High End Makeup, Hair Care, Mousse & Blow Dryer

See pictures above. After having dinner tonight decided to stop by one of our local haunts. The 2 boxes of cosmetics were at the bottom of a deep dumpster.

My husband jumped in. A few minutes later the security guard came by. I waved at him, he waved back and drove on. He’s seen me there plenty of times. I’m sure he knows what I’m doing. My husband stayed hunkered down until the coast was clear.

In the box were about 2 dozen cans of mousse and hair spray. Mascara, leave-in conditioner, nail polish, powder, eye cream, cold cream, skin care, the list is ENDLESS.

Most of the cosmetics were unopened and HIGH END cosmetics.

So now I have to find someone to give them to. I’m planning a road trip back to the south. Along the way I’ll give them out to women in rest areas, etc.

It’s a fine line I have to draw in how I present myself when giving this stuff away. People are still very leery when someone is giving something away. We’re very paranoid as a nation so we tend to look a gift horse in the mouth, when all I’m trying to do is to be kind.

I did a quick estimate and came up with a figure of about $1K in makeup, cosmetics and hair care we found tonight.

Well I’m glad they threw it away. Somebody can use it.

My target demographic is working poor or unemployed women. Sometimes a bottle of perfume, some good eye makeup and nail polish can lift a woman’s spirits.

Women like looking and smelling nice. And sometimes that takes money. If all the money you have can only feed your children and pay the light bill, looking and smelling pretty goes by the wayside.

Protein Drinks

Recovered 3 huge tins of protein drinks from a local store. New, intact, thrown out because the customer found the taste distasteful. My husband and I tried all three and they’re perfectly fine.

I’m not a big fan of protein after workout drinks. I think you only really need them if you’re a triathelete OR someone who’s in professional sports and needs the electrolytes.

 Anything could happen in our economy. An EMP, major weather problems, ie hurricane or tornado and the food shelves could empty overnight.

If we have to conserve food, I can use those protein drinks as a meal replacement. Ideally we would eat a big breakfast and then use the protein drinks for lunch and dinner. It wouldn’t be the most palatable but you’d stay alive.

Protein is an important part of our diet if there is very little food. You could live off of protein drinks and a small portion of food. So if you find protein drinks in the trash or on clearance in the store, buy them, now.

What is your priority in life?

Been raining here a lot so it totally screws up my dumpster diving. However many times when it’s raining like cats and dogs, the staff wait until it stops raining and then they throw out a fresh bag of trash.

The other night retrieved 2 boxes of women’s vitamins. Won’t expire for another 2 years. These are the multipacks you can take traveling or when you’re on the go.

Several vials of EmergC packets and Gatorade flavored water containers. These will come in handy while traveling or once again on the go.

To me dumpster diving is an obsession or an addiction. If stores are going to throw away perfectly good items that can be used by me or others, then I’m going to take whatever they throw out.

I grew up poor. I know what it’s like to have literally no food and barely making it. I know that feeling all too well. Now in our economy we have working men and women who are living in their cars, their vans or RV or living at home with mom and dad or couch surfing.

I feel their pain, I do. And if my hygiene kits or food kits help someone who is hurting, then that makes me happy.

15 years ago I used to be such a mall junkie. My priorities were my mani/pedi, what man I could date or meet, what new outfit I could buy, how hot I looked or how much I could do to my hair to meet a man. Now that I look back on it, those were pointless meaningless jaunts.

If I could bring back 20 years ago after my first husband died I would have been a dumpster diver and more of a environmentalist who cared about others more, instead of spending more and consuming meaningless items.

But we cannot go back in time, can we. So for the last 5 years I’ve been an urban forager, gleaning items and helping others. To me it’s more noble and honorable. I’m not judging those who are still mall and spending junkies. But the reason behind those pointless jaunts are busy making activities to fill an empty void of pain and loneliness. Maybe it’s a case of narcissim and looking good, who knows?

Free chips – dumpster diving recipes

Saturday night recovered a dozen huge bags of chips scheduled for the trash. Sitting here now typing after eating a ham sandwich with some lay’s chips. Hmmm mmmm good!

Also recovered 3 dozen Mexican sweet breads. Will heat those up in the microwave for breakfast with the free coffee we found that same night.

Growing up in the south we learned how to eat cheap when times were tough. This is a recipe or a dish my grandma used to make when it was the end of the pay period and we were low on food.

Grandma boils any leftover potatoes, and then refries them as home fries. We would toss in chopped up bologna (we pretended it was ham) and some cheese. They use to hand out government cheese to poor families back in the 70’s. We would use that cheese (you could use mozzarella now). Fry up the potatoes until they have crust, then toss in the bologna and cheese and voila, a casserole. I made it for my husband today and he loved it.

I have dozens of chocolate muffins I’ve found that are in the freezer. With those I make a brownie ice cream dessert. Take the muffin, nuke it in the microwave, and cut it in half. Dollop a couple of scoops of ice cream (bought on sale) and then squirt on a little bit of Hershey’s chocolate sauce. I buy my chocolate sauce at Costco. The 2 containers last us at least 6 months. It’s an excellent dessert and made in 5 minutes.

Redneck Thai Iced Tea – steep your black tea in the sun. Squeeze out the bags after they’ve steeped in the sun. Pour over ice and pour in some flavored coffee creamer. I tried this with my hubby and he loved it.

Just because we’re low on money doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy life.