During college I purchased a comfy oversized chair and ottoman at a yard sale. They cost $10 and took up most of my bedroom. The chair, in all its early ’90s light blue plaid glory, sturdily held up through six moves, though the door frames it was squeezed through often did not.  

People throw away lots of perfectly good things every day. But there are other people who believe that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and they’re always on the lookout for usable items consigned to the garbage heap. The junk man who drives though neighborhoods on garbage night is often looking for metal to sell at a recycling center.