Happy Memorial Day

I’ve now been in my rural home for almost 3 weeks now. Since this is a smaller town, with smaller surrounding towns than South Florida, the dumpster diving is not as plentiful, but it is different.

We stopped behind a store on Saturday and found 3 new pair of khaki pants, 1 pair of jeans, 2 bottles of fabric softener, some candy, 2 packages of socks, some chips, feminine hygiene products, a mop, magazines (still the current month) and a few other miscellaneous items.

There is a restaurant locally that serves great Japanese food, it’s entirely a buffet. The other night we were having dinner and the waitress told me she worked 10 hours a day. I thought OMG her feet must be throbbing at the end of the day. So right before we left, I told her to rub her feet onto a tennis ball to soothe out the knots in her feet. She said that’s a good idea, I will try that.

I then said, you should have your hubby massage your feet when you get home. She then told me he died a month ago. I wanted to cry. I hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. They’re both very young, so this was a sudden thing.

So today I gathered a group of the new magazines, some new unopened cosmetics, nail polish and some other girly stuff that she would like. When I brought in today I said this won’t bring your hubby back, but it can poke a hole in the gray cloud over your head. As a woman who lost her first husband through a sudden car accident, I feel your pain. She had tears in her eyes.

That is one reward I get from dumpster diving. Giving nice things to those who need a step up, a helping hand or a kind word or deed.

Some pics of yesterday’s finds.

Fruits, Vegetables and Creatures of the Night

These last 2 weeks we’ve been in the woods, we’ve found some good stuff. About 6 pairs of shoes thrown out behind a thrift shop, about 100 hangers behind a well known department store thrown out and 2 bags of lemons, potatoes, onions and carrots. The potatoes, carrots and onions could feed a person if they were starving, even if you had to make vegetable soup. But since we’re not there yet, I can put in a nice roast, with some onion soup mix, potatoes, onions and carrots and make a very good beef stew.

Last night I was doing dishes late. I kept seeing this light go off back and forth in our back room. It was a firefly in the house! I think they are so cute. We used to catch them as kids and put them into jars.

Then later on, a beautiful red and black butterfly flew into the house. It just fluttered about and went off somewhere.

We now have 2 cats who are constantly at my door. One is dark black color with green eyes and the other one is a yellow cat with yellow eyes. They’re both beautiful creatures.

We have a large luna moth on our front porch ceiling right now. She’s been up there since last night, just hanging like a bat. She’s a beautiful creature.

Such is life now at my freegan rural abode.

Dumpster diving pizza

Last fall we’d found over a dozen bags of biscuit dough that were just thrown out. I recovered them all and put them away in the freezer.

Found ground beef on clearance (the lean kind) for about $3. Added a can of pizza sauce (.39) and shredded cheese that we had on hand as a topping for the pizza, baked for 20 minutes in the oven. Topped it off with some parmesan cheese.

Washed it down with some Miller 64 calorie beer.

Scavenging Economy

This is where we are today boys and girls. Scrapping, scavenging, dumpster diving, picking up aluminum cans, you name it, it’s all a way of making money. I read in a blog that 100 million working Americans are not working right now. I believe that, based on what I see on the road.

On a 800 mile road trip, where I’m now in the country, the backwoods, I’ve seen quite a bit in the last few weeks.

An older woman scavenging for potted plant holders and rocks for her garden. I stopped her to talk. We had a good conversation. I gave her a brand new bottle of perfume (found it in the trash, a tester) and a nice little pocket purse I had found. She was thrilled.

Another elderly woman in her 70′s dumpster diving (behind a local dollar type of store) for scrap metal, aluminum, food in cans and any other items she can sell to supplement her social security check. My husband helped her grab out of the dumpster some heavier items she could wheel home.

Garage sales are making a big comeback. Garage sales put money in your neighbor’s pocket. Many of these items are those of folks who are downsizing from a large home to an apartment or curbside recyclers who are picking up other folks discards for resale. That may mean the difference between paying your light bill or not.

We had set up a tent in our backyard for 5 months. It could house 6 people easily. In it, we put in a small cot, a blanket, a few pillows and a TV tray. One could live in it, no problem. Now since our sewer drain pipe goes all the way back, we could literally house a family in our backyard if necessary.

We purchased a massage table and a EZ-UP canopy for use in garage sales (need to keep out of the hot sun all day). The massage table is something you could sleep on OR someone could lie down on it and be worked on (i.e. massage or bodywork). It could also be used for pilates lying down.

If things fell apart we could easily help 15-20 people in an emergency situation (housing and other things) and not be crowded out of our home.

I’ve attached a picture of our tent in our backyard. It’s pretty cool.

Many of our dumpster diving finds go to our preps and the other to those in need.

