End of semester dumpster diving

[ptobest]

I wanted to be prepared for this year's end of semester dumpster diving, so I looked up move out dates and final exams for the universities in the area. Ended up hitting 4 different schools, a couple of them multiple times. Went several times with diving friends, had a day where I introduced a few friends to the hobby, and a couple of times solo. I've gotten much more comfortable doing it than I used to be, which is nice. I was prepared with a grabber, ladder, and gloves, though always grateful for any side-facing dumpsters which simplifies the process greatly.

It amazes me how much stuff gets thrown out. My pantries are stuffed, and my grocery bill will stay pretty low for quite awhile as I'm mostly buying produce & some protein at this point. I'm slowly distributing the overflow to friends & donating. I included a few haul photos below to showcase the scavenging results.

(Note: I was about to post this in last year's dumpster diving thread (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/anyone-else-dumpster-dive/, but I got a red warning that suggested I may want to start a new thread instead, so here it is.)

[Zikoris]

That's a crazy haul! I've dabbled a bit with dumpster diving but never had a score of that magnitude. It's definitely satisfying when you can get the larger-dollar-value items.

[ptobest]

That's a crazy haul! I've dabbled a bit with dumpster diving but never had a score of that magnitude. It's definitely satisfying when you can get the larger-dollar-value items.

I am currently typing on a laptop I got out of the dumpster last year around this time! No laptops for me this year, but more than plenty nonetheless.

[J.P. MoreGains]

Wow this is awesome! I am impressed. Very clever to plan around end of the semester where stuff gets thrown out.

I bet some of that was bought with student loan money that some kid will be paying back for decades to come.

Very hardcore! +1000 MMM points.

[uniwelder]

You’re making me jealous. I’m in a college town and it’s been much too long since participating.

[jeninco]

Wow this is awesome! I am impressed. Very clever to plan around end of the semester where stuff gets thrown out.

I bet some of that was bought with student loan money that some kid will be paying back for decades to come.

Very hardcore! +1000 MMM points.

Don’t be a jerk here, please. Students coming from (or going to) further than they can drive (or students moving without cars) can’t take anything that doesn’t fit in a couple of suitcases or make financial sense to store.  Food definitely doesn’t make the cut. Plus, most places you have to be out of the dorms within 24 hours (or less) of your last final.  So if you are taking school seriously, you are pushing hard to finish up your semester papers and projects and study for finals, and then BOOM, you have to get out.

This means the following things have to be unloaded quickly:
Food, cooking tools, furniture, clothing you can’t take, tools you can’t take, fans, hot plates, computer monitors (storage space for the summer probably costs more than the monitor) plates, glasses etc etc. basically everything it takes to make a place habitable.

Could the students organize a better way to re-use stuff? Probably, especially if the school will allocate some basement space for storage. Is it cool to be all “kids these days, I hope this increases their debt” when they individually have very limited options? C’mon.

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

This is just so cool! I wish I was in a position to do dumpster diving, myself.

[GuitarStv]

When I lived in Guelph (university town) end of semester was amazing for furniture too.  If you know someone with a truck you can just drive around all the places where people are moving out and pick up tables, chairs, desks, lamps, etc.  I outfitted my whole house (dining table and seven chairs, coffee table, four end tables, couch - did end up throwing this away as it had a weird smell, desk, and office chairs) this way at the end of my final year.  With the exception of the couch, I'm still using everything too.

Wow this is awesome! I am impressed. Very clever to plan around end of the semester where stuff gets thrown out.

I bet some of that was bought with student loan money that some kid will be paying back for decades to come.

Very hardcore! +1000 MMM points.

Don’t be a jerk here, please. Students coming from (or going to) further than they can drive (or students moving without cars) can’t take anything that doesn’t fit in a couple of suitcases or make financial sense to store.  Food definitely doesn’t make the cut. Plus, most places you have to be out of the dorms within 24 hours (or less) of your last final.  So if you are taking school seriously, you are pushing hard to finish up your semester papers and projects and study for finals, and then BOOM, you have to get out.

This means the following things have to be unloaded quickly:
Food, cooking tools, furniture, clothing you can’t take, tools you can’t take, fans, hot plates, computer monitors (storage space for the summer probably costs more than the monitor) plates, glasses etc etc. basically everything it takes to make a place habitable.

Could the students organize a better way to re-use stuff? Probably, especially if the school will allocate some basement space for storage. Is it cool to be all “kids these days, I hope this increases their debt” when they individually have very limited options? C’mon.

I didn't read the comment the way that you did.  I think JP was more lamenting the waste that would potentially cause years of debt, not reveling in it.

[clarkfan1979]

I have a friend that went to UC Santa Barbara and graduated in the late 1990's. The students would have a big bonfire on the beach at the end of each semester. Most of the stuff that was burned was used wood furniture. People would offer $20 for usable couches and the students would reply, "No, we are going to burn it in the fire tonight."

[Zikoris]

I have a friend that went to UC Santa Barbara and graduated in the late 1990's. The students would have a big bonfire on the beach at the end of each semester. Most of the stuff that was burned was used wood furniture. People would offer $20 for usable couches and the students would reply, "No, we are going to burn it in the fire tonight."

