[x]

Finding Free Sh*t

Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 11
  1. Magnet Steve Magnet Steve is online now

    Boston, MA
    United States

    Posts: 10,820
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 6:14am)

    GF and I live in a building that's about 50/50 adults and rich college students whose parents pay for their rent. Honestly, it's not so bad, mainly cause we have a corner bedroom, and a really good deal on rent. These kids are filthy rich, for the most part, and so have no appreciation for their possessions, to the point where perfectly good, working items are left in the trash room every year around move-out time. We've found some smallish items there (hanging coat rack, set of drawers), took them, disinfected them, and use them, but two specific items stand out.

    #1 - About 4 months ago, I noticed a Dell Inspiron 9300, complete with battery and power adapter, sitting in the trash. Knowing how much I could get just parting the damn thing on eBay, I decided to turn it on, and found that it actually worked, except for a smashed LCD screen. Again, planned on parting the thing out for free money, but my GF's mom needed a new computer, and GF wanted that to be her birthday present. So, instead of spending $300-$400 on a used laptop, I spent $100 for a new LCD, replaced it, and GF's mom got a pretty nice laptop (luckily for the jackass who left his data, completely in tact on the hard drive, I formatted the thing immediately. I respect people's privacy, even when they don't deserve it). $500 value... cost to us, $100, plus 30 minutes of labor.

    #2 - Tonight, doing some late night laundry, go into the trash room, and find a brand-new looking wireless printer/scanner/copier, which we need. No cables, but I'm a geek, and have standard power and USB cables for nearly everything. Hook it up, turns on, try a test copy, works normally, test the inks, both black and color at 95%. Ours now. $250 value... cost to us, free.

    tl;dr Got a free laptop (minus LCD replacement) and free wireless printer combo because rich college kids throw functional electronics in the trash.

    Any good free stuff stories?

    P.S. This post brought to you by C2H5OH.
    Edited By: Magnet Steve May 14th, 2011 at 06:14 AM
    Reason: Formatting, nucka
  2. SICKTIGHT311 SICKTIGHT311 is offline

    Long Beach, CA
    United States

    Posts: 24,822
    Joined: Jul 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 6:25am) in reply to Magnet Steve

    PM Phi about free cigarettes.
  3. Spiltbongwater Spiltbongwater is offline

    Langley
    Canada

    Posts: 2,061
    Joined: Dec 08

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 6:54am) in reply to SICKTIGHT311

    Didn't Chazmental get a free grill or something?
    Edited By: Spiltbongwater May 14th, 2011 at 06:55 AM
  4. ucantbeatthemeat ucantbeatthemeat is offline

    Santa Monica, CA
    United States

    Posts: 1,598
    Joined: Mar 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 12:05pm) in reply to Spiltbongwater

    Haha, an inspiron 9300 with a smashed screen would get maybe $50, I wouldnt give more than $20. I mean Its a labtop from before P5s existed lol. You can get brand new icore laptop for $500. I just gave away a 2 year old lexington printer/scanner/copier to the goodwill. It was $50 brand new in 2008. The recycling fees for this stuff is probably more than its worth, which is why you find it in the trash.
  5. Sweetness777 Sweetness777 is online now Prefers Dark Meat

    MP
    United States

    Posts: 9,012
    Joined: May 05

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 1:00pm) in reply to ucantbeatthemeat

    regardless, still love the resourcefullness. one mans trash is anothers treasure.
  6. coolhandkev coolhandkev is offline

    IL
    United States

    Posts: 8,585
    Joined: Aug 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 1:52pm) in reply to Sweetness777

    That's great.

    When we were like 17 we found a slightly broken elliptical machine behind a sports authority. So being bored on a Friday night we made it our goal to get it and repair it. So we got a truck from friends parent got it back home and spent the night repairing with duct tape and got it working. It sat in my friends basement for about two weeks and never once got used before his mom got sick of it and set it out front where it either got picked by someone else or got scrapped for $15 or so.
  7. Randers Randers is offline

    Posts: 13,985
    Joined: Nov 05

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 1:58pm) in reply to coolhandkev

    Wicked smaht, well played Ohpee
     
  8. Unforseen Unforseen is offline

    Posts: 8,285
    Joined: Feb 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 2:16pm) in reply to Randers



    Reminds me of this episode of it's always sunny


    There was a horse massacre down there
  9. XquiziVex XquiziVex is online now

    French Polynesia

    Posts: 7,061
    Joined: May 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 3:18pm) in reply to Unforseen

    We were at practice for my sons little league team last weekend, and my little guy found a crisp clean US $50 bill laying in the grass in the outfield. Needless, to say Little man treated us to lunch afterwards.
  10. Magnet Steve Magnet Steve is online now

    Boston, MA
    United States

    Posts: 10,820
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 3:24pm) in reply to ucantbeatthemeat

    Guess in my drunkenness I wasn't clear, finding the laptop saved me from spending upwards of (up to) $500 for the gift laptop. Made sense in my head. However, I would point out that you valued the 9300 with the smashed screen, which I fixed. I also verified everything else on it, including a newish HDD, through testing, which is why I was willing to sink $100 into for the LCD.
    Thread Starter
  11. Pker4Dummies Pker4Dummies is online now

    Toms River, NJ
    United States

    Posts: 11,264
    Joined: Jul 08

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 3:37pm) in reply to Magnet Steve

    Between free shit on Craigslist (Small TVs, books, dressers, baby clothes, tools, grills) and finding other shit people throw out, (mostly tvs, toys, and dressers) Ive made quite a few sheckles at the flea markets.