Easter Candy and Vodka

Tonight’s finds were good.

Easter candy, easter socks (children and adult), some stuffed rabbits and other toys. We are approaching another big road trip. We plan on handing out the candy and toys to kids we see on the way. I usually see families, senior couples at rest areas when we stop and get gas or just take a break.

5 bottles of Vodka, brand new, unopened. Vodka can be used for a facial astringent or mouthwash. Or can be used in most cocktails. It’s one of the most versatile mixers.

Cosmetics and Pet Products

I usually get some sort of inkling (maybe dumpster diving psychic feelings) that we will hit big. Usually I’m right. Now I don’t like to dig in the bottom of the dumpster. I’m afraid of making noise and quite frankly I’m too short to jump in. I may not make it back out. That’s where my long legged hubby comes in.

Our first stop was one of our usual haunts. Found an entire boxful of high end cosmetics, shampoo, conditioner, leave-in and other miscellaneous items. We had found a few items the other night, one being faux tanning spray. Well I sprayed some on my legs and it streaked. Well I tried to make it look better the next night and it was worse. Needless to say I gotta lot of stares in the store tonight, people probably thought I was weird. Luckily I really don’t care what people think of me. How I feel about myself is most important.

The next stop was a local pet shop. Found a brand new container for dog food, with a snaptop lid. I do not have pets but this type of plastic container is excellent for storing long range food like beans or rice OR other items. With the snap top lid, it keeps out the moisture.

My neighbor saw our big light on (and she knows when that’s on and we’re up late, we’re sorting out our finds). She brings her kids over (who are 2 and 4, adorable and good kids) for a night of gift exchange. Momma got some good makeup and haircare products and kids got some toys and chocolate milk. These are precious children, I enjoy it when I hear their laughter or their tiny voices.

My New Little Visitor

Went out a few nights and had a good haul.

Several boxes of new cereal.
Boost energy drinks
1 bottle of perfume
Canned food, still in date, cans were slightly dented
A couple of bottles of wine
Snack food and crackers
Makeup, toiletries
1 tin of mixed nuts

By the time we came home, we put it away. We were just too darn tired to take pictures of the haul.

Below is a little visitor in our bathroom near some of our finds (preps) in our bathroom shelves. The shelves are 7 foot high. Today my husband was putting away some toiletries and our little friend was sleeping.

Interview

New_interview!

http://www.thecheapskatemom.com/dumpster-diving-frugal-hobby-series-3/

Saturday Night Date Night

Decided to peruse our favorite haunts as it had been a week since we last dove. Because of the sheer volume of the things we find, it’s almost impossible to show them all.

Our first round meant avoiding the security guard. He may or may not be hostile, but I’d rather not have an encounter.

First dumpster we hit was a good haul. FULL of high end foundation, eye makeup, blush, concealer, skin care, etc. Most of them were testers but many were new and unopened.

Second dumpster was the jackpot. Found 1 beautiful lamp (that I put in our bedroom), 3 full spectrum lighting lamps (one will be given to my MIL who loves to do puzzles) and the rest will be for the sewing room. I can use these lights for quilting, sewing and crocheting on finer things.

2 brand new looms. These are the looms that allow you to do 1,000 stitches a minute. I can literally make an afghan in a week, versus months of crocheting one.

Last but not all least, 2 brand new chairs. One was a wicker chair. The one leg was bent. We bent it back and it sits on our patio with 2 cushions.

The second chair was a paisley print with a throw pillow. Same thing, one leg had a screw missing. This may have been a store demo chair.

We are going on a much needed vacation and road trip very soon. We’re packing into boxes food kits, hygiene kits and other miscellaneous items. On the way we will giving those away who could use them.

Dumpster diving is hard physical work. Really hard. But the rewards are worth it.

Homemade Eco Clothes Dryer

This clothes dryer (photo attached) is a kit that was thrown in the trash. It’s plastic tubing with a stand at the bottom. It was intended for a liquor stand advertising a certain brand of alcohol for a sporting event. It was thrown away intact. Something told my husband to pick it up.

We tried it today as an alternate clothes dryer. The shirts and tops hung up via hangers dried very quickly.

I think it’s vital to be off the grid as much as possible; and save as much as money as you can by using alternate forms and ways of doing things.

Whole foods now sells water cisterns that are $99 each. We saw them yesterday. We’re seriously considering buying one or making one ourselves. The rain water can be trapped and reused to water plants, maybe wash clothes and take showers in an as needed situation.

We also found more chocolate, crackers, a wooden wine box, and a whole bunch of other odds and ends and vacuum cleaner. Found out the cleaner had a blown motor, but we could still salvage it for scrap metal, i.e. copper and metals.