The strong sales continued, this time bolstered by a successful yard sale. Otherwise, I’ve been feeling a little burnt out and unmotivated so I’m trying to take it easy. I realize I need to figure out a better plan for organizing my junk and a better setup for taking photos. These are things that regularly stress me out and would be easy enough to fix. For instance, acquiring a light box for photography would make my life a whole lot easier! Right now I take all my photos outside, which is effective but unreliable because the weather (especially wind, rain, and the level of sunlight) makes it a real hassle sometimes. Thinking about it now it just seems silly that I don’t have a real photography setup.
It’s been relatively quiet on the garbage front lately, but I have made some great finds (including some ridiculous stuff in the McGill Ghetto during move-out day) that I hope to share with you in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!
1. Yard sale: 310$. As described in my last post. It was a beautiful day and I managed to unload a lot of stuff, so I really couldn’t ask for more.
2. Hemmi Bamboo slide rule: On eBay for 80$. There’s some money to be made in old slide rules! Found a little over a month ago in Cote St-Luc.
3. Arcadia of my Youth DVD: On eBay for 55$. Another anime DVD from that collection I found last fall in the Plateau.
4. Golden Dior luminizing makeup jewel: On eBay for 20$. Found this January in TMR.
5. Sirius Sportster Satellite Radio: On eBay for 40$. Found last year in Montreal West.
6. Lot of 1960s / 1970s Private Eye (British satire) magazines: On eBay for 40$. Found last fall in the Golden Square Mile.
7. Very Canadian sterling silver bracelet: On eBay for 50$. Found September 2014 in Outremont.
8. Michael Kors perfume: On eBay for 30$. I think I found this on Cote St-Luc road in NDG.
9. Sterling silver cigarette holder (with ejector): On eBay for 60$. Found last fall in the Golden Square Mile.
10. Paolo Soleri bronze bell: On eBay for 90$. This sold quickly! Found a couple months ago in Montreal West, but just listed last week.
11. Silver earrings: On Etsy for 20$. Found in the Plateau back in the day.
12. Silver ring: On Etsy for 35$. Also found in the Plateau back in the day.
13. Harper’s Bazaar magazine – December 1955: To a reader for 50$. This came from an old magazine collection I have yet to mention on the blog. This issue is worth more than most because it featured some drawings by Andy Warhol. Found last week in Westmount.
14. Magazine / ephemera lot: To a friend for 40$. I recently met someone who does collage art, and we’ve worked out a deal where she buys old magazines and other paper items from me. She doesn’t need the items to be in perfect condition, so this sale included the magazines with ripped covers from the collection mentioned above. It’s pretty easy money for me, and a good deal for her as well.
Total: 920$, 9833$ since the new year.
Relevant links
1. Facebook page
1. My eBay listings
2. Etsy store
3. Kijiji listings
4. My donate page
Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a long time to get back to you.
I’m very happy you enjoyed another period of good sales. (Love the yard sale pic!)
If you’re into DIY, here’s photography light box looks fairly easy to make http://strobist.blogspot.ca/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html (NOTE: I also sent you a couple of FB PMs, re: a two good Canadian deals on light boxes).
I’m glad you’ve been able to work out a nice arrangement with a collage artist. Will the artist take photographs, as well?
Keep up the great work, Martin! Wish I was there to give you a helping hand from time to time.
I have no idea, but I linked to their site and perhaps some of the images will appear there. Thanks for the links!
Taking pictures is the thing that stresses me out the most as well. I hate the routine of setting everything up nicely, making sure there isn’t too much crap in the background, then uploading everything on my computer, cropping and saving, then uploading and describing it all on sale sites…ug! It’s exhausting even typing it all out. It’s the one thing that makes me procrastinate when it comes to selling.
Tell me about it. It’s twice as annoying when you want to take pictures just for the blog too! I’m going to figure out a dedicated photography setup, so that it’s less of a hassle when I want to get a shot
Hello!
There are some good DIY lightbox videos on YouTube – much better than taking photos outside in the rain 😉
https://youtu.be/EcTlFIfQXZM
Michelle
Envoyé de mon iPhone
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Thanks for video, very helpful.
Yeah, I need something like this.
Hi Martin,
Are you working another job while scavenging?
Nope. Haven’t worked a regular job in about 3 years.
It sounds like a smart move to destress by organizing your finds and reenergize too. I thought you might be working also, which would give you less time to organize while scavenging.
Last week I stopped at this house with a forsale sign and had 4 barrels filled, with many bags outside too. The first bag I opened I could see dollar bills, with jewelry also. I didn’t want to take the time to look through it, so I took the bag, along with another that had change in it.
