Penn Christmas: It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Phillygrrl had a post that kind of hit home for me the other day titled “Twenty-something gals and couture” in which she talks about visiting the new Rittenhouse Barney’s Co-op:

…Every single piece in there costs more than my rent does. Which led me to ask: How do gals my age afford that swag? I know why I can’t. I’m a soon-to-be dirt poor grad student who works various low-paying but fulfilling nonprofit/teaching part-time jobs. But what is everyone else doing? You know who I’m talking about, those twenty-something chicks with the Givenchy shoes, Balenciaga handbags and those Stella McCartney dresses.

Now, I like looking at pretty things just as much as the next girl, although my hypothetical sugar-daddy dough is hypothetically spent on ridiculously opulent wallpaper and 1stdibs.com. But honestly: hi, readers. We’re writers in our mid-twenties, which realistically means we can occasionally afford H&M. Readers, we get the idea that you’re also mostly in your twenties in grad school or with various low-paying but fulfilling nonprofit/teaching part-time jobs, like the lady said.

So while we do like to let you know what genuinely-interesting-but-expensive stuff is at Reward and R.E.Load and all, every once in a while we like to keep it real and acknowledge that most people in their twenties were broke before the recession.

In this vein, let’s talk about the glory that is Penn Christmas. We promise we’re not gonna get all crusty on you. More after the jump…

"happy birthday dumpster!" by Shmitzel

The semester just ended for much of University City, and it’s that time of the year where you get some of your worst stereotypes of college students visually reinforced via row after row of discarded minifridges piled up on the curbs from here to the 46th Street El.

It’s not just minifridges, either. A few years back, I was fortunate enough to just have moved to West Philly without a lot of stuff to my name during Penn Christmas, and it was like I had woken up one morning to find that IKEA-brand manna had fallen from heaven. Coffee tables. Coffeemakers. Microwaves. Irons. Bedframes. Toasters. Books. Even Le Creuset! I furnished my first place fairly respectably for like $100.

The least charitable interpretation of this phenomenon is “God, it’s such a pain in the ass to move all this heavy stuff and figure out where to store it; whatever, Mom’ll spring for another microwave next year.”

Charitably, though, before I had to pay my own rent and buy my own toilet paper, I had no idea what money really was, and flying a blender back home to Australia or India or Seattle or wherever may be more trouble than it’s worth.

Smug moral judgment aside, the facts: Penn’s official dorm move-out day was May 9, but the dorm workers tend to grab up that stuff. The real open season is the next couple of weeks in near West Philly when the students renting off-campus finish up their leases. If you are young, broke, in need of a toaster and not above perusing heaps of junk on the curb, you may want to take a walk through near West Philly in the upcoming weeks. Trash day is Wednesday east of 42nd, Tuesday west of 42nd; here’s a map.

This year may not be quite as bountiful as past ones, though: Penn got it together last year and organized PennMOVES, which simplified the move-out donation process so much that they just about filled the ice rink with “used but still useable” castoffs, which were then donated to Philly charities. From the June 4, 2008 Inquirer story by Susan Snyder (which has disappeared into the philly.com black hole, can’t link it):

There were 5,000 hangers, toasters, irons and TVs, coffeemakers and microwaves and kettles for tea. There were 12 pairs of crutches, mounds of pounds of clothing and 2,500 pairs of shoes; George Foreman grills, scales, blenders and refrigerators, too.

There were boxes of books, Bibles, even the Quran; jewelry and Christmas lights and 400 lamps. There were canned goods, mops and Be Mine teddy bears; the Game of Life, Kleenex, printers and desk chairs. There were Ben Gay, Nyquil, cereal and spices; bedding, pillows and machines for ices.

At PennMOVES, they quantify it a bit more specifically:

By the end of June, 85,000 pounds of donated goods were collected and redistributed to the community including:

• 45 refrigerators
• 400 storage containers
• 138 trash cans
• 16 cases of school supplies
• 2,747 pounds of food
• 615 pounds of cleaning supplies
• 1,800 pounds of bed linens
• 7 tons of books
• 23 tons of clothes
• 8 sets of crutches
• Numerous lamps, irons, ironing boards and more!

This year, they’re selling all the stuff at yard-sale prices, on June 6-7 (although their website doesn’t yet say where), and giving the money to local charity.

So in a minute I’m going to get back to telling you where you can purchase fabulous things, but first I’m gonna go find me a free blender. Wave if you see me! I’ll wear my favorite Givenchy shoes, Balenciaga handbag and Stella McCartney dress so you can recognize me.