I recently posted about a French Le Creuset cooking pot I found on the curb that was destroyed by the worst cook in the world.
I recovered this pot while freecycling on the curbs in my city and took it home to try to restore it to its former beauty.
Before:
After:
As my post detailed, I wound up offering this to a friend who lives nearby and really wanted one. I gave it to her for free after manually working for several hours, and soaking the pot/lid for days. Cleaning the bottom, not shown here, was actually the hardest part that took 3 hours of careful scraping alone. It was easy work with a good purpose.
Yesterday, I brought the restored pot to her and she gave me some homemade banana bread in return. I love food. I can't cook. Fair deal.
The shocker was that she gave me something else in return to sell that she doesn't want a penny for in return. Talk about raising the stakes!!
What'd she give me?
A virtually new (and certainly never used) luxury men's leather briefcase with documentation that currently retails for $2,850!!
Here I was eating banana bread with water and happy as a clam, and she had this up her sleeve.
She got this for free because it was locked and there were no keys. After she gave it to me, she used a hair pin to pick surprisingly pick the lock with ease.
Guess what was inside?
Yes, it was a pair of keys hanging from a leather strap. The original papers were also nearly stashed in there as well.
Upon further inspection, the lock wasn't functioning properly, so that's how she got it for free. However, I took it home and in 10 minutes, tweaked something inside the enclosed lock I felt was misaligned (using some basic logic), and the lock now WORKS smoothly!!
To think the original owner parted with something they paid $2,850 for and NEVER USED because of a lock they didn't take 5 minutes to troubleshoot boggles my mind, but it's mine now.
Given the fix, I can now sell this for potentially $800-$1,000 to be realistic... all because I found a dirty pot on the street I knew I could restore and give to someone who would love it.
Talk about making your own luck. Since she refuses to accept any cash proceeds from this, much like how I couldn't sell her the pot, a nice dinner will be in line to say thanks once it sells.
If you can't use something, maybe someone you know can. Ask around before you put something out in the trash or recycling. You never know what can come from it!
Thank you,