Ahhhh.....this "disposable society" we live in. If it's not perfect, toss it in the trash!

That is a lucky find, indeed!

Linda

Our son lives in a "college town" where there is a high turn over of occupants at apartment complexes, and people will throw away anything and everything when moving in and out. The "one man's trash is another man's treasure" certainly applies. Our son will make the rounds at the trash dumpsters and load his car with all kinds of items, and occasionally load his cargo trailer full of household goods, and then collect enough "stuff" to have a giant garage sale or share with "needy" friends. -Grainlady

Good score. Our neighbors tend to be disposable. A shame. Especially when thrift store will do a pick-up. My parents small town has a free-cycle-re-cycle day during the summer months.
Just put your goods out by the curb the last saturday of every month.

I do see, while walking the pups, that some put out 'free' boxes after a yard sale.

If it purs and works fine, e-bay has extra parts and discs. Even the cuisinart home site has replacement parts...

GREAT find!! Bought 1sy C food processor SEVERAL years ago... a BASIC model. Had a few other brands and was instantly WOWED by the C. Then I find another for $8 at a thrift store! Had slicing/shredding blade, chopping thing and ran just fine. Thinking an extra bowl... but it was a step UP from what I already had... more capacity. First one went on shelf in garage as a potential "back-up". Back in summer made another $8 C find at SAME thrift store. This time even larger capacity and 8-10 different slicing/shredding blades!! FIRST FP became a donation to thrift store and 2nd is now back-up.

I'd shop for missing parts on Ebay first. Seems that messa blades would cost about $200 at the C site!?!

Can't beat that deal - Great find!!

It's a shame how much good stuff is thrown out. On the other hand, getting rid of good stuff can be tricky. Charities can be picky for their own reasons, Craig's List and such in my experience attracts all sorts of riffraff that I'd rather not deal with. My solution? Put things on the curb for trash a day or two in advance, neatly displayed, with signs on electronics or appliances saying "works" or "doesn't work" or "needs such-and-such." If it's a bunch of smaller stuff I set up a table with a big FREE sign. It's rare for anything of value not to be taken. Except last time, everything went except for a practically unused pair of Rollerblades. Are they really THAT passé?

Sometimes I think about how much I could make selling this stuff at a garage sale. But that involves keeping stuff in your house. Nothing worse than "cleaning up" and being left with a pile of stuff to store that you don't want. And that pile grows bigger as you accumulate enough to have a sale. At which point you're forced to deal with people who want to haggle you down from a buck to fifty cents for your new-in-box $25 toaster. No thanks!

Excellent find.

I used to live in a town that had sparkle day. The day before the large garbage pick up day people would put stuff out that they did not want but still had use. I ended up with a sewing machine complete with parts and manual.

Great find! I agree that it can be hard to purge useful items. Some town dumps have a spot where you can put out items that still have life left in them for others to claim. We have a community yardsale page on Facebook where people sell or offer items for free. A nearby community also has a day when they put stuff at the curb. Pickers come from all over for that one.

I agree with FOAS about the creeps on Craigslist, although I gave away an exercise bike that way. I listed it and left it by the curb, so I did not have to interact with the new owners. I stayed inside and waved, although they looked perfectly nice.

Enjoy that new (to you) Cuisinart.

I've also had some icky Craigslist experiences, so that's pretty much out of the question for me, but it might be different other places. I'd also try eBay for the blades.

I have good luck at the thrift stores, sometimes, I got bread machines for both my daughters there, now I'm stalking the food processors, LOL.

That's a great find, though, have fun!

Annie

It is sometimes easier to donate stuff to a Goodwill and claim 3X as a tax deduction, than to post CL ads and sell it for 1X.

But when looking for stuff, I always check CL and thrift stores.

Congratulations!

This post was edited by johnliu on Sun, Dec 8, 13 at 8:21

Once I found a Romertopf clay baker at a thrift store, marked $8, looked like it had never been used. I was working at a gourmet retail store at the time and knew that size clay baker sold for $40 at our store, so I snatched up the second-hand baker faster than you could say "Romertopf!"

Teresa

Most throw away items require very simple fixes.

My (2) lawnmower, snow thrower, (2) leaf blower many (4?) computers, small appliances ------- all came from sidewalk shopping.

dcarch

Great find!

There is a thrift shop at the end of my alley that benefits the old folks home across the street. When items don't sell or have some damage they put them in the dumpster. Walking the dog 2-3 years ago I noticed a great looking chandelier in the box. Perfect for my dining room. Dad zoomed home to get the car as the baby was heavy (solid brass) and I stood guard with Dylan until he came back. Some guy comes out of his yard and was going to take it, but I let him know it was MINE! This guy dives in often and into the donation box also, then has a garage sale several time in the summer.

My free chandelier cost me glass bulb covers and $500 for the electrician. And for kicks I checked an upscale lighting store. Same lamp was selling for $2500!

pkramer, now that is a score!

It makes me crazy to see how wasteful our culture is.... We have found many treasures there, a perfect double metal porch glider, a brand new roll of heavy gauge welded wire fencing, more fencing, some terrific antique fir doors... the list goes on.

I was surprised to find that the Cuisinart worked as we have a freecycle shop at a larger recycling station in the next town. Still, I'll either use it or find a good home for it somewhere.

In our city there is a law that says anything that is put out at the curb as unwanted / garbage becomes the property of the city, and anyone caught taking said items is subject to prosecution!! The law was made because "indigents" were digging through recycling bins looking for cans they could sell and that it was cutting into the city's recycling revenue. You can imagine how well this went over!! We now put out items on the curb with a free sign, what's wrong with the item, if anything and things are gone within 24 hours to a good new home!

Steve

A Breville toaster discarded as not working (359.95) only needed a good cleaning with a strong vac to clear its system board. It often amazes and dismays me at times at what shows up in our local collection box.

I totally believe it! We know people personally who throw away perfectly brand new stuff with the price tags still on. My husband sometimes comes back with more than he left with.

Dh's brother works for the park district they were once throwing out one of their 2 stage snow throwers, he gave it to us instead and it works perfect. We've also found many, good new things at goodwill. There is one two blocks from our house so we are able to go their fairly often. I have a set of Calvin Klein plates from there - they still had the made in Japan stickers on the back, had everything in the set but the bowls. 2 years later at another goodwill I found more plates and another year after that Dh found the bowls. I love thrift store shopping, you never know what you will find and you generally don't have to feel guilty about buying something you don't necessarily need.

I am constantly astonished at what we find at our transfer station and even at Goodwill and other thrift stores. My DH and I really try and live the three Rs - reduce, reuse, recycle. He likes to brag that the only shirt he has purchased new in 20 years was the one he wore to our wedding!