one with the amazing scores! I am always green with envy when you find and tote home those treasures.
TWH - I have noticed that regular canning jars are much harder to come by in yard and garage sales. When I do run across them, they are priced the same as new ones or even higher! Apparently, canning is the new knitting.
Good for you! I always figure too- if I don't like/can't use, it was free, so give it away!
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