Getting By On Trash

Monday 2 April

The BIG Green Dumpster :

It was shortly a few months before I moved here ( over six years ago ) that I visited my son in a touist town near Atlantic City New Jersey . We were on our way towards the boardwalk to some hotels that were being remodeled . Earlier I had spoted about 30 aluminum chaise lounges in the trash . I thought for sure we could make some money on the aluminum .I think it was about 47 cents a pound at the time .

On the way , we passed a Big ( long ) green dumpster in front of a nice 2 or 3 bedroom shore house near the beach . Although there was nothing showing as we drove by I was hit by that inner voice that said STOP . After all , it could be loaded with reconstruction debris with lots of copper pipes worth $1.02 per pound . So we parked the truck .

As we climbed up we spoted what seemed like a complete throwout , without the furniture . Many casino workers, male and female , shared rent on homes close to work . While throwing bags of clothes , excelent bedding and comforters , and more clothes of good quality we figured the two guys left at the end of the season without paying rent . All this is a guess , but if you've been reading trash for as long as I have , you would probably agree with me .

Anyhow , my son and I returned to his home where we went through bag after bag of realy nice going out clothes . There were lots of fine sheets and linnens which I let my son and his family have . I kept a few dress shirts and dress pants . Everything seemed to be professionaly cleaned or dry cleaned .

The biggest prize for me was 28 pair of Levi's and Wrangler jeans in Just My Size . How lucky can a man be to find 28 pair of well cared for dry cleaned jeans ? After we sorted out who got what , we gave the rest away ( although I could have sold them at the flea market ) to friends and neighbors . Our good luck in return was that we finaly did get the alumunum chairs from the other dumpster . The money from that went half in my pocket ( for gas and tolls ) and I had to pay my sons fare on the next fishing trip .

My son has been known to find better stuff than me , like a steel Universal Gym w/ weights and all the extra's . But mainly , he likes to work or fish .

Speaking of fish :
" Chocolate bought us a few fishing trips "

One day shortly after Mothers day I got an insperation to stop at the dumpster behind a big name drug store . I found almost 400 baxes of a popular candy componany's chocolates ( all wrapings were not broken ) , some valued at $7.99 . Between my home and my son's we sold most all of it at $1.00 a box . After my wife got her portion of the money , my son and I went on a few fishing trips that weekend .

So these are my true stories for today . Be brave ! May your stories be as good . Happy trash picking ! It's spring , so get out there and find things that will help you "Get By On Trash" .

Timothy T