These free items I saved from my city's curbs were sold in the last two days. I sold two other items not shown for $72 more to be a shade over $1k in revenue for 7 free items. The best part was that $780 of this was for cash.
My last post said I'd go outside super late and do half of my walk after submitting it. It was a good thing I did because I found a nice set of stuff. One item already sold for $500 cash to a thrilled buyer who was amazed by my story of where I found it. This was also the first time ever that someone came up to me on the streets and offered me food because they thought I was homeless. Sigh. I thanked them and told them that I sell what I find. They said nothing else and walked away, seemingly disappointed.
Show Me The Money:
This beautiful La Pavoni Europiccola Italian Espresso Machine from 1976 worked perfectly and sold for $500 cash today within just a half day of listing it! It was sitting on top of a heap of recycling bags, and I was fortunate enough to attract the metal grate that was loose within one of the ~18 dozen clear bags in front of me. It was dated 1976 on the bottom and I had a good feeling it'd work by the looks of the other apartment move-out type of stuff around it. There were oddly also about 25 vintage electricity meters from 1965, many new in their boxes, but they were only worth about $30 each. I couldn't justify taking them.
Back to the espresso machine, it was covered in decades worth of grimy dinge that smelled like cologne, but I polished it with Barkeeper's Friend detailed the crevices with q-tips. This took me about an hour. I tested it and it worked! Surprisingly all of the gaskets and seals were perfectly intact, with no leaks or issues, so the prior owner maintained it well.
I think I underpriced it because I had 2 other eager pickup requests. I'd estimate that I could've gotten another $100-$150 for it if I aimed higher, but I wanted to quick turnover to buy crypto. If it was the copper version, it'd have sold for $1,000-$1,200. I'm not complaining.
Pretty, right? Recycled weight of 10 pounds 5 ounces.
Here's proof of it 2 blocks from where I found it with a timestamp. It's in the bag.
Am I lucky or just driven with my eyes peeled for value to save? That's also a working Dell laptop on the bottom right with no password and access to all of their files and email. Silly prior owner. From his seeing some emails, he was quite a jerk, but I'll wipe the drive.
I also found this unique old copper or brass-plated lamp shortly after.
Ready to sell, but don't know the right price yet. I can't tell its age or era. Ever seen one like this before? It has older wood under the presumably cast iron base.
Mirror mirror in my hall...
I found this old heavy mirror in while walking out in light snow and had to cut my walk short to lug it back. The glass were perfect. The frame was a 9.5/10. Not bad when these are usually shattered on the sidewalk by the people who toss them out. Can't put price on quality craftsmanship from the good old days. The back hardware and furniture that was next to it that night made me feel like this was from the 1960s, but I'll never know.
I procrastinated on listing it, but once I did, I had a pickup request within 4 hours. I sold it for $200 cash to someone who I'm selling some other stuff to for their new unfurnished apartment. They like antique stuff and I have plenty.
Here is it in the buyer's apartment. Proof as always.
Oh, and recycled weight of a whopping 26 pounds 4 ounces.
I found this gutted 2005 Fender Stratocaster Standard tonight while walking with a friend in 15 degrees. I was going to part it out for $125 (neck) and $90 (body), but they wanted it to be a gift for someone who owns a guitar repair shop. They insisted on paying me, and I didn't feel right about taking their money, but we worked it out for a quick $80 cash. Talk about a quick turnaround. This helps them with a specific gesture, and covers enough of what I was going to get for it so it was a win-win.
After leaving from the drop off at their apartment, I went back to that spot, kicked some garbage bags, and found this a Coach bag, 2 baggies of LEGOS, a Tonka bulldozer I'll give to my nephew, a large fire truck toy, a copper wall decoration I'll suggest to the buyer above, and a cast iron car. I also found a Dyson handheld vacuum and a nice wooden box I'll give to my neighbor to help them organize their kitchen items.
Recycled weight of guitar and bag of 10 pounds.
I sold this set of golf woods for $100. The buyer is building a set of clubs as a gift for their cousin and is going to review the 10+ other clubs I have that I haven't listed yet. There's a 50/50 chance that I'll get more out of this project, but I'm happy to get these two out the door with cheap local shipping at $9.90. People had low balled me for months on these, but I knew their value and that the right buyer would eventually come around. Patience pays.
Recycled weight of 3 pounds, including recycled packaging.
This Gemology handbook was found with a large sum of high quality gem quarterly issues that also fetch a pretty penny. I haven't listed those yet, and have sold them before. (Mental note to list one stack of those books tomorrow.) Gem books have very strong demand, as evidenced by this selling within a few days for $100.
Recycled weight of 2 pounds 11 ounces, including recycled packaging.
Law Of Attraction:
I also found the perfect item at the end of my "half walk", barely able to carry everything above with the lamp (and more not shown). I'm a pitcher in my baseball leagues and have Driveline plyo weighted training ball set that you throw against a hard wall or this trampoline. I'm just starting to use them inside to prep for my upcoming season. I really wanted the trampoline, but somehow forgot about it. Sometimes the signs are so clear that I can't stop doing this. I exclaimed "yes!" when I saw it inside a clear bag of stuff... my reward after all the hustle. The money is important, but finding exactly what I wanted at the very end of my trip, after forcing myself and my burning forearms to cover one more corner... priceless.
Taken at 6:29 AM. Worth the exhaustion the next day. Ironically, I felt guilty for only walking half my route, but it was late and I couldn't carry any more. I think I saved enough though while most people can't lift a finger to save just one thing.
Summary:
- 5 items sold for $980 revenue = $196 each. ($500 outlier)
- 80% received as cash. Now we're talking!
- No repair or parts costs. All free money.
- Total weight of recycled items = 52+ pounds.
- All items shipped with recycled packages and padding.
If you're seeing my recycling post for the first time, the value in it isn't in the entertainment from the handful of items I show as saved/sold. It's from the passion and hustle I consistently exhibit off-chain to produce the items for posts, and my goal of motivating others to address our global waste problem.
Thanks as always for your interest and support.
Please reuse, repurpose and recycle. If you aren't able, then donate them to shelters, churches, or thrift stores.
