People Share What They Found Thrown Away And The Phrase ‘One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure’ Has Never Been So Real (40 New Pics)
There's a Lithuanian proverb, saying that we like it when our neighbor's house is burning. We're not very neighborly. So when I first heard about stooping -- people putting stuff they no longer need on the curb to be taken home by someone who wants it -- the whole thing sounded like a utopia to me. But it's not. And there's an Instagram account to prove it.
It's called Stooping NYC. Created by a Brooklyn couple who prefer to remain anonymous, the account unites a wholesome community, constantly informing one another about the treasures around the city and showing off their best finds. We at Bored Panda already covered this online movement here and here but they've been keeping themselves really busy so we have to do an update! Enjoy.
More info: Instagram
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I Think I Speak For All Of Us When I Say... You Win Stooping!
Want More Proof Of How Amazing The Stooping NYC Community Is? Check Out This Stooping Success From Davidjamz
In one of our earlier publications on Stooping NYC, its founders said the amount of submissions they get is massive; on a typical weekday, their inbox receives hundreds if not a thousand submissions. On the weekend, especially at the end of the month, there are thousands of DMs.
That's a lot to choose from. "Knowing what stoopers need and what makes them excited, we try to prioritize items we receive that fit into those categories!" the people behind the account told Bored Panda. "But we really try to post as much as is physically possible (there are only 2 of us and we want to make sure we share as much as we can with the amazing Stooping NYC community)."
Hundreds Of Free New Books!!!! 52nd St Between 6th And 5th Ave
What a wonderful surprise I’m sure!! I’d have been digging there for hours!
Omg Omg Omg!!! Run!! On Vernon And Nostrand In Bed Stuy
At the start of the pandemic when there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding health and safety protocols, they refrained from posting. But once they started up again in the summer, they were flooded with a wave of submissions caused by New Yorkers leaving the city for good.
Whatever the challenges, it looks like Stooping NYC is here to persevere. "[This project] has been so successful in large part because it's exclusively on social media (Instagram specifically)!" the showrunners said.
"Hosting it on social media means that more people have access [to everything it has to offer] and not just New Yorkers; it also gives access to a piece of New York City culture to people who follow from far and wide. It also has enabled us to 'gameify' stooping, with stoopers sharing stories of things they spot, stoop, take home (#stoopjourney) and ultimately give new life to (#stoopingsuccess). It would really be challenging to tell stories around the pieces like we do on any other platform."
I’m Just Going To Say It... Colbysadeghi Is My Hero. He Got This Beauty Home To Make The Best Stooping Success Of The Morning!
Gorgeous Stained Glass On Eastern Parkway Between Rogers And Nostrand
Thanks so much for this picture... this is exactly what my new living room is missing, it just never occured to me.
As you can see from the pictures, it's virtually impossible to predict what's going to pop up on a curb somewhere in the city. And that's the beauty of the game.
"Stoopers are excited about a lot of things, running the spectrum from the New York apartment staples (bookshelves, kitchen islands) to valuable treasures (beanie baby collections, copper tubs, pianos) to the weird and quirky (the Ear Mirror, stiletto chairs), and, of course, every kind of plant. Ever."
The couple running the account added that they "feel so fortunate to have so much positivity in our lives that comes from this wonderful stooping community," and I'm pretty sure their followers would say the same.
So Funky! We Love It! 89th & Madison
Tell Us This Doesn’t Look Like It Should Be In An Issue Of Dwell Magazine Or Something???
Pretty Sure This Is The One You’ve Been Waiting For! Yes You! Minnetta And Macdougal
Awesome! I would take it. Though I have a feeling my cat would think it's a giant scratching post :/
I Don’t Want To Be Dramatic, But Brb While I Die At How Amazing Proseccomami_ Did With This Stooping Success
I Mean... Are You F’ing Kidding Me? 147 W79th Street
Beautiful Large Fiddle Leaf Fig That Needs Some Tlc! 2nd Ave Between Third And Fourth Street Outside The Nail Salon
What Else Is There To Say About This Amazing Massage Chair Other Than... Holy S**t!!! Woodbine & Bushwick!
i can't explain it, but it looks like the chair version of a cockroach or something
Well This Has The Makings Of A Great Tuesday! Wow. Prospect Place Between Brooklyn And New York Ave
Starting Off Our Friday Right! 94th Between Broadway And Amsterdam
What Percentage Of New Yorkers Own Velvet Couches?! Another Blue Velvet Beauty! 116th And Morningside
Mooove Out The Way! (See What I Did There?). Go Fast! Frost Street Between Meeker And Lorimer
Start The Car!!! Plant Babies! In Front Of 726 Park Pl (Between Bedford And Rogers)
Oh man 😩, I’ve been wanting new plants like these for about a year now, I’m a sucker for plants, especially the one one in the pink
Good News And Bad News. Good News - Urechi_ Just Sent Us This Amazing Couch She Found In Harlem. Bad News (But Also Good News) - Urechi_ Decided To Take It For Herself!
