Earlier today I was walking around our subdivision with my family. Once around is about 0.6 miles, so it's at least a little bit of exercise for me.
We had walked only a few houses down the first bend when we saw a gas grill and a patio furniture set lined up at the curb.
With a cardboard sign duct-taped to the table that said “FREE.” Man, I love that word!
The grill was in pretty rough shape inside, so we passed on that, but the patio furniture (four chairs and a metal table with a translucent glass top) was in pretty good shape. Some of the chairs showed some rust, the cushions needed cleaning (as did the glass table top) and there was no umbrella. The rust on the chairs wasn't that serious (nothing that a couple cans of Rustoleum® couldn't take care of.
So we made a couple of trips back to our house and brought the minivan over because the table was a bit big to carry back. The chairs were easy, though. (Get it?? Easy chairs? I'll be here all week!)
The table top cleaned up like a charm in five minutes. We'll try to knock down the grime on the chair cushions a little bit with some cleaners with bleach, but that's probably doable as well.
All told, for a hour's work we got a $100 patio set for free! It's like our own personal Freecycle.
What a great find! Don’t you just love those days.
Being a landlord and having quite a bit of furniture items to get rid of we oftentimes also put the items to the curb with a sign. Most are gone within hours.
I was lucky enough to also get a metal patio set a few years back that was left behind. New paint, new cushions and it looks as good as new. Gotta love that!
wow, nice pick up. im always on the lookout for free stuff, a great place to look is any college town the weekend before school ends.
My daughter lives in a sizable apartment complex in Phoenix. There’s an area near the Dumpsters where people leave items they don’t need or can’t afford to move. It’s like a little furniture store and yes, my daughter and her husband have found a few things they need.
And the “free” box at yard sales is the first place I look. You can find all kinds of useful things there. If it’s kosher to post URLs, here’s an article I wrote for MSN Money’s Smart Spending blog, “Finding wealth in a frying pan”:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1307929
The four-letter word title caught my attention, lol! Love that particular 4-letter word, though! Have a feeling that set cost even more than $100 new! Way to go. What a great find.
Colleges can be good sources of bargains at the end of the year. If not free, then at least cheap.
You can also find free stuff on craigslist. There’s a “free” section, depending on which city you live in this can be stocked with great finds.
4 letters or 7 letters are both good (Free or Freebie). Remember to think twice before you give you your true identity (birthday, etc.) if you have concern. Get your free stuff with caution.