They put out this shelf and I want it, but I don’t want to seem strange? It would make a nice plant shelf, but it’s not something I can scurry away with, so people would see me while I carried it. Is that a bad thing to do?

EDIT: Never mind. Someone beat me to it. 😭

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    As a kid in the 80s I lived in a burb where once or twice in the summer they had a day where they could put out big clunky stuff for trash pickup that normally wasn’t allowed. So stuff like furniture, mattresses, old tires, etc. You’d routinely see cars driving past to see if there was anything they wanted to take. Our church friends, a family with 6 kids, would have a few ride off on their bikes and scout for useful stuff and call dibs. Then one brother went back home to get someone to bring the station wagon around while the others kept guard over the claim.

    It was a good system for giving a second life to stuff that was still good (or fixable) but that you didn’t want or weren’t able to lug to the flea market or something.

    • Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone
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      5 days ago

      We have this still where I live. Was just this weekend gone in my neighbourhood.

      Last week it was the rich neighbourhood and the council was there stopping people from taking anything saying that it all belongs to the council.

      Dann rich fuckers get extra protection for their rubbish mean while our houses get broken into and cars stolen constantly

  • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I’m pretty sure that’s ok. Now if it was someone’s underwear or hair…that is another story.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    One persons trash is another persons treasure.

    There is a reason why this is a universal saying.

    If it’s up for grabs, grab it

  • lettruthout@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    In my neighborhood taking stuff left at the curb is the norm. Sometimes we‘ll leave a sign to clarify something is free. There have been times when I’ve taken something, used it for a while, then put it back out in the curb for someone else to enjoy.

    • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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      5 days ago

      I’ve put at least 10 pieces of furniture out on the curb in the last 4 months and they’ve all been taken. It makes me glad that someone can use it.

  • sgt_hulka@lemmy.sdf.org
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    4 days ago

    I put trash on the curb knowing the kids next door will pick it up and use it. They love to score new stuff, and I love seeing an old bicycle or chair getting new love.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    When I lived in a college town, the last week of May was the best time to get used furniture.

    College kids everywhere abandoning all kinds of shit on the greenbelt that they had no way of bringing home.

    I’m sure there is furniture in my current home that came from some stranger college kid.

    • Drunemeton@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      The town I grew up in had a college and a university! I don’t think my parents bought us kids any new furniture until my dad built his own woodworking shop. I was a teenager by then!

      We always got new mattresses, because NO FUCKING WAY was mom letting us sleep on a used, adult’s, student mattress. (I never knew you could stain them, that way, in those amounts…)

      My sister still has a beautiful solid oak desk…

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Yeah mattresses, gross. Even a couch.

        But coffee tables, TV stands, bed side tables… Bed frames computer desks… So much good shit.

    • KingJalopy @lemm.ee
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      5 days ago

      Nice of you to give bedbugs somewhere to live. Good on you.

      • you all think I’m serious…? Touchy bunch. Here, I’ll fix it.

      /s

      • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Bedbugs are pretty easy to spot. While yes, they’re very good at hiding, they don’t really make it into those hiding spots until the easy spots are overpopulated. Sure, someone could have an infestation and could be vacuuming the easy spots weekly, but I doubt someone would clean their marks excessively without also addressing the problem. Sure, maybe this comment was a joke, maybe you’re serious, but either way, I accidentally became very fucking knowledgeable on bed bugs and what I’ve found ever since then is that people don’t actually know anything about bed bugs. Here I am. Of note, they’re not common near me, probably due to a mix of economic wealth and cold winters preventing outdoor survival.

        If you can read text on your phone at the stock zoom level, you can see bed bugs because the adults are almost 1/4" long. Young bugs are pretty small, but you don’t get babies without adults and eggs. Eggs look like white/beige grains of salt stuck to edges. Their feces are brown or black (sometimes red) and look like what a fine-tip marker or thick pen would leave on paper. Individually, hard to see. Realistically, you’ll see clusters. They’ll hide in both crevices close to dormant humans (sheet seams, couch cracks) and higher places in shadow where they can see humans (picture frame edges, headboard corners). They live a long time. Even without feeding, they can survive a year.

        There are currently a few pesticides with great results such ass Crossfire. They are certainly becoming resistant, but the more we eradicate wholly in a place, the less we have to worry - just like taking the full prescription of an antibiotic. If you do catch them, you’ll need to be very thorough. Bag your clothes and work through them. Pesticides have a residual effect, but the better you handle the ones you can find, the faster you can end the nightmare.

        To wrap it up, just peel back the cushions of that furniture. If you don’t see stains in the easy-to-use but hard-to-clean cracks, you’re probably fine. No one I know has ever had them in dorms, just travel through hostels.

        -Franz Kafka, or something

        • KingJalopy @lemm.ee
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          5 days ago

          Nah, it was a joke. I literally run a branch for a pest control company. Also for anyone reading, temprid is a great product for treatment. Also add an IGR to the mix. (Insect growth regulator) So they can’t breed which is the real issue in infestations.

          • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            It’s hard to read the right context. There’s plenty of misinformation and incorrect beliefs out there so that’s why I opted to just dive into explanation regardless

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    4 days ago

    Where I live, there are people who make a decent amount of cash by grabbing whatever metal they can find out of the trash and taking it to scrapyards. There are a couple of trucks that swing past my house a few times the night before and the day of trash pickup. And myself, I grabbed two bikes by just knocking on the door and asking.

    • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      We have scheduled bulk item pickups in pur city. The night before you will usually see at least a couple trucks driving around tossing any scrap metal they find in the bed.

      Got a scooter, bike, and eliptical from a neighbor the same way.

  • Mike Wooskey@lemmy.thewooskeys.com
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    5 days ago

    It may or.may not be weird depending on the situstion, your neighbor’s personality, your relationship with your neighbor, etc.

    But weird != wrong.

  • CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work
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    5 days ago

    We have a big trash day once a month in my town and I always keep an eye out for something good. Recently I picked up a nice, sturdy, homemade cart with big casters in good condition.