One Person's Junk Is Indeed My Treasure

There is a long-time history in my family of finding and repurposing old or unused items. While as a child I found this aspect of my family life rather embarrassing, as an adult, I find it rather admirable. As they say, "Waste not, want not."

Throughout my teenage years, I spurned the efforts of my mother to convert me to a garage sale junky, turning up my nose at anything used or repurposed, but willing to let her go about her business without too much chiding from me. All that changed however, once I hit college and began having to pay for things myself. Then I suddenly realized that without mom and dad around to foot the bill, things were expensive!

This led me to a path of new found appreciation for repurposing old or used items and got me thinking outside the box when it came to finding such items and the ways to best utilize them for my needs.

My College Years

College became my "formative" years when it came to my collecting and recycling endeavors. I found it amazing just how much great stuff other students left behind each year. As the house manager of our fraternity, I was often left to clean up the house at the end of the summer. Guys would leave books, cds, videos, six-plug outlets -- even money in the form of spare change -- often scattered about their rooms after they graduated and left.

College towns can be great sources of lightly used material that students, who just don't want to deal with moving it, leave behind at the end of the school year. Dumpsters around apartments, dorms, fraternities and sororities made for great finds both in the town where I went to school as well as the town in which I lived during the summer. I tended to focus largely on hardwood or metal furniture in these areas, avoiding things such as mattresses, sofas, and the likes due to bugs, mold, and other -- things.

Apartment Living

Although I didn't expect it, I stumbled upon the same style leftovers in apartment life after school. While my time spent in apartment living in Indianapolis was not so lucrative (maybe due to the city's seemingly strict Midwestern values regarding reuse and waste) in Chicago , I hit pay dirt.

From woven baskets to wicker furniture and end tables, I found some surprisingly nice home furnishings turning up around our apartment building's dumpster area. And for those items that were a bit shabby in appearance, it's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to make something look like new again.

Notice however, that I stuck with easy to clean, easy to inspect pieces. With the prevalence of bed bugs in apartments these days, one must be wary as to what is picked up and trucked into a home.

Our House

When we purchased our first home, it came with a smattering of leftovers as well. From some valuable collectable paperweights, to dishes, tools, paint, hardware, and assorted building materials in the garage and basement, we found quite a variety of goodies to be picked through upon our arrival.

While in our home, we also became avid neighborhood dumpster divers. We picked up on various surrounding neighborhood trash days and made some valuable finds on our adventures. From a wicker rocker, to a great standing water table for our son to play with, we were amazed at just what people were willing to toss aside that was perfectly usable and in great condition.

Family

I used to loath all the unwanted stuff that family members seemed to continually be dumping upon us. But I eventually found that much of this stuff could be converted into cash. Either by way of garage sales or by saving us from having to buy similar items at the store, home furnishings from family soon became prized possessions that not only often came with a story behind them but some surprising value as well.

Such experiences were valuable lessons that before you just junk those family heirlooms that look like trash, jump on the Internet first and check their value. I still kick myself for tossing out my mother's old childhood bedside lamp that turned out to be worth almost $100!

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Disclaimer:

The author is not a licensed financial professional. The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For financial advice, readers should consult a licensed financial advisor. Any action taken by the reader due to the information provided in this article is solely at the reader's discretion.