Lisa, a 26-year-old writer, was walking down a street in East Cambridge late last month when she came across a trash can overflowing with refuse. Most people would’ve passed it by, with only a reflexive scrunch of the nose. Not Lisa. A red coat-stand, hanging out of the side of the can, beckoned. "Michael would love this!" she enthused, explaining her boyfriend’s affinity for what is commonly called "dumpster diving." "He would totally want me to bring it home."
Sure enough, what some people consider trash is some of their neighbors’ treasure. And the season is ripe for "shopping" for price-tag-free items.
Just as fashion works on a seasonal clock, so do prime trash finds, and we're now at the best part of the cycle. That’s because May is the month when most students move out — hastily. With finals over, parents at the door, and furnished summer sublets, students find themselves with a mere few hours to get rid of everything, from televisions and beds to lamps. And where better to dump them than just beyond the doorstep, on the curb? The departed’s laziness can be a boon for cost-conscious shoppers, who could spend an afternoon and a boatload of cash shopping at the mall — or five minutes and zero dollars getting similar stuff by taking a jaunt around town.
How do the items compare? Jane Ko, a graduate student who started a jewelry line called Nervenkitt, furnished her whole living room with trash treasures. That includes a television and a VCR. All in all, Ko has saved a ton of money — especially when you consider what she could have paid buying her favorite items at full price. She rescued an industrial-looking lamp off the street. Restoration Hardware’s Old Number 4 Pharmacy Table Lamp offers the same faux-industrial aesthetic for a decidedly up-market price tag ($99). And the Museum of Useful Things also has its own chrome light ($210) similar to Ko’s new/old piece. "It looks a lot like what you’d see in Frank Lloyd Wright’s house," says a store employee.
But best of all is when your finds move from furniture to fashion — if you dare! Jane plucked a punk-rock-inspired belt out of a dumpster, "disinfected" it, and now passes it off with this season’s weathered, cracked-leather Miu Miu belts, bags, and shoes. Hootenanny offers cleaned up versions of the popular studded belts ($29.99–$44).
Who ever said living on a budget was bleak? Simply open your eyes — and your nostrils — for the prime finds on your curb.
Where to find it:
• Hootenanny, 36 JFK Street, Cambridge, (617) 864-6623.
• Museum of Useful Things, 370 Broadway, Cambridge, (800) 515-2707.
• Restoration Hardware, 711 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 578-0088; 300 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, (617) 641-6770.
• Trash cans, follow your nose.
