College Move Out
The college that we live near is ending this week. The kids are all moving out for the summer. Most of the kids that dorm there do not live near by. They can only fit so much in their cars. Many take buses, trains and even planes to get home which makes what they can bring home even less. It is the perfect time for Hubby and me to go garbage picking.
Hubby and I will not go into the dumpsters. We are not in our 20's and have no interest in doing that(unless I see a pile of money and then all bets are off). We also won't fight for stuff. If other people are going through stuff, we move on. We wear work gloves because lets be honest, some of the stuff is gross. We are not interested in items missing pieces or broken. We are looking for things that we can have a quick turnover with and make some quick money. We go in Hubby's truck because it is easy to grab and throw stuff into the bed. If it gets dirty we don't care, we can wash it easily.
So lets see what we got this year.
We got 4 mini fridges. We could have gotten a bunch more but several were missing shelves, beat up bad or were full of rotting food. No thanks. The above mini fridge looked brand new and made us $70 in less then 24 hours.
This mini fridge sells for almost $300 new. I listed it and have had 2 low ball offers. I will hold onto it for a few weeks to see if I get higher offers. People start planning what their kids need after school is over so it should sell in July no problem.
We also got these 2 smaller units. I still need to clean and list them.
We found this flat screen TV. It didn't have a remote but we have a universal remote. It works great. We may keep it for YD to take to school. We will wait until we find out her roommate situation. If the roommate has a TV we will sell it.
A perfectly good, small fan. Hubby claimed that for the basement. Our basement is unfinished and has no air conditioning. He put it by his work bench.
A small travel blow dryer.
Bags of girls clothes. YD picked out a bunch of stuff. I washed everything and she keep a bunch.
This coat is missing a button but that is easy to fix.
A nice heavy winter coat in perfect condition.
Some shoes. There was a pair of slide ons but YD grabbed them before I could get a picture. The slide ons and sneakers went into the wash. The black ones got doused in Lysol.
A cute little black purse.
YD also took 5 pairs of pants, 2 light jackets, 2 hats and 4 tops.
While going through everything, I also found this in a pair of jeans. $2.
I started washing all of the other clothes. I already made a box up and shipped it off to Thred Up. I will earn some credits towards other clothes for me and the kids. There were some towels too. I washed them and added them to our rag stash. The rest of the stuff will be donated to the church. If the weather isn't bad tonight Hubby and I might go back again. All of the money we make will go right into the college fund.
Fantastic. I have never done this and that amazes me. I am just 10 minutes from the University. Great for you and others that are hunting - but so sad that these young people are so spoiled and put no value on things that I almost bet -they DIDN'T pay for. You know their parents did. Such a sad, sad sign of the times.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you and your family know the value and appreciate things that can be worth a small fortune.
Honestly , last year there was so much more stuff. We don't know if it is the kids are buying less, keeping more or the school is having dumpsters dumped more often. Last year the dumpsters were overflowing and all outside of them was packed too. What really gets me is all of the food that I see wasted. I saw a case of ramen with 2 missing in a dumpster in a bag with cereal milk, juice and lots of other food. One fridge we looked at was full, bacon, milk, leftovers, fruit. They literally carried it out full and left it next to the dumpster. They must have run out of garbage bags.
DeleteWhen my oldest moved home from college we were packing up and cleaning her apartment. My son asked what we were having for lunch. I said look in her fridge. We are eating what is here. He asked could he have the ice cream. I said go for it. I remember I had several pickles to finish off the jar. My youngest had some chicken fingers that were in the freezer that I popped into the toaster oven. Hubby and I had PB&J's to finish off her jelly.We fit everything else in the cooler I brought, nothing went in the garbage and we didn't starve. I just can't waste food. It is so against my nature.
Great finds on your end! I would disagree about the young people putting no value on things. My son went to school in Manhattan and we live a plane trip away in Alabama. The dorm closed in the summer so you could not store things there. There was a summer storage available for 500 dollars, which was about the cost of shipping some items home, then shipping them back, but still had less value than the actual items. We had to prioritize what was worth the cost to ship. Shipping 3 instruments was a no brainer, but a 13 inch tv and bedding, not so much. It was more advantageous financially for us to donate them, take the tax write off and replace them the next year. So, I do understand some of the abandoned stuff.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you donated the stuff. I wish more people did. This was in/near dumpsters that are headed to the dump. OD went to school in Delaware so whatever didn't fit in the car was gone. We did get a storage unit for the summer she lived in apartments because she had furniture then. When she was moving out senior year she sold her furniture. A few things she gave away. I don't think all kids are spoiled. I know my kids aren't. They work hard for their money and understand the value. Glad to hear yours do too.
DeleteI love that you do this - what a great (and fun) way to make a little extra cash, and keep some stuff that should never be there, out of the landfill.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be nice if colleges/universities provided areas for students to leave donations at the end of the school year? Maybe some do.
The school does have some clothing bins but I guess they are to far to walk to for some people.
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