Long time no see

Posted on by garbagefinds

Sorry for the long wait!

There’s no really good reason for taking so long. I think that my attention span has taken a turn for the worst (and it wasn’t very good to begin with) since the advent of TikTok and Instagram’s answer for that style of content, “reels.” These days my brain seems to be wired so that spending more than 30 seconds doing anything feels like an eternity.

I don’t think that’s a healthy or sustainable way to live, so I’m looking to trim my participation in social media and reduce my (almost entirely pointless) screen time. I’m hoping that in time, my brain will revert to a previous form. For sharing purposes, that means more blogging and less Instagram. Writing a blog requires a lot more intent than posting on Instagram, and I’d like to live more intentionally.

In 2024, that makes me a bit of a luddite. But let’s hope my plan works out, and that I blog more going forward!

As for picking, the finds have been slim of late. This time of year is sometimes a little slow, because people do their spring/early summer cleaning early on, and then go on vacation in July or August. But I’m also creating my own luck to a certain extent, maybe I’ll get into that in a future post.

One of my best recent hauls came from these dumpsters, which popped up not far from home a few weeks ago. I remember walking by the place years ago. The door was open (or I could see inside somehow, I forget) and there were stacks of junk in the hallway. And through a window I could see more piles of stuff. So my guess is that someone’s hoard was unceremoniously dumped for whatever reason.

One of my favourite finds was this vintage mirror, which beat the odds and survived getting flung into a dumpster intact. It helped that it was near the top of the bin, so not much was thrown on top of it. Regardless, it was pretty lucky! Apparently my friend in BC inherited an identical one from his grandmother. That makes me wonder which Canadian retailer sold flamingo mirrors nationwide in the 50s or 60s. I found another identical mirror online which sold for 175$, but I think I prefer to have it on my wall.

Digging in these dumpsters can be pretty physically demanding. Each one is kind of like a layer cake, but you don’t eat the layers, you just move them around so that you can see all the various things in each layer. There is probably a better analogy (mining?) but I’m sticking with that one.

Anyways, to see something in the bottom layer, you have to move everything on top somewhere else. I don’t think I got to the bottom layer in this one. If it was like the spot in my last post, I would have moved heaven and Earth to get to that last layer, but I didn’t get the impression that getting to the bottom would be worth the extra effort.  We were also in the middle of a heat wave, so digging was more taxing than it normally would have been.

Still, I spent probably five or six hours digging here over a few days and got maybe three or four layers deep. A few other casual pickers jumped in as well, but none of them went past the first layer. I think my best layer was the third.

That’s where I found a bag that was filled with coins. Nothing exciting, just modern, mostly Canadian currency, often already rolled. Some were stored inside a small Tupperware shelving unit, others were just loose in the bag.

It might not look like a lot, but the total here is about 300$, making it my third biggest cash haul ever (after the haul from my last post, and the 300$ USD I found back in 2018). It’s safe to say I won’t be hurting for yard sale change any time soon!

On the other side of the dumpster I found a small Tupperware with jewelry inside.

There was a lot of costume stuff, but also a bit of silver and a couple pieces of gold (the pearl ring and the single hoop earring). Also, that bar brooch at the top left is marked as Hermes. It looks real to me, and similar ones are for sale for about 300$ online.

On top of that, I saved a bunch of yard sale quality stuff. In all, I’ll probably earn close to a grand for my efforts here. Not bad!

While the pickings are a bit slim, I’m hoping to clear out some of my backlog. I have boxes of finds, some of which have been collecting dust for up to five years, stored at my garage waiting to finally be “processed.” Maybe I can focus on that for a while, and open up that shelf space for something else. My plan for upcoming posts is to share some of this backlog, but who knows? Another massive pile of fresh trash could be just around the corner.

Links

1. My eBay listings. Sign up for eBay (Canada, US). Search for something you want / research something you have (Canada, US). — These are Ebay Partner Network links. If you create an account or buy something after getting to eBay from here, I get a small cut of the profit!  —
2. “Things I find in the garbage” on Facebook
3. Follow @garbagefinds and @garbagefindssells. Note that someone else runs the latter.
4. Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. Note that I really suck at keeping up with my email.
5. Help support the blog, or just buy me a coffee! PayPal link below.



20 thoughts on “Long time no see”

  1. So happy to see a post from you! I can never understand why someone would throw away coins, or jewelry. Happy that you rescued this stuff from the dumpster, even during a heat wave. Good work!

  2. Always glad to savor one of your posts whenever you have time and focus to write one! Hurrah for some decent discoveries!

  3. Nice to hear from you, Martin! I think it’s smart to tackle a little bit at a time. It can be pretty overwhelming to try to deal with all your stuff at once. I’ve been sorting out my disorganized home office all summer, which is overstuffed with books and papers, and the first couple days I spent 5-6 hours there and I just knew I was gonna burn out if I did that much each day, and I’d just give up. So I started allowing myself to spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours max per day, and I’ve gotten so much more done that way. Pacing is essential. Anyway, keep us posted! Love your new finds 😊

  4. I love seeing how you make order out of chaos and save valuable things from being wasted. Keep up the good work!

  6. Welcome back! I so enjoy reading your well-written scavenging adventures. Your photographs are a great complement to the narrative. It’s easy for me to imagine I’m right there with you, digging for treasure. I’m glad you intend to keep the mirror to enliven one of your own walls. 🙂

  8. It’s always a thrill to see your posts show up in my inbox, and I really hope you can post more often – even small posts are great! Nice haul out of the dumpster; I’m sure the work was hot and excruciating but at least you were rewarded with some cash. It boggles the mind to see what folks throw out.

  9. You are not alone in your struggle with attention span and screen time! Big tech is poisoning all our minds. I too am trying to go back to the pre social media phase when the internet was more atomistic and individuals sharing info on blogs that you actually have to take a bit of time to write and read. I really enjoy your posts, so keep it up!

    1. I considered ranting about big tech a bit (I did it on Instagram). I do think that our attention span has become a commodity to be exploited for profits. The algorithms they use are amoral at best, and just plain immoral when you consider some of the things it promotes. But hey, they help make these companies a massive amount of money, as evidenced by the ever increasing share prices of these companies,. That’s just how capitalism works. As things are, it’s up to us to say no and to mitigate harm. In the end they are just supplying individuals with a product they crave.

  10. I recently found my way back to blogging by doing short posts covering one item at the time. Even though I can’t compare in any way to you, and the purpose of my blog is slightly different, I want to keep documenting my trash finds and any other ‘socials’ that are in my opinion mainly messenging boards seem unsuitable. I say yay for the blog and hope you and others keep on.

  11. Very nice and potentially lucrative finds, Martin. When I saw the magic words “yard sale” my eyes lit up! Are there any coming up in the near future?

    Another one here whose concentration span for other things has suffered from the chopped up nature of internet communication. I’m retraining myself by getting back to reading BOOKS! Feels funny to have a cumbersome paper thing in your hands after getting used to a touch screen but continuity of thought is an important skill to keep.

    Wishing you continued success in your endeavours.

  12. P.S. Love the flamingo mirror! You’re entitled to keep a reward from your finds any time you want. 😊

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