Lucky me, I found 2 boxes of canning jars!! Unfortunately, many still had ........food (?) in them. I had a heck of a time getting the tops off as they still had the screw-bands on, all corroded and rusty. Some had one piece lids on them, never seen them before. Well, I dumped them (in the toilet, city sewer), scrubbed them, bleached them, gonna boil them, and I got myself almost 2 dozen free jars. If you'd told me 5 years ago that I'd be bringing all this crap home from the curb, I would've said you were nuts!! Hey, a penny saved.......

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001

Answers

The other day there was a bag of feed laying in the road on the way to town. For saftey and for savings, I picked it up. I'm feeding it to the chickens. I've also found a few bales of hay along the road. My friends give me flack for being a scrounge, but the way I see it, it saves money, and the people who lost it weren't coming back for it anyway. I do pull of and wait a few minutes before I just snag it..try to give them time to turn around!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

I went to help do some clean-up at the church last evening, and was asked out of the blue if I wanted a couple of old windows, "for any of my 'gardening' projects. I wasn't quite so sure, until I saw the windows!!! 54"x48" single-pane non-opening storm windows, perfectly intact! And clean to boot! They were going to bust 'em up and throw them out! Helloooooooo Cold frame.......

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), August 02, 2001.

A penny saved my eye! They are going for four to six dollars a case around here. Great find.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

My husband is the greatest scrounger! A couple of weeks ago, he came home with a really pretty dress, nothing wrong with it, and it was my size. He pulled it out of the trash at the car wash along with a sweater, skirt and several books. I've worn the dress to church and gotten compliments on it! He is always picking things up at the dump, along the road or in the road, wherever he sees something interesting. At our local dump, the guy working there has people set stuff to the side if it is still usable. We have gotten loads of really good stuff there, especially bikes and other large toys.

-- Deena in GA (dsmj55@aol.com), August 02, 2001.

My last find (savet it from being burnt) was 30 2X4's 8' long 40 1X4's 8 foot long, 40 1X1's 8 foot long and 40 1/4X 1' X 4' pieces of plywood. Yes ther were all painted but you should see the set of shelves I built in one of my barns. I still have all of the 2X4's left. My son sees the beginings of a tree house Grant

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), August 02, 2001.

Around here I am the dumpster king , and when the towns around here have big trash days what I can use and what others might need I pick up . I am not going to let good stuff that still has a use be sent to the land fill . Indiana Country Friend Jack Bunyard

-- Jack Bunyard (bunyard@cnz.com), August 03, 2001.

I remember reading a story in CS mag., a lady was talking about how people throw stuff "away". She made a point that will stay with me as long as I live......exactly where is "away"?? When I lived in Easton, PA, Catholic Charities used to call monthly, to see if I had anything to donate to the thrift store. They had a HUGE store, full of perfectly usable stuff, and they're resale prices were very cheap. The Childrens' Home of Easton was the same way. There aren't any stores like that here. Every Wed. am (trash day) I think of those stores, as I walk past very usable furniture, etc. What a shame.

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), August 04, 2001.

We found what looked like a bag of feed in the road too. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bag of dead chickens! Yuck!

Little bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littleBit@compworldnet.com), August 09, 2001.