Taking saving to the extreme - becoming a Freegan!

Seakay

I always check skips for bits of untreated wood to collect for burning next winter. Builders are always happy for you to take stuff from their skips because they have to pay so much if it goes to landfill. One chippy even bundles some lengths of wood up for me so that they would be easier to carry!
Been a while since I got anything else but in the past I've had offcuts of carpet, a set of mugs, a lamp and helped a friend get a sideboard and a wardrobe

debbym

Skip diving or scunning is something I have been known to indulge in occasionally - I have to say it is usually things that can be seen at the top of the skip that I ask about - don't think I would have to nerve to dive in one to see what was there...
I have a big floor cushion which is in the kids room - was brand new and still in plastic but had a cigarette burn - since it was patterned I managed to patch it
Hoover - practically brand new just full to the brim - someone obviously didn't realise you have to empty them from time to time
odd kitchen plates etc - useful when the kids are small and seem to smash one per week, I don't care if they don't match.
The most useful thing was actually grabbed before it made it into the skip. We used to live next to a railway line and Network Rail or whatever they call themselves replaced all 100 m of the old wooden fence with a chain mesh one whilst I happened to be home from work - they even carried it all into the garden for me! Free heating for us and the 90 year old who lived next door for nearly 2 years.


In Stuttgart (and Baden-Wurttenberg generally) they have a system where you can leave stuff on the kerb-side for anyone to take for one week, after that it is up to you to get rid of anything that is left. My youngest son was the happy recipient of a hippo shaped sand pit complete with cover identical to the one we had seen in Toys R Us for 30 Euros:D Since I needed to furnish a house at the time it was something I used to always look out for but whenever I saw something on the way to school with the kids it was always gone by the return journey.....

barneydee_2

My Oh has got to be one of the worst skip divers I know, The best being when I was pregnant with my eldest (Who's 24 today) He was coming home from work and sore a Hotpoint twin tube in a skip, Well at the time we were living in an upstairs flat and had a twin tube that worked but the casing was in bad condition, so he had me helping to take the twin tube out of the skip and carry it into our flat, Where he took both machines a part and made one good machine that looked like new:j we then took the other one back and re deposited it in the skip :rotfl::rotfl:

all the bikes the girls had were from skips, they never had new ones and it was a joke with them as they would come home and tell him if they found a skip:rotfl:

Mind you the up side is they don't mind things that are second hand DD2 had my grandson last year and moved in to her own place, my grandsons cot is the one she and her sister slept in, just had a new mattress, washing machine was second hand, settees second hand ,dining table and chairs second hand ,curtains that cost the original owner £600:eek:she got for £30.00 only ayear old most of the staff obtained by daddy and his knack of skip diving and routing out bargins

BarneyDee

sjprmc01

Aargh I don't know if it's possible to change the title and just realise iPad autocorrected it . Is meant to say freegan


Ok, i m having lots of thoughts tonight (possibly due to alcohol)

But what do you think of the freegan way of living? (for food)

Would you consider doing it (going into SM bins and seeing what you could scavenge) if there was no comeback (you wouldn't get in trouble for trespassing/theft?)

I think If for whatever reason I was desperate, then I would but I don't know if I could do it through choice!

zippychick

I've fixed the title for you. There is an existing thread on this but it's one I can never find. I'll look tomorrow for you or if another BG can post it that would be most helpful

thriftwizard

I would, without hesitation, though I'd be very careful what I "rescued" as I don't have a desperately high opinion of most supermarket food. Tins, some packets, fruit & veg, yes, slimy meat, chemical-laden ready meals & "treats" no as they have no place in my diet unless I'm literally starving. I just see it as another kind of foraging.

Up until a couple of years ago, they used to unlock the bin behind our little supermarket at a certain time & leave it open for half an hour; we have one or two people locally who live without benefit of bricks & mortar & are no trouble at all to the rest of us, hence tolerated & even possibly looked after in a quiet kind of way. But the new management have put paid to all that, sadly - can't have "Freegans" (aka dole-scrounging layabouts) in such a nice little town, can we? - but the sad thing is they are genuine locals, and the supermarket management & vociferous complainers are not. Ah well...

floydy

hi all, dont know if there's a thread for skip finds????

anyway, walking my dog past a skip this morning saw a cot mattress with waterproof cover...immediately thought "that'll do for the dogs bed"...knocked on the front door where the skip was but noone home, called back later with the car and occupants were in and gladly said yes i could take it...(didn't want to be on the wanted list on crimestoppers lol)

have taken off the waterproof cover, gave it a good wipe over, trimmed the foam to fit inside the rigid plastic dog bed and put the cover back on, old sleeping bag covering the mattress and hey presto, a lovely comfy bed for dog to rest his bones...chuffed to bits, :jhth

pigpen

Oooh I love skip diving!

Doors, skirting and architrave are about the best I've managed.. I do my bit by leaving unwanted items out the front and it all disappears like magic!

Carpets clips for the stairs! Were my ultimate haul!

Amusing story though.. my uncle is Old Man Steptoe.. off he went skip diving one day.. fell in and broke 4 ribs!!.. and couldn't get out for laughing..

skivenov

About 10 years ago I skip dived an original IBM PC. Meanded the power switch and made a very, very nice profit on ebay

Gigervamp

Skips around here only ever contain builders rubble.