Some might call it hoarding… I prefer to think of it as saving valuable goods from being banished to a landfill.

I am a girl who has always loved to thrift. It is important to me for the sustainability of it all, but of course a big element of this passion of mine is the thrill of a good deal. I have thrifted many ugly tank tops just because they were $2, only to deeply regret my decision later.

With this tendency of mine, you can imagine how joyous I was to encounter the sheer magnitude of items people leave behind during moveout. This is especially true for freshmen, who aren’t yet capable of thinking ahead and storing things. I started my treasure hunt in Spring 2024, when It happened at Columbia. You know. That strange time when everyone had virtual finals and left early due to uhm. Certain events. And administrative policies. Which students definitely have the freedom to discuss. Anyways! What this meant was that a treasure trove was open to me within the hallways and basement of John Jay Hall.

My first goods were from an event I hosted with Hall Council. As VP of Sustainability, I wanted to prevent some of the moveout waste I knew I would see. Little did I know just how much I would get. I got people to bring donations, which ended up being a huge amount of clothes. I went through whatever people didn’t want at the event, or what some people offered to me as I organized it. From this, I ended up getting so many name brand items, such as Lululemon and Brandy Melville, two companies who I would never buy from but who do have good quality clothes. Through this event, I also acquired a gorgeous, retro style mini fridge. I cherish her deeply.

After this event, my hoarding sensibilities were triggered into action. I found a friend, and we went down each floor in John Jay to collect what we could find. And we found it all. Among the trash, we found mattress toppers, shoe racks, endless amounts of hangers, snacks, LitHum books, and broken doodads. People left behind perfectly good skincare, expensive clothing, unused notebooks, and usable storage containers. A lot of the clothing however was very… 2019. My theory is that freshmen arrive in New York City and realize they need to do a complete fashion makeover, as they now want to look cool instead of being the authentic nerd they were in high school. Also, I found some lamps. So many lamps. I couldn’t understand some of what people were throwing away, as so much of it was valuable, and still in like new condition. My fridge for example, still had plastic wrap on the sides! Wouldn’t you want to use the fridge next year? This was when I remembered the income brackets of many of my peers, and how wasting $300 on a fridge for them makes more sense than storing it.

Oh well! Seeing the sheer amount of stuff drove me to extreme levels of greed. I have worked hard to resist temptation and only take what I will actually use, which turns out to be a lot. Below are (most of) the items that I have gotten for free during move-out. As an RA, last year I was in the dorms until after seniors moved out, meaning I had many opportunities to visit various dorms and see what I could uncover through my dumpster diving.

I have a couple friends who are also interested in this way of life, as it is unbelievable what people leave behind. If we think about it too much, it is pretty depressing. One friend, who prefers the term “scrounging”, described the weird feelings that come along with the hunt. She usually ends up getting rid of about half of her finds, as they’re not always useful. A girl can only have so many storage carts. After seeing so many of the same items, she also theorized that the Amazon algorithm ends up influencing parents who all buy the same products which their students will toss at the end of the year. Even with the knowledge that many of our finds aren’t the most useful, we both feel the need to save these items from a near-certain fate of ending up in the landfill. The EcoReps green sale is great at redirecting a lot of this waste, but without greater institutional support and mindfulness around overconsumption, there is still much that remains unaddressed.

Below are photos of my room, and a description of what in the photo was foraged during move out. Not pictured are some random lamps, hooks, hangers, doo-dads and trinkets which I gave to friends. Also not pictured are some more of the storage containers I found, a lovely $70 blanket, books, and the clothing (which is quite a lot).

Raccoon via Bwog Archives