Dumpster Diving & Trash Picking

We have found several useful items due to our willingness to trash pick and dumpster dive.

Starting with the cleanest place to do this; the local recycling center. The boxes for newspapers and magazines are loaded every day. We pull coupons (Smart Source, RedPlum and P&G), popular magazines (these are sold online), & magazines that have coupons in them (Woman's World, Family Circle and All You).

We visit our friends blog (Onefrugalmama.com) to see what local sales we can match with the coupons we've found. (Couponmom.com is another good site, depending on where in the country you live). We also check our local grocers sale ad. We set aside the coupons that we think we will use and sell the rest in lots online. Depending on what you find, this can be lucrative. We've found up to $35 worth of items in one days dig.

The next cleanest dumpster dive tends to be offices and cardboard recycling bins. We use boxes, bubble wrap, and other packaging materials for packing items that we sell online. We do not make money from these items, but they are necessary for proper packaging, and we save the cost of purchasing them.

The dirtiest dive I'm willing to do is road side. I don't have to climb into a bin with unknown items, and can clearly see what I'm picking through. Again, the items we pick up here are either used by us, sold online, given to charity or sold in our annual yard sale. Crib mattresses are a common throw away around us; and because they have a plastic outer, they can be cleaned and sterilized easily assuming they don't have any tears. We've even picked up one still wrapped in the original packaging, which even though we didn't need it, we threw it in the back of the van and within a week heard of a family that was in need of one.

NOTE: If I see something particularly valuable by the side of the road, and think even slightly that the owner may not have intended to toss it, I will go knock on the door and ask before taking it.

My best trash pick was a large dry erase board and aluminum easel (I'd been wanting this item to use for homeschooling, and had priced a similar one at over $100 new at Staples). These were behind an office which was closing and they were still in their original boxes. I did speak with the owner before taking them. He was retiring and selling the building to move out of town. When he learned I was taking the items from the road, he quickly had his crew bring out more; we received more than a case of printer paper, several 3ring binders, stacks of books (one of which sold on Amazon for $70 the next day), and many other useful office supplies. He was thrilled to see the items go to someone who would make use of them, and we were thrilled to get them.

I also sort through yard sale Free boxes for useful items, and consider this road side picking as well.

Many communities have an annual spring clean up where residents can put large items by the road that they would otherwise have to pay extra to dispose of. When we pick up these items, I think of it as a form of recycling.
Even parts of items can be useful; we have a friend who picked up a broken stereo by the side of the road and put it in the back of his truck. He continued around town, digging through piles, and by the end of the day had scavenged all the parts he needed to repair and rebuild the stereo (at NO cost, except the gas of course).

Our town has a monthly bulk pick up day. We mark our calendar for the day and evening beforehand to be out and looking for items we can use.

We know people (some in our own family) who would never pick through things that others had thrown away. That's okay, because if everyone was doing it, we'd never get anything good!

We could be prideful and consider ourselves above trash picking and dumpster diving, but our alternative is to go get jobs; something we are not ready to do. We like being unemployed; there is a thrill in the challenge to make ends meet every month, there is joy in being available to volunteer our time (anytime we want to! We never have to say, "sorry I have to work that day"), and there is something very special about a being in a family that lives, works and plays together. We are extremely blessed!

I hope that you are also blessed by us sharing our story and our ideas. Our goal is to encourage others to look outside the 9to5 double income, kids in daycare norm, and find something BETTER.

Corinne Johnson is a Christian homeschooling mom, and help meet to her husband Don. She is also the author of Vacation Education Books; travel guides for families who love to learn. Learn more about her family, her journey and her books at www.vacationeducationbooks.net