My neighbor told me I was being too picky about curb finds

I used to only grab stuff that looked perfect, like a chair with no scratches. My neighbor Frank saw me pass up a solid oak dresser last month because it had a water stain on top. He said, 'Jana, that's free wood. You can sand that out in an hour.' I mean, he was right. I went back and got it, sanded the top, and now it's in my bedroom. It changed how I look at things with small flaws. Do you guys fix up damaged stuff or do you only take things that are ready to use?

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torres.drew5mo ago

Is it really worth the time to fix free junk?

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finley9395mo ago

Wait, you're getting stuff for free? Where? But seriously, if it's broken and you can fix it in an afternoon, you just got a working thing for the cost of a little time. That's a huge win. The only junk is stuff that's totally destroyed or would need a hundred bucks in parts.

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nathan_foster603mo ago

Frank over here passed up a solid oak dresser once because it had one leg that was an inch too short. I laughed at him for that for a YEAR. But seriously @torres.drew, it is absolutely worth the time if you count the cost of a new dresser versus half a Saturday sanding and staining. I'm the guy who brought home a broken rocking chair from a garage sale and spent three hours fixing it, only to realize I'd glued the seat on backwards. My wife still brings that up at parties. So yeah, I grab the stuff with flaws because my track record is about 70% success and 30% hilarious failure. You can't beat free materials for learning how to fix things, even if you mess up a few times.

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