The Diary of a Garbage Picker

I used to drive a Ford Explorer, it was amazing what I could fit in there. Anytime it was garbage day in the neighbourhood, if there was something good, I could stop and grab said item and shove it in my truck (If I could lift it up myself.) Let me get this straight, at the risk of sounding like a redneck: I only take GOOD garbage. You know the stuff that is barely used, super clean, and in pristine condition. Stuff that makes you wonder why the heck are they throwing this out in the first place? Probably lack of space is my number one guess.

Now I drive a small car, which means I have to leave a lot of good stuff where it is on the side of the road. Bah. This is the bane of my existence. Two weeks ago, I passed a nice set of four wooden chairs for the kitchen, which looked in great shape. I thought how cool they would have been to paint a bright colour and replace my falling apart kitchen chairs. I wasn’t fitting four kitchen chairs in my little putt-putt of a car.  Yesterday morning, on the way to work, I saw two beautiful whicker chairs, in good shape. Not that cheesey 80’s looking style whicker chairs, think 1940’s Cuba, whicker chairs. I could picture them on my porch with a red and white stripped seat cushions. It broke my heart to leave those beauties behind. 


Here is the thing with garbage picking: if the item is good, someone will be along shortly to grab it. You have to act fast.

There is a trick to doing a drive by; you have to look hard and fast (that’s what she said). You may have someone following close behind you. You have to decide fast if you are blinkering over to the side of the road. I am not going to lie, sometimes I get embarrassed rifling through someone else’s garbage. I try to garbage pick from less busy roads. I don’t want someone to see me struggling to fit a chair in the backseat of my car that I clearly picked up from the side of the road, the worse being when you realize it won't fit and have to put it back. I am a proud garbage picker, but I don’t want the audience.

To drown my sorrows of the whicker chairs left behind, I thought I would share a successful garbage pick:

First a little background info...  This past summer, I went to a garage sale and bought my parent’s cat a beautiful cat carrier. It was the big kind; you could easily carry two cats in there if you had to. The carrier was in pristine condition and they only wanted $5, I didn’t even barter, I just paid it. Those carriers can cost upwards of $70. My parents’ cat is a big boy and he outgrew his medium sized carrier. My Mom was super excited when I brought it over for them.

The following week on my way home from work, I took the scenic route down a country road, lucky for me it was garbage day! Low and behold, there was another large cat carrier! I did my stealthy drive by. It looked good. I turned the car around, glanced around and hopped out of my car. I was picking up the cat carrier and giving it a quick once over, the homeowner stuck her head out of the garage, waved and called out “Enjoy it! I am glad someone is going to use it! I sure don’t need it anymore!” My first instinct was to be embarrassed. Then I started to laugh and wave back at her. I am glad I had her blessing to pick her garbage. That’s the first time I had someone tell me to enjoy their garbage! Haha!

I brought the cat carrier home, scrubbed it up (it was just a bit dusty) I think it had barely been used, it looked brand new! Score! Now my cat has a huge carrier to be carted around in! (Not that he needs a huge carrier, he’s quite petit, but I like knowing I have a roomy carrier for him.)