Submitted 2 months ago by 2ugly2live@lemmy.world to [deleted]
They put out this shelf and I want it, but I don’t want to seem strange? It would make a nice plant shelf, but it’s not something I can scurry away with, so people would see me while I carried it. Is that a bad thing to do?
I think that it is weird that you ask us and not your neighbour
This is what the internet has done to people.
If a neighbor asked me I would be happy it’s not going into a landfill and offer to help carry it
Pointing this out to Redditors gets you downvoted into oblivion.
That is one of the reason why many of us are not on reddit any more. Thanks for reminding us!
At least he posted on the right community.
If I put something by the road, instead of in the bin, it is because I want someone to take it. Yes take it. If you are unsure, go up and let them know you want it,I can say with absolute confidence, they will say to take it.
I put out one of those big plastic storage units with like 30 little drawers recently, figuring although 2 were missing, someone could still use it. I stood it next to the dustbin, on trash day where it would be optimally visible for anyone who wanted to scrounge it.
The bloody HOA took a picture and sent a nastygram.
I have no HOA, I need no HOA,and want no HOA. I do not care if my neighbor puts his car on blocks. City code enforcement will eventually move on any outrageous lack of upkeep.
?
Brb, dropping the kids off
Once I was moving house and we set an old couch out on the sidewalk. It was very large and heavy so we were concerned that no one would take it. But we lived in a poorer area where most everything got taken, and sure enough it did disappear.
A few more days went by and we continued packing to move. The big day finally arrived and I went out that morning to greet the mover truck and found that whoever had take. the couch had come back and returned it during the night! I was like “you can’t do that!” LOL
This is totally kosher where I am and I’ve done it before, but if I think I’ll be observed I’ll ask my neighbor. They’ve always responded with some variation of “oh of course, I consider it trash” and sometimes explain reasons they’re getting rid of it that dissuaded me from taking it that weren’t immediately obvious.
And if you don’t know who owns it, leaving a note to ask is simple.
I’ve been the one to leave stuff out that I didn’t have space for anymore, with a note on that it’s free to take
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” exists exactly for this, I think.
Except in Germany. Anything put outside for refuse collection is considered property of the town or city.
Taking something from the pile is punished as theft, and if caught, you will be fined.
I was thinking that I could as well live in Germany, until this moment. Seriously.
Yet if you asked your neighbor, you’ll not be fined.
Which is the answer to this question anyway.
Ask
One man’s garbage is another man person’s good un-garbage.
this is quite literally how I get all of my furniture, extending the lifespan of consumer goods isa goid thing.
now you know for next time!
When I lived in a college town, the last week of May was the best time to get used furniture.
College kids everywhere abandoning all kinds of shit on the greenbelt that they had no way of bringing home.
I’m sure there is furniture in my current home that came from some stranger college kid.
Nice of you to give bedbugs somewhere to live. Good on you.
Bedbugs are pretty easy to spot. While yes, they’re very good at hiding, they don’t really make it into those hiding spots until the easy spots are overpopulated. Sure, someone could have an infestation and could be vacuuming the easy spots weekly, but I doubt someone would clean their marks excessively without also addressing the problem. Sure, maybe this comment was a joke, maybe you’re serious, but either way, I accidentally became very fucking knowledgeable on bed bugs and what I’ve found ever since then is that people don’t actually know anything about bed bugs. Here I am. Of note, they’re not common near me, probably due to a mix of economic wealth and cold winters preventing outdoor survival.
If you can read text on your phone at the stock zoom level, you can see bed bugs because the adults are almost 1/4" long. Young bugs are pretty small, but you don’t get babies without adults and eggs. Eggs look like white/beige grains of salt stuck to edges. Their feces are brown or black (sometimes red) and look like what a fine-tip marker or thick pen would leave on paper. Individually, hard to see. Realistically, you’ll see clusters. They’ll hide in both crevices close to dormant humans (sheet seams, couch cracks) and higher places in shadow where they can see humans (picture frame edges, headboard corners). They live a long time. Even without feeding, they can survive a year.
There are currently a few pesticides with great results such ass Crossfire. They are certainly becoming resistant, but the more we eradicate wholly in a place, the less we have to worry - just like taking the full prescription of an antibiotic. If you do catch them, you’ll need to be very thorough. Bag your clothes and work through them. Pesticides have a residual effect, but the better you handle the ones you can find, the faster you can end the nightmare.
To wrap it up, just peel back the cushions of that furniture. If you don’t see stains in the easy-to-use but hard-to-clean cracks, you’re probably fine. No one I know has ever had them in dorms, just travel through hostels.