Usually nobody wants usable stuff either. When my grandpa passed my dad had to deal with a house full of wooden (but nothing special) furniture. He tried selling it, donating it, giving it away, nobody would take any of it. He went the bonfire route eventually because this was out in the country where you can just make a 20 foot heap of crap and set it on fire and nobody cares.

[ptobest]

Wow this is awesome! I am impressed. Very clever to plan around end of the semester where stuff gets thrown out.

I bet some of that was bought with student loan money that some kid will be paying back for decades to come.

Very hardcore! +1000 MMM points.

Don’t be a jerk here, please. Students coming from (or going to) further than they can drive (or students moving without cars) can’t take anything that doesn’t fit in a couple of suitcases or make financial sense to store.  Food definitely doesn’t make the cut. Plus, most places you have to be out of the dorms within 24 hours (or less) of your last final.  So if you are taking school seriously, you are pushing hard to finish up your semester papers and projects and study for finals, and then BOOM, you have to get out.

This means the following things have to be unloaded quickly:
Food, cooking tools, furniture, clothing you can’t take, tools you can’t take, fans, hot plates, computer monitors (storage space for the summer probably costs more than the monitor) plates, glasses etc etc. basically everything it takes to make a place habitable.

Could the students organize a better way to re-use stuff? Probably, especially if the school will allocate some basement space for storage. Is it cool to be all “kids these days, I hope this increases their debt” when they individually have very limited options? C’mon.

The private school I dove at had a higher quantity of usable stuff in the trash (and higher quality stuff) than the other schools, I figured some of that was attributed to probably having more students who came from out of state/out of the country and had no way to take most of that back with them. That same school supposedly had Goodwill collection, but hid it well as I never saw any sort of setup (albeit I didn't go into any of the buildings). Felt like a lost opportunity to set up a donation collection in the same area as the dumpsters were, to at least collect larger items like furniture, mini-fridges, etc. Or a food drive collection bin in that same area, given how much unopened shelf-stable food ended  up being thrown out.

[ptobest]

When I lived in Guelph (university town) end of semester was amazing for furniture too.  If you know someone with a truck you can just drive around all the places where people are moving out and pick up tables, chairs, desks, lamps, etc.  I outfitted my whole house (dining table and seven chairs, coffee table, four end tables, couch - did end up throwing this away as it had a weird smell, desk, and office chairs) this way at the end of my final year.  With the exception of the couch, I'm still using everything too.

Oh very nice! Most of my smaller furniture is stuff I've scavenged & repainted. Am currently starting to varnish a small bookshelf I got out of this most recent dumpster dive that I painted to match the rest of my furniture. Grabbing a couch is brave though! I'm wary of grabbing anything with fabric that I can't wash - I've never experienced bedbugs and would like to keep it that way.

[ptobest]

I have a friend that went to UC Santa Barbara and graduated in the late 1990's. The students would have a big bonfire on the beach at the end of each semester. Most of the stuff that was burned was used wood furniture. People would offer $20 for usable couches and the students would reply, "No, we are going to burn it in the fire tonight."

Oh wow, that is one solution to get rid of unwanted furniture! Though, I can't imagine being offered $20 (and $20 in the late 90's at that) for a piece of furniture and turning that money down to burn the furniture instead.

[GuitarStv]

When I lived in Guelph (university town) end of semester was amazing for furniture too.  If you know someone with a truck you can just drive around all the places where people are moving out and pick up tables, chairs, desks, lamps, etc.  I outfitted my whole house (dining table and seven chairs, coffee table, four end tables, couch - did end up throwing this away as it had a weird smell, desk, and office chairs) this way at the end of my final year.  With the exception of the couch, I'm still using everything too.

Oh very nice! Most of my smaller furniture is stuff I've scavenged & repainted. Am currently starting to varnish a small bookshelf I got out of this most recent dumpster dive that I painted to match the rest of my furniture. Grabbing a couch is brave though! I'm wary of grabbing anything with fabric that I can't wash - I've never experienced bedbugs and would like to keep it that way.

Yeah, I don't think I'd do the couch again given the spread of bedbugs everywhere.  Twenty odd years ago though, I hadn't heard about the problem though.

[ptobest]

I have a friend that went to UC Santa Barbara and graduated in the late 1990's. The students would have a big bonfire on the beach at the end of each semester. Most of the stuff that was burned was used wood furniture. People would offer $20 for usable couches and the students would reply, "No, we are going to burn it in the fire tonight."

Usually nobody wants usable stuff either. When my grandpa passed my dad had to deal with a house full of wooden (but nothing special) furniture. He tried selling it, donating it, giving it away, nobody would take any of it. He went the bonfire route eventually because this was out in the country where you can just make a 20 foot heap of crap and set it on fire and nobody cares.

Oh that sounds very frustrating for your dad. Might also be a case of the area - I'm imagining being out in the country, it's probably more houses that people have owned for awhile & may not have as much need for new furniture partly due to minimal turnover in home ownership. The street I'm on is mostly apartment buildings, and any furniture in usable condition that gets put out on the street disappears very quickly!