Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Curb-Side Freebies


We've all seen them standing at the curbside, sometimes with signs stating "FREE" attached to them. These are curb-side freebies. Old discarded items whose former owner couldn't bring himself to toss in the garbage and was too lazy to haul over to the nearest Salvation Army donation center.

Some of these things disappear within a matter of minutes. One of our neighbors moved out recently and when she left some office supplies and furniture as curb-side freebies, they were gone before the hour was out.

Sometimes, like in the case of the chest of drawers pictured to the left, these items can hang around for days without anyone taking any notice - or until garbage day comes along and they are hauled away.

While I've often seen some interesting items left as curb-side freebies, I have never actually taken any. Interestingly enough, I've also never seen anyone else take any of these items. It's as if they de-materialize and disappear on their own. Is it that people are ashamed of taking them? Are folks lurking around to make sure that no one is looking before swooping in and grabbing the loot?

For the record, I think that there is nothing wrong with adopting curb-side freebies. In fact, I consider such adoption a noble act of environmental consciousness (OK, maybe that's a little bit of an over-statement). After all, why not re-use an item that is perfectly fine, instead of sending it to the garbage heap. 

Which brings us to the poll below:

2 comments:

frugal zeitgeist said...

I've done this once or twice. Only thing is, it's important to be mindful of bedbugs.

Shadox said...

Yes - I would never consider grabbing anything that would be unsanitary. For sure, anything you grab off the street requires a thorough cleaning. Maybe that's one of the reasons I never actually adopted any homeless articles.