    (Im poor)
  12. Mr Galt Mr Galt is offline sister-in-law's a ho

    Maldives

    Posts: 10,052
    Joined: Nov 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 3:51pm) in reply to Pker4Dummies

    I got a UB hat...
  13. kasey_gcp kasey_gcp is online now

    Ozark, MO
    United States

    Posts: 2,405
    Joined: Feb 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 4:16pm) in reply to Mr Galt

     
    Originally Posted by Mr Galt View Post

    I got a UB hat...

    I can verify this. I gave him a UB hat i no longer wanted at 0 cost to him, well except for a lil pride and he complained of a sore throat and redeye the next day...
  14. PlusToTheEV PlusToTheEV is offline

    Dunwoody, GA
    United States

    Posts: 489
    Joined: Jun 08

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 4:28pm) in reply to ucantbeatthemeat

     
    Originally Posted by ucantbeatthemeat View Post

    Haha, an inspiron 9300 with a smashed screen would get maybe $50, I wouldnt give more than $20. I mean Its a labtop from before P5s existed lol. You can get brand new icore laptop for $500. I just gave away a 2 year old lexington printer/scanner/copier to the goodwill. It was $50 brand new in 2008. The recycling fees for this stuff is probably more than its worth, which is why you find it in the trash.


    plenty of places run specials on recycling it where they give you a 10/25/50 giftcard for bringing in your old printer and sometimes computers.
     
  15. xxbossmanxx xxbossmanxx is online now The Boss

    Detroit, MI
    United States

    Posts: 4,922
    Joined: Sep 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 4:40pm) in reply to PlusToTheEV

    Ah man, I used to love it when the college kids bailed outta Bellingham (western washington university) They would leave behind so much good stuff. Moved away from there but still love thrown out treasures.
  16. Spiltbongwater Spiltbongwater is offline

    Langley
    Canada

    Posts: 2,061
    Joined: Dec 08

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 4:41pm) in reply to ucantbeatthemeat

     
    Originally Posted by ucantbeatthemeat View Post

    Haha, an inspiron 9300 with a smashed screen would get maybe $50, I wouldnt give more than $20. I mean Its a labtop from before P5s existed lol. You can get brand new icore laptop for $500. I just gave away a 2 year old lexington printer/scanner/copier to the goodwill. It was $50 brand new in 2008. The recycling fees for this stuff is probably more than its worth, which is why you find it in the trash.

    What? in California you pay the recycling fee when you recycle it? Here a TV is $30 recycling fee + 12% tax at time of purchase.
  17. Niceguy Niceguy is offline I will find you.

    NV
    United States

    Posts: 25,317
    Joined: Jul 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 4:56pm) in reply to Spiltbongwater

    You are taking something disposed of and re-using it, have you ever thought about the economic effect that will have? If all consumer goods just became re-used AMERICANS(and slave shop workers) will lose jobs. Hope you're happy with yourself, dumpster diver.
  18. Magnet Steve Magnet Steve is online now

    Boston, MA
    United States

    Posts: 10,820
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 5:02pm) in reply to Niceguy

     
    Originally Posted by Niceguy View Post

    You are taking something disposed of and re-using it, have you ever thought about the economic effect that will have? If all consumer goods just became re-used AMERICANS(and slave shop workers) will lose jobs. Hope you're happy with yourself, dumpster diver.

    How about if, on the drive to the store today, I take out a couple street signs, maybe even a traffic light? That should create enough work to offset the dumpster diving, no?
    Thread Starter
  19. Niceguy Niceguy is offline I will find you.

    NV
    United States

    Posts: 25,317
    Joined: Jul 06

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 5:06pm) in reply to Magnet Steve

    public works.

    I like where your head is at.
  20. kellykip kellykip is online now The Chosen One

    New York City, NY
    United States

    Posts: 20,228
    Joined: Jun 09

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 5:11pm) in reply to Magnet Steve

     
    Originally Posted by Magnet Steve View Post

    (luckily for the jackass who left his data, completely in tact on the hard drive, I formatted the thing immediately. I respect people's privacy, even when they don't deserve it).

    "It is immoral to not separate the trustafarian from daddy's ill gotten funds when he is begging for a real world lesson."

    - Jewels the Wino, standing over a passed out drunk 18yo preppy - Lower East Side (date withheld)
  21. ShOrTy25 ShOrTy25 is offline

    Morton Grove, IL
    United States

    Posts: 747
    Joined: May 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 5:14pm) in reply to kellykip

    I found $100 on the floor in Vegas next to the craps table. It may have been mine but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Regardless, I lost it within minutes at the blackjack table
     
  22. sacaniga sacaniga is offline fake machinist

    Thailand

    Posts: 9,317
    Joined: Jul 07

    May 14th, 2011 (5/14/2011 5:21pm) in reply to ShOrTy25

    i did the exact opposite this morning , i was in bed and i sharted, figured since i was naked it was a real issue, clenched my butt cheeks and jogged to bathroom only to find my ass hole bone dry. turns out the shart happened in a dream and woke me up. couldnt get back to bed.
    Edited By: sacaniga May 14th, 2011 at 05:22 PM
Reply to Thread
Page 1 of 11