Money Saved & Resold:
This Dyson vacuum sold within hours of listing it for $180 cash. Its recycled weight was 6 pounds 3 ounces.
I found the wand and powerhead on top of a pile while running around to find packaging for a shipment before UPS closed. I took it but didn't have any time to dig to see if the rest of the unit was in the pile of clear bags or black trash bags around it. I planned to go back to look later, but there was torrential rain for hours when I was going to go. My hunch was that it was in that pile somewhere, but the rain could have ruined it if the bags had holes or were open.
My competitive nature didn't let me go to sleep, so I got out of bed at 5 AM and went out in moderate rain to find it. The funny thing was that I forgot which pile I got it from. I knew which street it was on, but streets are long and full of piles. Thankfully, I remembered seeing a bag with cooking pan handles sticking out earlier, so this was my only clue. After walking for a while, I feared that someone took the pans to lose my mark. After one more street (which I thought was too far), I found saw the pan handles!
I moved the clear bags around and eventually saw the prize in the bottom middle bag. It had been kept dry.
^Proof. I know that look anywhere.
It worked with superb battery life. It was clearly the move out I suspected and I found other things in the black trash bags.
The buyer came within 45 minutes of messaging me for it. These things sell like water.
Effort = results.
These vintage Italian desktop pencil cups sold to a "prop shop" (rents props for movies/tv shows) for $95. Recycled weight with recycled packaging of 1 pound.
They were nondescript in a trash bag, but I know what quality leather feels like. I researched the stamps on the bottom to figure out what they were and that they were fairly valuable for what they were.
I ultimately called the buyer and he welcomed texts of other items I feel fit his business. Whether he buys from me again or not, I was glad that I had the balls to call his cell from the sales records to introduce myself and thank him.
This printhead was sold for parts/repair for $100. It's recycled weight with recycled packaging was 12 ounces.
I knew that this worked from some light test pages, but it was partially clogged. I could've sold this for about double if I could fully verify its functionality, but didn't have the tools to flush it. I took it out of the printer, listed it, and it sold to a repeat buyer within 4-5 hours. He was very happy with the product, insinuating that he got a sweet deal on it after cleaning.
A fast $100 is sometimes better than a slower $200 after ordering a cleaning kit and experimenting. Also, a complete working printer sells for $400-$500, so I quickly captured a decent portion of that. I salvaged two other parts from the printer and then put it back outside.
Dyson vacuum powerhead tested and sold for $93. Recycled weight of 3 pounds 4 ounces (shipped with USPS flat rate box for cost savings).
At the end of a walk, I found a high end Dyson upright vacuum standing up without its canister. I examined its condition and determined that there was a high likelihood that it worked. My hunch was that the owner tossed it because the canister clip broke (a common lazy rich person move). I also had other compatible Dyson powerheads at home I could test with this unit, so it was more than worth scooping it up. Building maintenance often cuts the power cords on vacuums, so I take the powerheads off and hold them until I find one with the cord intact to use for testing my stockpile.
This sound machine alarm clock radio was sold for $60. It's recycled weight with recycled packaging was 4 pounds 6 ounces.
This was almost a debacle after I noticed a slight fray in the radio antenna wire at the end closest to the battery compartment when packaging it. I fiddled with it and accidentally ripped the thin wire apart. Needing to ship this within a few hours, I jumped into action to try to open the casing up to see if I could repair the wire. After removing several fragile screws, the last one got badly stripped. I thought I blew my chance and almost emailed the buyer to offer a refund/cancellation. After researching ways to remove a stripped screw, I used several different sharp bits and a knife to get it out. I was surprised that it came out because I truly thought it was stuck.
It was a small yet inspiring victory because I didn't give up. I proceeded to solder the antenna wire and retracted it into the back of the alarm clock enough to not be visible at all once reassembled. The radio tested out afterwards, so I shipped it out while brushing off my shoulders for the save.
It was easy to cancel the order and put it back out on the curbs, but it's now living in Georgia.
Commitment to the cause!
Summary:
- 5 items sold for $528 revenue = $105.60 revenue each.
- 34% received as cash.
- No repair/parts costs. All free money.
- Total weight of recycled items/packaging = 15.5 pounds.
- Recycled boxes/package materials used on 3/4 shipments. Flat rate box used on one.
If you're seeing my recycling post for the first time, the value in it isn't in the entertainment from the handful of items I show as saved/sold. It's from the passion and hustle I consistently exhibit off-chain to produce the items for posts, and my goal of motivating others to address our global waste problem.
Thanks as always for your interest and support.
Please reuse, repurpose and recycle. If you aren't able, then donate them to shelters, churches, or thrift stores.
Have you saved anything in the last month? If not, forget excuses and change that today. My goal is to motivate here.
Stay tuned for my next post on 4 popular designer lamps I just found worth $600 + $400 + $250 + $250.
I always know you are posting for others to know that we can save the earth by recycling instead of throwing away that might affect the global earth and climate change. In the end, it's all worth the listing. Thanks for sharing.
Of course. Thanks for reading and commenting so I know I'm not blogging to myself!!
As goes the saying: one man's trash, is another man's gold. I'm always impressed by how fast you sell stuff.
Thanks. Some things do sell slowly. If they're worth money, I'll sacrifice the space at home for it until the right buyer comes along near my price.
For example, I sold something last weekend I held for about 4 years on a hook on my wall. I'll include it in my next recycled sales post. My wall looks so empty now.
Same here. I've got some car parts here waiting to be sold for ever. The other day a guy bid, asked a bunch of question and disappeared =/
I was sent here by @penderis and @livinguktaiwan and glad they did. I have taken an interest in scrapping/salvaging to take the place of video games and other pointless wastes of time and have really been loving it. It's very satisfying to separate things that have been thrown away and send them to the proper place instead of everything getting thrown in the landfill.
I salvage quite a bit but because I live in the middle of nowhere I don't have a lot of options for selling the items. I am thinking of starting a website and just putting them on there so I don't have to deal with ebay or Facebook.
Anyhow, great job and happy to find a kindred spirit on here. I was looking for a community here.
nice. looks like the vacuum business still prints.
Oh my Gods, please tell me that giant pile of trash is from an apartment building and not a house. It's a house, isn't it. ☹️
Good on you for making the call with the prop shop. That's such a good resource for when you find cool vintage things. I bet even some nonworking things, they might want just for sets.
Aw man are people really throwing out Dysons because of a canister clip? If that were me I'd at least be checking to see if I could get a replacement canister. I am by no means as well versed in repair stuff as you are, but I've had people comment that they were impressed that I did things like ...change a vacuum belt. Change a vacuum filter. Take the vacuum apart to clean out a clog. Because they would have just tossed it. I was like ...you're gonna toss a whole vacuum instead of clean it or spend $15 on a filter or even less on a belt? I dunno, man. Rich people.
I get that people were surprised I once took a CRT television apart to solder inside. But like, change a vacuum filter, people!!
As always, thanks for all you do and for these very cool reports. !BEER
Sorry, out of BEER, please retry later...