Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell you about the awesome bargain I just got?

42 replies

BadDoGooder · 27/04/2016 19:56

I have no one else to tell, because none of my friends will care about it, but I am bursting to boast about this random bargain I just got!

Went to the local council tip to take some random recycling etc.
They have a "reuse" bit, where they fish good bits out and sell them for a tiny sum, I think for a charity.
It's mostly drop leaf tables, hideous 70s coffee tables, the sort of paintings your Nan would have had, of cheesy flower girls and repro landscapes!

But hidden in the corner were these v dusty and cobwebby folding garden chairs. They fely heavy, and seemed really good quality, so when I found out they were a fiver each I snapped four of them up (there were 8!) (We have really cheap, crappy green plastic chairs atm)

I just got them home and noticed the makers name on a little brass plaque at the bottom, so looked them up online Shock

They are £169 each brand new!!!

They need cleaning but are fine....who throws away nearly £2,000 of garden furniture??!

OP posts:
Usernamegone · 27/04/2016 21:11

I gave a full dining room set with tables, chairs, cabinets, bookcase to a charity that provided furniture for homeless people who had been rehomed.
When my dad died I had to clear his flat but didn't have room for it in my house. I couldn't sell it. It was all solid polished wood and cost over £2,000 when my dad bought it. I would have cried of it had gone to the tip and been broken up. I think more tips should try to get stuff reused.

Fluffycloudland77 · 27/04/2016 21:13

I've been looking at YouTube videos today on oiling teak furniture & it was coming up like new.

LeaLeander · 27/04/2016 21:15

Amazing! good for you!!!

My community has one day a year when any sort of bulk item (except tires, concrete) can be put out at no additional charge. The evening before when people start laying out their items at the curb, scavengers begin to swarm. It's become a fun event; people sit in their front gardens to watch. I go out for an hour or so and have snatched up some amazing finds.

Two like-new metal vintage garden chairs - reproductions are selling for $80 apiece these days. All sorts of garden items, a cement statue of a heron, a like-new wicker laundry hamper, a wicker bed headboard I used in the garden, old windows (some of which were made into my greenhouse) and last year a small super-clean porcelain sink I am going to somehow hang back by my potting table to rest a watering can in.

Over the past 20 year I have watched the discards ebb and flow with the economy and it was quite fascinating. One year it seemed everyone were getting rid of barbecue grills, the next year it was toilets, one year fertilizer spreaders were out in force and some years very little "good" stuff, just rubbish like old carpeting and lumber scraps.

TattyCat · 27/04/2016 21:22

At the risk of banging on about Annie Sloan painted furniture, I wrote to AS a couple of years ago to ask them if they had a product to remove their paint.

They don't. So something that goes on so easily and sticks really well (and is powdery so in every little seam and crack) needs to be sanded off. I'm waiting for the day that shabby trend is out and there will be tons, and tons!, of furniture at the tip. But restoring it will be a nightmare and almost impossible. I even spoke to my cousin who runs a chemical business and he couldn't think of anything that would fetch it off easily other than elbow grease. Not good.

BikeRunSki · 27/04/2016 21:27

My mums partner used to work for a county council in Housing. When a council tenant died he was meant to give tgrir family 48 hours to clear their property. Once, when he was covering for his team leader over s bank holiday weekend, he gave a family 5 days to clear a house as it was a bank hol and the family were no local. He was sacked for this when his boss came back. That's where s lot of stuff comes from.

TattyCat · 27/04/2016 21:29

God that's awful. I know they have to stick to a short period of time, otherwise people would put it off over and again, but that's harsh.

Ditsy4 · 27/04/2016 21:33

Brilliant bargain BadDoGooder!
My friend helps in a charity shop and bought a pushchair for her grandchildren. It was one of those three wheeled off road ones with all the covers, bag etc it just needed a wipe over and looked nearly new. She priced it and it was over £300 new...she paid a tenner!

BennyTheBall · 27/04/2016 21:43

You may live near me, OP.

We have just taken 8 of those chairs and a table to the local dump! Blush

TomTomKitten · 27/04/2016 21:46

Oh how fab!

We fished out a long rectangular and very heavy pine table top from the tip. I asked the guy if we could have it and he said yes.

I used it for a year or so in my workshop then sold it on eBay for £30. It's amazing what people throw away. So wasteful...

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 27/04/2016 21:49

Ive got some of those but the big steamers. Brand new, cost over £200 each. Ive been trying to get rid of them for £40 for two for years on the local FB page. Think I will take them down the tip soon.

mememe30 · 27/04/2016 21:50

I have exactly the same chairs. Found on local bonfire before bonfire night! They nearly got burned. What is wrong with people???

ThisWasCrownjewel · 27/04/2016 21:54

OP how weird would it be if you'd got Benny's chairs?!

Our local church has a small charity shop selling children's and baby stuff - I've picked up some amazing stuff from there. Most recently a Quinny Zapp Xtra in decent condition for £15, brand new Tesco coats for the kids at 25p each, and an almost-new Bumbo seat for £2. And when I'm done with it all, as long as it's still in decent condition, it all goes back there so they can re-sell it to someone else!

BennyTheBall · 27/04/2016 22:08

We also dumped a matching steamer style bed thing. If it had been winter, we would have chopped them up for the wood burner. I am one of those people that has to get rid of things immediately if I decide they're going.

LeaLeander · 01/05/2016 14:56

Freecycle?!

ShtoppenDerFloppen · 01/05/2016 15:13

Your bargain was very fortunate - perhaps go back and see if the other 4 are available, buy them and pass them on to a family member or friend who will appreciate them.

We have a website in Canada called kijiji - I think it is similar to Gumtree - and when I have something that I don't need any more I list it there free for pickup. It stays out of the tip and hopefully ends up with someone who can use it.

LavenderRains · 01/05/2016 15:46

Brilliant OP, I love the tipHmm
DH once took a load of crap our rubbish to the tip and came back with a rocking horse. A lick of paint and the DC played on it for years.
And we still have a purple trimphone in the bedroom that came from the tip about 100 years ago.It was in perfect condition and is probably worth something now.

ConfusedNoMore · 01/05/2016 16:11

My ex took some of my things to the tip rather than let me have them. Wish ours was like yours. I've been on eBay to see if anyone picked up my lovely sewing machineSad

New posts on this thread. Refresh page