Cheapskate: What About Curb-Side Shopping?
by Karin Kloosterman, Jerusalem, Israel on 09. 7.07
(Ornate metal curtain hangers my dad found in the garbage...perfect for the windows of this old Templar house in South Tel Aviv)
With all this back to school talk, we simply love the idea of students furnishing dorms and co-op houses with finds from thrift shops. But those living frugally by choice and who are well beyond the student years, can also enjoy previously-loved items and things found on the curb. And your house doesn't need to look like it belongs to a hobo! This is an especially good option for transient folk who want to travel where the wind takes them, but who still need the basics in furnishings to get by in life. We now take you through a tour of Karin’s last house in Tel Aviv, where most of her space was furnished with things she found in the trash. Sometimes praying for certain items helps...
Guess what we picked from the curb in this picture? Answer: the table, two mirrors and the small brown basket.
In the above picture, the bed is a hand-me-down, the two side tables were found, as well as the old wooden knitting box. Not bad for the bedroom, eh?
What about in this pic? Can you spot the items rescued from the trash?
You can see only the corner of it (with all the wires) ... that was a fifties style fridge found in an old warehouse and slated for the trash; the shelf was rescued from a garbage dumpster (near our old house there were woodworking shops); the cappucino machine was a hand-me-down; we found the spool of silver ribbon in the trash, as well as the cabinet that serves as a stand for our fax machine and paper.
Basically everything in this picture was rescued from the curb - the day bed (our sofa), its cushions and the material that covers it were all found by the curb or in a bin (we also live near a textile hub); the table and two of the books were found too. We made the ceramic lamp though. So now that we've showed you inside our old home, what about yours? Send us links to pictures pointing out some of your best finds.
We find great stuff all the time - most recently it was an art drafting table on great caster rollers - dumped into a dumpster at some condos being remodeled. I looked it up online and new it was priced at $300. It had a slight imperfection on the desktop.
In recent months we've found most of the furnishings for our small cabin on the curb - a very nice kitchen table, a great handmade (and well done) coffee table, end tables, lamps and frames.
A few years ago I got a free Fender guitar in the case on "big trash day". At first I thought it was just the case and almost passed it by but with my husband's urging I went ahead and checked it out and was do delighted as I had been wanting to teach myself to play!
Unfortunately we have the opposite tradition here in Burlington VT. At the end of the school year students throw out perfectly good, well... everything. It has long been a tradition for locals to head up to University housing and take the leavings of the wealthy MA and NY students who come to Vermont. Last year the solar design company I worked for got a desk and a $600 emergency battery system from a computer lab that just needed a $48 battery (and some snow pants).
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