Astoria Street Combing

You know the old saying, “The best things in life are free”. Well, I don’t buy it. The best things in life can be pretty damn expensive. Tropical vacations, dinner with friends, even the love of your life can put a huge dent in your pocket. But there are things in life that are absolutely free, and they can be pretty decent. Hell, more than half of the furniture in The Metro Miser’s apartment was free. The kitchen hutch, the nightstand, and the dresser were all giveaways from friends moving out of their apartments. Whenever a friend is moving, I ask two questions. Do you need any help? (I cringe on the phone waiting for the answer.) And are you getting rid of anything?

It’s no secret that in New York a lot of people toss out many of their possessions when moving out of their apartments. Space is a premium. People don’t want to clutter their new apartments with their old crap. I’ve found out that the best pickings can be found on the last weekend of every month. Moving day is a smorgasbord of pickings for the street comber. In Astoria, futons, lamps, small kitchen appliances and exercise equipment are abundant on these weekends. I found my living room side table right on my block. A Mexican handmade wood and leather chair was a great find. My coffee table, although it needed a coat of stain to camouflage the blemishes, was a steal at only $0.00.

Just this past weekend, I went dumpster diving, another one of my favorite pastimes. In this particular gray chest of treasures on 29th st and 31st ave, I came across an old leather suitcase. Upon prying the leather straps apart, I struck gold. Three vintage board games emerged. With boxes completely intact, they looked quite good for their age.

I decided to leave the Monopoly for another lucky soul, and took the Stop Thief and Baseball Strategy board games home with me. I took a quick look on eBay, just out of curiosity, to see if the games were worth anything. Surprise! A recently completed auction showed the Stop Thief game going for a final bid of $41. The baseball game went for $10. Hell yeah. That’s fifty bucks in the bank for The Metro Miser.