One Man's Trash .....................

Twice in the past month I have been told stories of how someone I know was either cleaning, consolidating, purging or downsizing.  In the process some items were removed to the trash as expected but upon questioning, some of what I know which was relegated to the trash, potentially could have been sold for a nice piece of change.  And in this economy, who couldn't use a little extra change or some found money?

I am reminded of the story about two friends, when in purchasing their home "AS IS" they became the homeowners of a treasure trove which included several years of an old man's OCD events, where he had been dragging all sorts of what seemed like random trinkets into the home, sadly to the point where the only living space left in the house was a small section of the basement where he slept on a cot next to the furnace.  He and his bounty were separated by death, survived by a grown son, and the task of sifting being more than the son could handle, the house was sold "AS IS".  In weeding through the mountains of "AS IS", valuable art, collectibles, furniture and other items surfaced.  My friends were able to sell much of it and reduced their NEW mortgage substantially. 

Now back to the beginning of my post.  I tell you this story because one of the two recent stories shared with me this past month involved over 40 years of collecting several boxes of albums, yes that's right vinyl albums, jazz, pop, classical and they were placed out for trash in the basement of an apartment building.  The superintendent found them on his regular trash rounds and could not believe his good fortune.  When the super saw the person who had discarded the gift, he asked him why he would throw away something so valuable, and the answer was simply, "They are too heavy, I don't have the storage space and I can no longer move them around from one place to another".  The superintendent told the man of his plan to sell them and the man wished him good luck.  The man had no idea of the value for his collection and now wished he had not left them for trash. A few days later the super was entertaining offers from record collectors and dealers.  This was a collector's dream.

Take a look around your home, garage, basement, attic or closet.  I'll bet you have some found money just waiting to be converted.