A Frugal Friend Finds Curbside "Treasures"

Just another day in Mexico.

During a lunch walk with my friend, she spied an abandoned laundry basket on the sidewalk and near it was a bag of trash. Sticking out of the bag was a wooden rack. She grabbed this, too.

Back home the wooden rack, after being sanded and finished, would serve as a towel rack in the bathroom.

A new laundry basket could cost around 70 pesos; a wooden rack about 40 pesos.

Amy Dacyczyn advises checking curbside "trash" for useable items. In the Tightwad Gazette, she gives some great examples of treasures she and others have found. While I have never had any luck finding useable items in curbside "trash", my brother has found many items including a gas grill which just needed a few minor repairs.

It pays to keep your eyes peeled and to look in unlikely places for "treasure."