Tuesday 1 March 2011

A spot of skip diving

I had planned to write about the bag I have almost finished, but I got side tracked, so it is not quite ready, maybe tomorrow. Instead I will tell you about my skip diving session. I took Jessie for a walk today but didn't get very far when I saw a skip parked in the driveway to a house in the next street. Having a nosey in it I saw there was some usefull items in there, and I asked the man who was carrying furniture from a trailer into the house, if I could take some things. He said 'well it is all going to the tip so you might as well'. It wasn't really his place to give me permission as the items belonged to the lady who used to live there, she died about six months ago so her relatives must have disposed of her stuff in the skip.

In the bottom of the skip was garden rubbish, a contracter had cleared the back garden a few days ago, but on the top was all manner of usefull stuff. I thought it was tragic to throw perfectly usefull things away. I took Jessie home and went back with some bags. In fact I walked backwards and forwards four times. Look what I picked out.

Folding ocassional table.
Tapestry frame.
32 cookery books
Pottery tea light holder
4 china cups and saucers, floral pattern
Trinket box
Floor standing electric lamp
5 plastic bowls
Electric kettle
Slow cooker
Leather belt
Big pot planter
2 stainless steel cooking pots, one with a lid
Brand new camping stove in a box
Brand new mini greenhouse cover
Brand new paint roller
4 wooden boxes with lift up lids
3 decorated plates
A mat (not in pic)

Amazing. I shall give most of this to a charity shop, I just wanted to get it out of the skip before it was dumped. I might go back in the morning if it doesn't rain overnight. There is some bedding in there which would be usefull to the dogs home.

When I went by later I saw that it was a friend of mine who was moving into the house. The man I spoke to earlier was the removal man, so I went back to help Tony arrange his furniture after I had walked Jessie. So I have been busy today, maybe I'll get the bag finished tomorrow.

15 comments:

  1. It really makes you wonder sometimes doesn't it?
    The things folk chuck out because they're just too idle/unthinking to take it charity - makes my blood boil. Good on yer Ilona for rescuing it!
    I shall look forward to seing the next bag :o)

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  2. I was going to say something very similar to Rose H above, so I'll just say ditto to the above!

    I can't bear to throw anything that can be used again.

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  3. thanks for doing your bit for mother earth and not allowing it to go into land fill

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  4. Good grief, what a waste and well rescued. We've dumpster 'dived' too, bringing home a dining room table and 4 chairs for my folks who had recently returned from Africa and had no furniture - I gave birth the next day to my youngest son.... might have been moving the table that did it!!

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  5. well done you, Iona(proud of ya:)!

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  6. Good for you! What a waste of perfectly good things if your skip haul had gone to the landfill site. It makes me so cross to see waste like that. I`m sure the charity shops would be pleased to rehome anything you cannot use yourself.

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  7. Blinkin' 'eck, what a find? Can you make use of any of it, the slow cooker & camping stove?

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  8. It never ceases to amaze me what folks will throw out for no good reason.

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  9. I recently had to dispose of a lot of my mom's stuff into the garbage. I didn't have time to take it to the charity shop and those shops don't want whatever you want to get rid of. Beleive it or not most of these shops here only take some stuff and then they sell it for an arm and a leg. I got rid of so much. Despite the fact that it was in perfectly good condition I simply couldn't do anything else when we had only a few days to get rid of everything from mom's place and move her to nursing home. A friend of mine was good enough to take more than half of what I was throwing away and keep it on her deck until one of the shops would pick it up and I managed to leave a lot of things for people in the building to help themselves to. Nonetheless a lot went in the trash. Sad.

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  10. It just goes to show that we are living in a dreadful state of consumerism combined with thoughtless waste producing society. We rescued a perfectly functioning cd/tape machine with radio plus speakers from a skip,
    5 years ago. It is still working and sits in my
    little office space. If every person would consider alternaive methods of getting rid of their unwanted items our world would not get overloaded to the brim with rubbish.

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  11. what a good haul, at least now someone else will benefit from the belongings, rather than them ending up in landfill x

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  12. I'm not allowed to get out of the car at the dump....I have been known to "save" things...

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  13. Most of you women assume that everyone who has to dump things is wasteful and materialistic. Far from it. There are lots of older people who have had things for years and can't bear to part with them because they are perfectly good or because they want to make sure someone else can benefit from it. The problem is when you can't rid of stuff fast enough...when u have to move or you die before you get it all done. Think about it and don't let your clutter bug get the best of you. Even if you only buy at a charity shop, you can still suffer from having an excessive amount of stuff. A lot of the bloggers I see on line have way too much stuff for their real needs (including me which is why I have a goal of decluttering and less consumption of things in general). It is really something.

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  14. Wow some finds there and amazing that no one dumped it at a charity shop rather than a skip! Agreed that de cluttering is an excellent idea. I try to get rid of stuff on a regular basis however being known as a person who gives homes to second hand stuff I accumulate a bit lol adn also having a small person in the house kind of doubles the burden even though I try to tell people tp buy second hand or give her cash or memories/experiences for birthdays/christmas. I do car boots at least once a year - way to get rid of stuff and make a few bob then off to charity shop or for recycling.

    Eeeek - The far norther english provinces xxx

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  15. For each item entering the house, at LEAST two need to leave...

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