It's spring clean up time again

[leera]

YEAH!!! * ;D *;D *;D

Here in my part of MI, spring clean up is an awsome event.

People throw away all kinds of stuff from little household misc, to lawn tractors and jet skee's.

Already picked up a Craftman high wheel lawn mower for my Dad to tinker with...

It's perfectly legal to stop and pick items up,as long as you don't block traffic when you stop.

Anyboy else have this sort of event locally?

[rockymtngirl]

we have spring clean up in the town i live in - the city picks up your old junk or large items that the garbage services won't take. For me, this year, since i'm movin' I don't think I'll be looking for any more stuff to take with me! But it is always a good opportunity to get some free useful items!

[leera]

We have some pretty high priced neighborhoods around here,and people tend to throw things out just because they are too lazy to list them for free or take them someplace to donate.....

Since I volunteer at a church on Tuesdays that has a give away for clothing and household items,I am looking mainly for items that are in good working order to take there and give to someone in need.

Donations have been way down this year so far.

Yesterday we picked up two Vac.cleaners, and a bread machine,some VHS tapes and a few other small items,it's still early in the week here,but by Friday night there will be lots to look through.

Oh yeah, we picked up a bike rack for my car too,holds our two bikes nicely.

I would like to find some planters and shepherd hooks,but who knows what we'll end up with.....

[leera]

UPDATE!!

Scored a couple of interesting items yesterday.

The first one is a Schwinn purple and black ladies 26 inch mountain bike with BRAND NEW tires on it,and a little cargo rack.

The second,I still have to check out thouroghly, is an HP lap top w/Windows XP......

[reedb66]

I need some one to throw away a riding lawn mower in running shape as I have about 3 acres total to mow and my rider died :'(

My push mower just laughs at me when pulled >:(,and I'm not hungry enough to eat all that grass :D

[leera]

Too bad you're not closer to where I live,eh.

As for the 3 acres of grass....how about some goats or sheep?Save on the mowing....

[momma_to_seven_chi]

YEAH!!! * ;D *;D *;D

Here in my part of MI, spring clean up is an awsome event.


It's perfectly legal to stop and pick items up,as long as you don't block traffic when you stop.

Anyboy else have this sort of event locally?

We always call it "gabby days" because that was what they called it when I was a kid. Years back, I had 5 kids in tow and an old Cadillac. We had to use a ferry to cross the river where we lived back then. One day we went gabbying, filled the trunk, tied it down then put stuff on top of the trunk between that and the back window. You should have seen people stare at the old rusty car filled with kids, dogs, and junk piled on top of it. And we were (are) such hillbillies that we didn't even feel embarrassment about it.

We were such pack rats! I used an old wire spool for a coffee table, got my kids' desks from gabby days, even had a couple of living room chairs rescued from the trash. My kids grew up with the same attitude. When they were teens, the boys went out on gabby days and came home with about 20 old computers. They parted them all out, and sold the old RAM, hard drives, etc on Ebay. They sold the monitors at yardsales for a couple of dollars a piece. I still have a "tv card" that one of them dug out of an old computer. I guess we taught them to be pack rats too.

But, we love Gabby days. My husband brought home an old black leather desk chair from the trash last year. It's not that we couldn't afford to buy one, but it's more fun to get it for free. It's the fun of the hunt and all.

[leera]

My hubby and I call it curbside shopping. ;D

Today was rather interesting,as normally people just keep putting stuff out and ignore whomever is digging through the piles looking to see what's there.

Nearly everywhere we went today,people said Hi,How's it going? Find anything good,etc,etc,etc,.....one lady even told us she had been out,but needed to come home to put her own stuff out to the curb.

I took my Mom out after hubby went to work,and had a guy stop and ask us about lawnmower repair(we had one in the back of the car).....said he has 6-7 of them to get rid of,asked if we wanted them.

There are many names for spring clean up,but whatever you call it,it sure is fun just to see what you can find.

My husband and I usually make a game of it,and make a list of items to hunt for,makes it even more fun. :)

[idris]

In Sydney, NSW, it was common to go scrounging other peoples'junk on Thursday night, one could even find colour TVs that needed only a bit of tinkering to get going again, and as for the rest of it: beds, wardrobes, and lots of useful stuff; nowadays, folks tend to have garage sales, but there is yet plenty to be scrounged on the monthly pick-up night, where ever you may live. Computers, electrical goods, kitchen gear: too many dollars and not enough sense!
PS One guy I know told me a really good story about when some one's girlfriend threw all of his stuff out! My friend refurnished his own place and sold the rest second-hand. Opportunity is the reward of the aware.

[leera]

Well,it's all done for another year.

This is what we found:

Ladies bike
Bike rack
Aprox 150 VHS movies
Little boys bike(too cute,I had to pick it up)
Enough lawn edging for my Mom to do her whole yard if she wants
Sewing cabinet,no sewing machine
Some storage drawers
Bread machine
Lap top computer
Video camera
and the creme de la creme......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/leera/100_0756.jpg
It's a Black and Decker Firestorm set...they all work and both batteries were fully charged.

We will be keep the tools,the ladie's bike and sewing cabinet and the laptop,everything else is going to church with us on tuesday.

If we had had a truck to use,we could have picked up lots of other items as well.

We did pick up two lawnmowers that my Dad is going to tinker with and get running.

There were a lot of guys out just picking up anything metal,as there is a metal recycler in town that pays by the pound.

The way I look at it is this,the more stuff people pick up and recycle or find uses for,the less stuff there is going to the landfill(which is where the city hauls it all when they come around and pick it up).

[rideaway]

Whoa...I wish people would do that here...

[leera]

We got very lucky with that find! *;D

One of the batteries turned out to be junk,but new ones are only $29.99.....