-Franz Kafka, or something
The town I grew up in had a college and a university! I don’t think my parents bought us kids any new furniture until my dad built his own woodworking shop. I was a teenager by then!
We always got new mattresses, because NO FUCKING WAY was mom letting us sleep on a used, adult’s, student mattress. (I never knew you could stain them, that way, in those amounts…)
My sister still has a beautiful solid oak desk…
Yeah mattresses, gross. Even a couch.
But coffee tables, TV stands, bed side tables… Bed frames computer desks… So much good shit.
As a kid in the 80s I lived in a burb where once or twice in the summer they had a day where they could put out big clunky stuff for trash pickup that normally wasn’t allowed. So stuff like furniture, mattresses, old tires, etc. You’d routinely see cars driving past to see if there was anything they wanted to take. Our church friends, a family with 6 kids, would have a few ride off on their bikes and scout for useful stuff and call dibs. Then one brother went back home to get someone to bring the station wagon around while the others kept guard over the claim.
It was a good system for giving a second life to stuff that was still good (or fixable) but that you didn’t want or weren’t able to lug to the flea market or something.
We have this still where I live. Was just this weekend gone in my neighbourhood.
Last week it was the rich neighbourhood and the council was there stopping people from taking anything saying that it all belongs to the council.
Dann rich fuckers get extra protection for their rubbish mean while our houses get broken into and cars stolen constantly
its very normal to to do this in southeast asia
There’s a well established tradition of hand-me-down furniture being put out in alleys in East Vancouver. When you move and have no furniture, you can just tour the alleys and come away with a coffee table and a sofa or a couple of chairs. Did it a few times. You gotta know how to check for bed bugs though.
It wouldn’t be weird, but talk to your neighbour first.
If you’re sure they don’t want it, take it.
If you aren’t sure, ask, if if they are there, and if they aren’t there, take it and ask later if they wanted it (return it if they did).
It’s only weird if the person who threw it away makes it weird by getting upset and calling the cops, which is their legal right for some damn reason.
In my neighborhood taking stuff left at the curb is the norm. Sometimes we‘ll leave a sign to clarify something is free. There have been times when I’ve taken something, used it for a while, then put it back out in the curb for someone else to enjoy.
I’ve put at least 10 pieces of furniture out on the curb in the last 4 months and they’ve all been taken. It makes me glad that someone can use it.
Just go and ask
The free pile is always available.
People around me put things out early with the expectation and hope someone will come and take it.
My neighborhood has bulk trash pickup monthly. Most of the bulk trash gets put out the week prior to pickup day. The majority of this trash doesn’t make it to the dump! People with trailers come by and pick up anything remotely usable. I like to think they are reusing/upcycling this stuff but I really don’t know. I see this as a huge win because it keeps stuff out of the dump but it does feel very dystopian to see a junk economy like something from Fallout.
Why is that weird? I put things out hoping someone will grab it, so i don’t have to risk the city not taking it.
It may or.may not be weird depending on the situstion, your neighbor’s personality, your relationship with your neighbor, etc.
But weird != wrong.
If I have a bulky item to discard, I call 311 or use the My311 app to arrange city pickup, and put it by the curb the day before. It’s my hope that none will still be there by the time the truck arrives. Because that means it’s being used by someone, which is better for everyone. If it’s a neighbor, that’s cool too.
I got a decent table saw this way. I don’t mind picking up something that someone else doesn’t want and I might one day use.
Where I live, there are people who make a decent amount of cash by grabbing whatever metal they can find out of the trash and taking it to scrapyards. There are a couple of trucks that swing past my house a few times the night before and the day of trash pickup. And myself, I grabbed two bikes by just knocking on the door and asking.
We have scheduled bulk item pickups in pur city. The night before you will usually see at least a couple trucks driving around tossing any scrap metal they find in the bed.
Yes it’s weird. What if they see you? How will you act? They might come in your home to look at it. What if in a few weeks they change their mind and want it back? I think this is a weird situation
Lol
Next time just go take it. No one will care. They might even help you lol
Homie. I wish you better luck in future recycling adventures. I think you might meet cool like minded people along the way.
You already know the saying about one man’s trash. Just use that if they ask about it.
I put trash on the curb knowing the kids next door will pick it up and use it. They love to score new stuff, and I love seeing an old bicycle or chair getting new love.
I actually love it when people take things I put by the curb. I would much rather someone get use out of it than have it end up in a landfill.
toofpic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I do that all the time. A thing is a thing, and it can be your thing now. I only try to ask myself two things:
Sidenote: I live in Denmark, where people overconsume, and then get rid of stuff which is still in good condition.