Omg!!! Run Don’t Walk! 426 Lexington Ave In Brooklyn
Last One For The Night... Congrats On Your Amazing New Wfh Situation Tropidarks Stooping Success
Okay Guys, Get Ready For Story Time!!! “After 1.5 Miles Of Walking, Several Breaks, And Many Words Of Support From The Central Park Joggers, We Finally Brought Our New Couch From The West To The East Side. Thank You Stooping!”. No Nick Lahger, Thank You!
Good for you! That is a beauty and a great story to share of the adventure.
Globe Bar Plus A Great Desk And Chair! Madison And Marcy!
Just Think Of Alllll The Pretty Things You Could Display In This! Outside Carroll Street & 8th In Park Slope!
This Is The Realest Looking Stoop Giraffe Ever! Not Sure About Its Competition Though. Jefferson Bt Malcolm X And Stuyvesant
I am a giraffe fanatic. I have two of the tall giraffes and about 300 other giraffes in my bedroom. They are such graceful animals.
Well This Is A Stoop Journey! The Most Famous Stoop Chair Has Made Its Way Onto Subway!
i just realized after staring at it for 5 minutes that it was a chair shaped like a high heel.
Please Take A Moment To Acknowledge This Insanely Beautiful Stooping Success From A_modern_classic !! “Living In Some Deep Stoop Gratitude With This Mirror From The Other Day, And Having Finally Repainted My Stooped Dresser And Desk!”
Your Living Has Been Missing A Hippo Stool... Just A Fyi. On W 93rd Between Columbus And Amsterdam
Incredible Secretary Desk In Front Of 261 Devoe On Olive And Devoe. Key Included
Perfection! 41 Spring St
Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Out Without Seeing Another Ear Mirror...
Note: this post originally had 125 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
Amazed that so many people are willing to risk picking up upholstered furniture that's been sitting outside. Mold, mildew, urine, and bedbugs are all potentially carried within those things. I might put something like that on the bed of a pickup truck and then completely strip it down & reupholster it in the garage, but you'll never see me bringing one right into my home. :-/
Did it in college when I ended up moving into an apartment. I could not find the money for furniture that was not already in my dorm. All was well as most of it was from other dorm kids moving out. You can see clear signs of bedbugs if there is a infestation. I think people would look closely.
Yes, I'm sure you can tell from these single photos that people didn't check for anything like that and didn't clean the stuff before it came inside.
Most of this is in NYC, where being moldy, bug infested, and smelling like pee is normal.
Thinking the same.
Not to mention that they all look horrible to begin with.
ok that is the one and only reason to live in ny
I wonder if there are laws in the US, or in New York, that regulate this kind of thing. You might be able to tell from that that I live in Germany. Here in Germany, it is actually forbidden to take things that have been placed on the street for so-called bulky waste ("Sperrmüll"). It has to be said that this "bulky waste" is usually collected "for free" every 3 months, usually by the municipality or the waste disposal companies. Legally, objects that are put out for disposal still belong to the original owner and taking them away would be theft. One of the reasons for this is that in recent years more and more companies and dubious persons have made a profit from this by actually coming with trucks when this bulky waste took place. Most of it was then shipped to Eastern Europe. This became a big problem at some point.
Where I live, it’s perfectly legal and often people put items out on their verge for others to take. I live in a rural town but even in the city, during hard pickup, anyone can take anything left out.
I thought this was just a given.
In Australia we have "Hard Rubbish Collection" which in my area used to be the same week for everyone. It was a hunters dream, driving slowly around, picking through stuff for gems. They've changed it to a booking system now. Anything I want to get rid of though I can put outside my house with a sign on saying it's free and it's fine.
In Los Angeles, you can just call the city to come haul away bulky items. But a lot of people either don't know that, or they're too lazy to call, or they think you have to pay for it. So they'll dump an old sofa on the street, but they'll carry it a few doors down and dump it in front of their neighbor's house. When I lived on a street with a lot of apartment buildings, I'd have to call all the time because someone left something and didn't make arrangements for it.
It's not going to be picked up as trash when leaving it on the side walk like that (at least to my knowledge). I also live in a placs where it is illegal to go through someones garbage that is put out to be collected, but if there is is a sign that says free on it, you're good to take it.
It's not the same all over Germany. In Berlin Sperrmüll is not free. It is expensive so many people just dump their stuff on the sidewalk. (Although never such incredible things as shown here.)
Was this always the case? I lived in Germany in the 90s and we used to love sperrmulls, never heard of fines back then!
