Well, it’s been a rough go since around the beginning of October. My anxiety issues have kicked up a notch, to the point where I had to give up my beloved coffee just to stay sane. Even with that, for a while I had to take beta blockers to help with the random heart rate spikes, and played videos games most of the time to give myself time to recover (and because I couldn’t get my brain into much else). Thankfully things have leveled out a bit from there, though I still struggle to get my head into anything.
Why the spike? Who knows. I had actually gotten into a nice exercise routine before this, but my first “bonus” panic attacks happened while working out. Otherwise, at age 37 I’m starting to feel the effects of aging, which produces some amount of dread. And let me tell you, the dating scene for people my age, in the year 2024 (when nearly everything is done via app), as a garbage picking introvert with mental disorders … let’s just say I wouldn’t recommend it. The state of the world doesn’t help much either.
So, what can you do really? I’m just trying to take it easy and wait it out. If anything my tendency has been towards workaholism over the course of my garbage career, so I don’t feel too guilty about being “lazy” now. I switched medications, because the other one wasn’t doing anything for anxiety before this happened anyways. Otherwise, I guess it’s a good opportunity to contemplate lifestyle changes that might promote a less stressful existence.
With all that, I haven’t gone out for trash as much recently. I’ve struggled with being far from “home” for about a decade now, and my range (ie: where I feel “safe” before the panic attacks come) was diminishing even before this spike. On top of that, my motivation has not been there. So I’ve been doing just one trash run per week, plus a bit of my own neighbourhood.
I picked up this very old looking wood cabinet thing while driving one night. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, so I figured I’d ask you folks what you think before I list it on Facebook.
With a unusual metal latch on the inside, and the skeleton key lock, I think it was probably made to hold valuables. It is decorative though, so it was also likely made to be displayed. I’m thinking it’s a china cabinet, made to hold the fancy dishes and silverware for when the Queen came to visit. What do you think?
Otherwise, this pile produced an interesting find, as well as some tools and a bunch of new bins for me to store my junk in.
When I first opened these smaller boxes, my first guess were that they contained individually wrapped, ancient cookies. However, I saw a couple of watches on straps elsewhere in the box, so I explored further.
In the end, each box held around 15 “new old stock” watches. In total, I have about 200 of these, all the exact same. The brand is Imexco, which isn’t a name anyone’s ever heard of, but they are Swiss and have a nice mid-century look to them. Most seem to work alright, though a few don’t run anymore, or otherwise feel wonky.
My plan is to sell them individually, at the price of 23.99 (which I completely made up). I think that’s fair for a nice looking, no name Swiss watch that has been sitting around for 60 or 70 years (and therefore might need maintenance sooner rather than later). So far I’ve sold 10 on eBay, and a few more at yard sales.
I should be able to make a couple to a few grand on these, although it’ll take years to clear them all out.
There was also a little box of old watch cases and parts, which sold for about 40$ at auction. All in all, a pretty good haul!
Otherwise, the Canada Post strike has been challenging. I’m still able to ship some packages, particularly to the US thanks to Chit Chats, but within Canada it’s often a little bit more expensive, if not impossible for some rural addresses. So I’ve just told a lot of people that their shipment will be delayed until the end of the strike. With Christmas coming, I can’t imagine it’ll take that much longer to figure this out. I have six packages waiting to go out, including 3 watches, 2 pens, and 1 medal.
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 these links, I get a small cut of the profit!
2. “Things I find in the garbage” on Facebook
3. Follow @garbagefindssells on Instagram (this is managed by a friend, I’ve quit Instagram for the time being)
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.