bargan hunters -I love FREE stuff! what prizes have you got cheap or free this season

[ScouterMom]

I'm a dedicated recycler/ garbage picker - I love to restore something to usefullness, or make something out what someone else would think of as useless junk. I value things that are not only old, but well used, loved and worn. I love garage sales - both having them and shopping them!
As a family, we are life long scouts and conservationists: I hate 'garbage' and have very little that doesn't get re-used, recycled, or composted.  So I get a double thrill out of not only saving some $$ for my family, but also of saving the environment as much as I can.

I've hit the jackpot in 'free' stuff lately - all because I can't stop talking about this old camper we've been working on all summer, and finding other do-it-yourself -ers and hobbyists.....

my neighbors of 15 yr's have always been into racing motorcycles and cars, but have become interested in watching us tear apart this old camper.  they've followed the 'projects' and offered advice - even done free welding for me!  (see my canoe/ bike rack in progress)



Friends at work are also campers and recently bought a new hybrid. We've been talking campers all summer. they also recently picked up, for free, an old PUP they are dismantling for an equipment trailer.  this older PUP ( but newer than my '73) has a working propane fridge they said I could have for my PUP. (along with any other useful parts - they just want the frame, wheels and box)   So now I have to learn how the propane system works, beyond the basics of the stove, in order to install it!  that's OK - I have to check out my furnace, yet, too! Propane/ fridge tips & suggestions, anyone?

Lastly, the store I work at had 4 or 5 patio screen rooms that were returned as missing parts or damaged, and destined for destruction.  My boss said I could have all the parts (For free! )if I wanted to try and assemble one or two out  the mixd up mess.  I figured I could get a replacement for my current screen room which has seen three seasons (and the frame stayed out 2 winters on my patio) and possibly the parts to make a screen room for my camper.  It was quite a puzzle, but my 17 yr old son had the skills and the patience to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!  

What are some the best bargans, or free stuff you've come across?

[wavery]

I'm a dedicated recycler/ garbage picker - I love to restore something to usefullness, or make something out what someone else would think of as useless junk. I value things that are not only old, but well used, loved and worn. I love garage sales - both having them and shopping them!
As a family, we are life long scouts and conservationists: I hate 'garbage' and have very little that doesn't get re-used, recycled, or composted.  So I get a double thrill out of not only saving some $$ for my family, but also of saving the environment as much as I can.

I've hit the jackpot in 'free' stuff lately - all because I can't stop talking about this old camper we've been working on all summer, and finding other do-it-yourself -ers and hobbyists.....

my neighbors of 15 yr's have always been into racing motorcycles and cars, but have become interested in watching us tear apart this old camper.  they've followed the 'projects' and offered advice - even done free welding for me!  (see my canoe/ bike rack in progress)



Friends at work are also campers and recently bought a new hybrid. We've been talking campers all summer. they also recently picked up, for free, an old PUP they are dismantling for an equipment trailer.  this older PUP ( but newer than my '73) has a working propane fridge they said I could have for my PUP. (along with any other useful parts - they just want the frame, wheels and box)   So now I have to learn how the propane system works, beyond the basics of the stove, in order to install it!  that's OK - I have to check out my furnace, yet, too! Propane/ fridge tips & suggestions, anyone?

Lastly, the store I work at had 4 or 5 patio screen rooms that were returned as missing parts or damaged, and destined for destruction.  My boss said I could have all the parts (For free! )if I wanted to try and assemble one or two out  the mixd up mess.  I figured I could get a replacement for my current screen room which has seen three seasons (and the frame stayed out 2 winters on my patio) and possibly the parts to make a screen room for my camper.  It was quite a puzzle, but my 17 yr old son had the skills and the patience to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!  

What are some the best bargans, or free stuff you've come across?

You'd go nuts if you had my job :yikes:

I manage a 40-unit apt building in Beverly Hills. I've had tenants leave everything from LCD TV's to entire households full of furniture. The computer that I am sitting at was thrown out by a tenant because it didn't work (she thought). It's a 1-year-old Dell PC with all the bells & whistles. The plug on the motherboard came undone :p .

The X-wife of a very prominent clothes designer lived in our building for many years. She used to give my DW boxes full of extremely expensive gowns and other clothes from their stores. It outfitted DW with gowns for our cruise and granddaughter for her prom. She moved out and DW has been in withdrawal ever since.

I couldn't even begin to list all of the stuff that I have sold on eBay. We live in a throw away society. That was prominently shown to me while I was sailing and visiting so many 3rd-World countries. No country in the world has waste like this country has. It's one of the reasons that this country is so unpopular with the rest of the world.

The new clothes (with tags and everything) that people leave is unbelievable. We keep the kids and grandkids set-up with new clothes and furniture like you wouldn't believe. Shoes are the weird thing.....people leave new shoes, new, in boxes all the time. Electronics, TVs, refrigerators, you name it, they leave it.

I have 4 tenants moving out at the end of the month....anyone need dishes? They always leave the dishwasher and half of the cabinets full of dishes....go figure.

[austinado16]

I'm the same way about saving/restoring/recycling stuff...right down to the home we live in.  It (our home) is a 1903 Queen Anne Victorian that was going to be bulldozed after the original owner passed away and the farm it was on, sold.  My wife and I didn't have 2 nickels to rub together and were only engaged at the time, but we talked the developer into paying us to take the house, found a lot near downtown, moved it, restored it, and everything inside is period (restored junk) right down to the fully functional 50's kitchen with laundry.

I'm always hunting for bargains on Craigslist, ebay and our local swapmeet and that's how I found our PUP.  It was junked and donated to a thrift store/food kitchen.  I paid $250 for it.  Found another one that was being given away for free due to water damage, and that got me the dinette table and carryout stove mine was missing, as well as a spare fridge and full propane tank.  Plus, after cutting the rotted camper off, it made a really nice utility trailer, and I use it all the time.  Just the other day I scored a $120 memory foam mattress topper for our queen size front bunk for $50 and then a $350 Olympian Wave 6 Catalytic Heater for $40.  $5 for an unused Thetford potti. Oh, and $60 for the $200 Optima Yellow Top AGM battery!  Found a grey water storage tank and Duotherm furnace the same way and while they weren't screaming deals, they were a lot cheaper than buying new.  My 1990 Suburban was the same thing...abandoned at the local Goodwill Donation Center 3 years ago.  It now looks like new, as does my '81 VW Rabbit diesel P/u that was free laying in a local farmer's field (with bedliner staked upside down as a duck shelter, and camper shell in the backyard as a dog house).

Fun times, for sure!