No, definitely not always the case. It was very common and accepted for people to go through the streets on those days to check what they might need. Sometimes you rang at the doors and asked if you could have it, just to be polite. It was always considered to help those who didn't have much or could use it. However, as I wrote, later it got commercial and criminal. There were coming dozens of trucks into town on those days and those people pulled everything apart, left what they didn't need scattered all over the streets and then they (often) moved it to eastern Europe to sell it. It became a big problem and at some point, they just forbid it. As "I'm a black cat" wrote, it's still being done, mainly by students and "poor" people, and usually no one complains, but it got more civilized again.
I loved sperrmulls and flohmarkts.I loved Germany and will never forget it.Wish I stayed there!
However, many ppl still take stuff from "Sperrmüll" especially students etc. It is legally forbidden, but nobody checks and gets a fine. What is interesting for me whether in NYC ppl can just randomly put furniture on the street at any given day? What happens if it is not stooped? That is actually the difference to Germany, since here the municipality picks it up for free on certain dates, not every day, and if furniture is placed on the street during other times the owner gets fined
Amazed that so many people are willing to risk picking up upholstered furniture that's been sitting outside. Mold, mildew, urine, and bedbugs are all potentially carried within those things. I might put something like that on the bed of a pickup truck and then completely strip it down & reupholster it in the garage, but you'll never see me bringing one right into my home. :-/
Did it in college when I ended up moving into an apartment. I could not find the money for furniture that was not already in my dorm. All was well as most of it was from other dorm kids moving out. You can see clear signs of bedbugs if there is a infestation. I think people would look closely.
Yes, I'm sure you can tell from these single photos that people didn't check for anything like that and didn't clean the stuff before it came inside.
Most of this is in NYC, where being moldy, bug infested, and smelling like pee is normal.
Thinking the same.
Not to mention that they all look horrible to begin with.
ok that is the one and only reason to live in ny
I wonder if there are laws in the US, or in New York, that regulate this kind of thing. You might be able to tell from that that I live in Germany. Here in Germany, it is actually forbidden to take things that have been placed on the street for so-called bulky waste ("Sperrmüll"). It has to be said that this "bulky waste" is usually collected "for free" every 3 months, usually by the municipality or the waste disposal companies. Legally, objects that are put out for disposal still belong to the original owner and taking them away would be theft. One of the reasons for this is that in recent years more and more companies and dubious persons have made a profit from this by actually coming with trucks when this bulky waste took place. Most of it was then shipped to Eastern Europe. This became a big problem at some point.
Where I live, it’s perfectly legal and often people put items out on their verge for others to take. I live in a rural town but even in the city, during hard pickup, anyone can take anything left out.
I thought this was just a given.
In Australia we have "Hard Rubbish Collection" which in my area used to be the same week for everyone. It was a hunters dream, driving slowly around, picking through stuff for gems. They've changed it to a booking system now. Anything I want to get rid of though I can put outside my house with a sign on saying it's free and it's fine.
In Los Angeles, you can just call the city to come haul away bulky items. But a lot of people either don't know that, or they're too lazy to call, or they think you have to pay for it. So they'll dump an old sofa on the street, but they'll carry it a few doors down and dump it in front of their neighbor's house. When I lived on a street with a lot of apartment buildings, I'd have to call all the time because someone left something and didn't make arrangements for it.
It's not going to be picked up as trash when leaving it on the side walk like that (at least to my knowledge). I also live in a placs where it is illegal to go through someones garbage that is put out to be collected, but if there is is a sign that says free on it, you're good to take it.
It's not the same all over Germany. In Berlin Sperrmüll is not free. It is expensive so many people just dump their stuff on the sidewalk. (Although never such incredible things as shown here.)
Was this always the case? I lived in Germany in the 90s and we used to love sperrmulls, never heard of fines back then!
No, definitely not always the case. It was very common and accepted for people to go through the streets on those days to check what they might need. Sometimes you rang at the doors and asked if you could have it, just to be polite. It was always considered to help those who didn't have much or could use it. However, as I wrote, later it got commercial and criminal. There were coming dozens of trucks into town on those days and those people pulled everything apart, left what they didn't need scattered all over the streets and then they (often) moved it to eastern Europe to sell it. It became a big problem and at some point, they just forbid it. As "I'm a black cat" wrote, it's still being done, mainly by students and "poor" people, and usually no one complains, but it got more civilized again.
I loved sperrmulls and flohmarkts.I loved Germany and will never forget it.Wish I stayed there!
However, many ppl still take stuff from "Sperrmüll" especially students etc. It is legally forbidden, but nobody checks and gets a fine. What is interesting for me whether in NYC ppl can just randomly put furniture on the street at any given day? What happens if it is not stooped? That is actually the difference to Germany, since here the municipality picks it up for free on certain dates, not every day, and if furniture is placed on the street during other times the owner gets fined