I ended up finding: (exchange rate = 1 Euro = $1.15 Dollar)
5 Euro bill
10 Euro bill
20 Euro bill
about 15 Euro in coins
about 5 pounds in coins
$2 2-1 Dollar bills
$3 Dollars 3- $1 dollars coins
$52.50 in Quarters
$17.40 in dimes
$4.40 in nickels
$3.20 in pennies
A 10k gold necklaces/pendant
A few 925 silver necklaces
A few silver 925 silver bracelets
Other miscellaneous jewelry
An old windows 2000 laptop that came with a charger and still boots up.
Wow, good finds. I’ve never seen that much change on the curb before. Those Euro bills are as good as cash too – most banks will exchange Euros and Pounds.
WOW! Thank you for identifying my bronze bells as Paolo Soleri. I found several of these bells in a trash pile about 10 years ago and never thought to identify them, just hung them in various places in my yard and have enjoyed them ever since. Now I’m enjoying them even more! Best regards, and continued success in your ventures!
Good find! Some go for pretty good money, the bigger ones especially.
Paolo Soleri is/was a famous architect, maybe best known for building a complex in the desert, “Arcosanti” And apparently the bell-making was a way to fund the project.
Michael
I’m quite happy with my outdoor ‘studio’. I’m just glad I found the spot in my yard – great lighting in the morning, acceptable background – that gives me decent enough product photo’s even with my simple camera. With all the stress of bad results gone I even enjoy it now. Lighting up a bit is all the afterwork I do. Made it a routine to set up every morning on good weather days and click away. Usually done in less than 30 min. Over winter I had enough clear days to continue, even though limited to sometimes just one item per day. But what works for me doesn’t have to be perfect for others.
It probably depends a lot on climate. I’m generally pretty happy with the photos I take outside. But it’s frustrating when you can’t take photos (or at least the process becomes a lot more stressful) as a result of wind, rain and so on. For instance, my friend (who I’ve given some work to recently) was trying to photograph some cool vintage postcards outside yesterday but it was windy and they kept flying around. The job got done, but it was much more stressful than it had to be. And we were still fairly lucky, because the weather called for rain that held up for much of the day.
Winter too is tough here because of the snow, and obviously the cold. It’s hard to motivate yourself to go outside when it’s -20, and on top of that the light becomes a bit more “blue” which I have to adjust for.
I take so many photos that it just makes sense for me to figure out a consistent, low-stress setup that I can always rely on. I’m moving again for July 1st, so I’ll probably figure it out after I get to my new place.
I am extremely happy and relieved that the annoying HOARDERS show was canceled and that no more new épisodes will be created.On the show people with extreme clutter or filth were berated and bullied instead of helped.My sister who is very clean collects a lot of shoes,clothes,makeup ,handbags and vinyl records.Her husband tells her she is a hoarder.But she is not.She is in fact very organized and has a lot of empty space in her home.Because of the show HOARDERS anyone who loves accumulating anything is accused by some people of being a `hoarder’.I love my sister,admire her collections and hated the show HOARDERS.Good Riddance to the show,
I also got turned off the Hoarders show–because they spent too much time on shaming and not enough on as you say helping the person. However there is such a thing as pathological hoarding. There’s a big difference between a lovingly acquired and organized collection and dead rats.
I watched it a few times a long time ago, and can’t say I remember much about it. The term hoarder is overused, but I do agree with Joane that it can be a legitimate issue with some people. I’m definitely not one of those people. When I feel burnt out, and sick of having so many things I sometimes fantasize about putting all my yard sale stuff back on the curb and starting anew!
I found an antique table in Ville LaSalle in the trash and took it home.An antiques expert whom I know told me it can be sold for $400,but I do not have money problems so I am keeping it to display my figurines,knick-knacks,etc in the living room.How can people throw out such valuable stuff in the trash.One garbage truck driver whom I briefly chatted with while I pointed to him someone’s abandoned furniture on the sidewalk told me he found a beautiful Chinese antique cabinet Worth a $1000 in the trash and saved it for his home.Are garbage truck drivers allowed to take stuff they find in the trash for themselves?Do you think garbage truck drivers regularly save paintings and good furniture that they find in the trash for themselves,or set it aside for someone else?Someone told me they are not allowed to,but others tell me it is done all the time.It would be interesting to probe into this.Please research this.
I don’t know specifically. If it is a rule it’s one that’s probably not well enforced. I have no idea how a garbage collector would save an antique cabinet (where would they put it on the truck?) but I’m sure they have their ways.
As far as I can tell garbage collectors will save surface items from time to time. They will also sift through bags when there’s a huge pile and it’s obvious that a house or apartment was basically put out on the curb. (For instance, one time I saw a guy carry the bag to the back of the truck, and then rip it inside the back so he could see all it’s contents without making a mess).
However, I think they only do this when it’s obvious that the findings might be good – they have lots of work to do and they don’t have enough time to pick much. And I doubt they do it much in wealthy neighbourhoods (or only very covertly) because those people tend to be a bit more uptight about their trash, and would likely call to complain if they saw a garbage collector looking through their stuff.
In short, I would guess it’s done all the time, but they have to be selective as to when they decide to do it.