Left behind

The last few days have been a bit dry. I found this Lloyd’s brand LCD TV Friday evening. It didn’t work (light came on but didn’t turn on) but I didn’t really expect it to. I figured someone might be able to fix it or use it for parts and put it on Craigslist. I got a few emails, and gave it to someone who’s trying to learn how to fix stuff. Good luck to him!

I think that if we as a society focus more on repairing what already exists (or giving it to people who want to) we can greatly reduce our consumption and waste. That’s why I think the Repair Cafe is an amazing idea.

It’s getting close to the end of the month which means I find piles of stuff left by people who are moving away. I came across a lot of these in the last few days but none of them were super interesting. You can generally tell it’s a “moving pile” when you find the contents of the fridge – half empty jars or pickles, jam, etc – and the pantry amongst the stuff.

I did come across this little tea set…

I think there’s a few mugs missing but it’s still pretty cute. I think it was intended to be a sort of kid’s play tea set – it’s hard to tell from the picture but the tea pot is really tiny.

I also found a new Captain Morgan belt buckle and a working IKEA clock (which was still sealed in plastic).

Another “moving pile.” I scavenged a couple of decent kitchen utensils but there wasn’t much of interest otherwise. There was a whole cutlery set in there but I don’t need cutlery at all and didn’t feel like fishing around the bag for it. I ended up finding another set of cutlery in the trash later – it seems like a pretty common thing to be thrown out when people move.

Another moving pile…

This one contained these four sealed (well, one is unsealed but looks unused) jars of cocktail mix. I’m not a big cocktail guy but my roommate might like them. If not they’ll soon be on the CL free section!

It also contained this juicer (brand: Hamilton Beach). I don’t often take home this kind of stuff – usually it’s thrown out because it’s busted – but this pile looked like a “moving pile” and the juicer was pretty clean so I decided to take a shot.

It looks good so far! The motor turns and it seems to make juice, though I haven’t tested it fully yet. It performed well on the 1/6th of an apple I threw in there though! These things retail for 60-100 bucks so it’s a pretty nice find. I’m guessing that these people didn’t really use it that often and decided not to bother with packing it.

Anyways, I hope the next few days provide some more interesting stuff. The end of the month is usally pretty good. I’ll keep you posted!