“Where I live, there’s a lot on the side of the road so it can get kind of annoying just because it’s usually just junk,” says Kalani Rodriguez, a rising junior at UW-Madison. “But I was talking to my friends about it last night and they were just saying how they actually like it. Like they’ll go through and take a look at what they have and maybe take something home.”
Here, Rodriguez describes what many Madison residents affectionately refer to as “Hippie Christmas,” an annual tradition where residents will pick through household items left at the curb by renters whose leases are set to expire this month.
Many students look upon this time as an opportunity to furnish their own homes and apartments with the items left curbside – things like dressers, bookshelves, and even couches are often left behind and picked over by those looking to score something useful…