hippie christmas

Extreme thrift and a nice blanket

quilt with tan and white stripes

Sorry about the silence over the last week, but it’s Hippie Christmas here in Madison and I’ve been a tad busy with the festivities. For the uninitiated, Hippie Christmas happens every mid-August around the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. That’s when most of the student rental contracts turn over, and kids who didn’t have the time or foresight to empty their apartments ahead of time dump their unwanted belongings on the curb for the garbage collectors—or whoever gets there first. Read more …

Found in the trash: Furniture, free money, and fuel

archer farms vanilla creme brulee K-cups and toaster

Dekalb and I went downtown again to harvest ‘garbage‘ today – one of our favorite ways to save money and recycle at the same time. Here’s the first spot we hit: A lot of this furniture was in good condition even after being thrown into a dumpster, but neither of us needed any so we left it there. Both of … Read more

Upcycling 101: The Annual Garbage Gleaning

Lilo checks out the pizza oven

It’s that time of year again, when consumer goods grow on the curb and around dumpsters as if by magic, all sitting there just ripe for the picking. In other words: the leases downtown are almost up, university students suddenly realize they have no desire to move all their crap with them, and they end up throwing perfectly good stuff out as trash: … Read more

Curb shopping

As mentioned in a previous entry, mid-month was the major curb-shopping event in my town. It’s also known as “hippie Christmas” because the curb and dumpsters offer so many gifts, and I’m okay with that name even though I’m not a hippie. Renters who hate the idea of throwing away perfectly good stuff but don’t have time to get to … Read more