Living Green and Garbage

For those of you who know me really well, you know I’m really not into all this “live green” hype. Still, I see no reason to waste when it’s unnecessary and I’m not big into filling landfills so quickly! I also see no reason to spend when you don’t need to. Especially now. Having what I can spend cut down by more than half (due to divorce, of course) has made me begin to realize how many extras I really had and how much money I may have wasted. To some extent, I’ve really enjoyed my new challenge of learning to save, reuse more, use others’ garbage, and rely on God to provide (even if it’s just an amazing savings on something!) I have been utterly amazed at how wasteful our country is… although, I must say, I’m very thankful! Yesterday, if you could have seen me when I thought no one could, you would have seen me standing in a dumpster holding a bunch of bok choy (not a thing wrong with it) thanking God aloud for how wasteful this country is. Don’t get me wrong… waste is bad. But there is a big, fat IF. If others don’t use these awesome items that are thrown away, waste is bad. If others get to benefit from this waste, then it’s good. Just over the past 1 1/2 weeks I’ve gotten at least $140 worth of produce from dumpsters. It seems things are thrown away when there is a bruise (I wouldn’t want to pay for it either… haha), have little wrinkles or look a tad too wilted to pay for. I’ve found many, many heads of lettuce that have just gotten too small from the grocers taking leaves off each day to make it look nicer, perfectly good green onions and bags of potatoes (red and Idaho), tomatoes (some getting a tad dry, but are still great for cooking), bell peppers with a bruised spot or just an imperfection (not as pretty), broccoli and cauliflower that was getting a little limp (doesn’t make a difference if you’re cooking it), radishes and beets that needed the green tops cut off, apples, mangoes, plums, and the list goes on! And that’s in grocery store dumpsters alone. I’ve found so much of some of these items that I’ve had to clean, cut, and freeze a lot. It’s great, though, because I love having things on stock for when I need them for a recipe!

I’ve had great luck at a few other types of stores, too. My finds at these places have included:

• A large piece of plexiglass (about 3’x4’).
• $160 leather Ecco shoes in the box – the display pair that were 1/4 of a European size off from one another (you can hardly tell the difference).
• 2 big garbage bags full of fake flowers (still in the bouquets they were being sold in – prices ranged anywhere from $19.99-$119.99.
• Vases.
• Frames (some with cracked glass, others with a small flaw in the frame – I take them all and put the crack-free glass in the good frames).
• A metal sippy cup (it had been returned, because someone couldn’t figure out how to get water out of it – there was a small plastic piece that had to be removed).
• 2 dozen red roses.
• Blank labels.
• A pet stool that can handle up to 40 pounds – great for a toddler.
• Mattresses and box springs still in the plastic (I didn’t actually take these since I didn’t have the right vehicle for it).
• Display desks and shelves (you know those ones you see in the store that are already set up for you to see what the box kit will look like later? Yeah. In the dumpster.) I also didn’t take these since I’ve been dumpster diving with my new-to-me mini van – it would be nice to have a pick up truck for those finds.
• Bathroom hardware (towel hanger, hooks, toilet paper holder, etc.).
• A framed painting I have displayed in my home now.
• An entire bag full of wooden kitchen utensils all individually wrapped in plastic (my sister, Mariah and I split up this bag between the two of us).
• Emery boards – it looks like after clearance they just tossed what didn’t sell. They also cracked most of them in half as they threw them away. I’ll get more into that in a moment.
• A French fry cutter (a friend of mine diving with me got that find).
• A beautiful metal headboard and foot board.
• A key chain.
• A wooden toy plane.
• Shells.

I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting.

It’s really disappointing how many places have dumpsters that are made inaccessible; either chained up, padlocked, or connected to the inside of the building with no way to get in from the outside. I understand that many businesses have had to lock up their dumpsters due to people dumping in them and that’s such a bummer. It’s too bad you can’t trust people to do the right thing! There is one thing I really cannot stand, though, and that’s the places that mess up the stuff they’re throwing away. R.E.I., for example. They throw away many pairs of boots/shoes that have been returned, but they put at least one long slash in each boot/shoe before throwing it out. They do the same with just about anything worth anything in their dumpster. I don’t really see the point to this. If anyone is willing to dumpster dive, do you really think they’d be a customer? I mean, would someone who could easily afford leather boots from R.E.I. normally consider looking in the dumpster first? Also, what is the chance of them being that person’s size? And those emery boards I found at Bed, Bath, & Beyond… it’s like, seriously? You have time to pay your employees to crack 98% of the emery boards in half so no one can use them? (I can, actually – I’m going to use them to distress paper in crafting projects.) Bed, Bath, & Beyond also like to spray paint most of their trash red. Kind of dumb.

Good things to take with you when dumpster diving include:

• Gloves
• Clean garbage bags
• Grocery-type bags
• A clean box (although, you’ll probably find plenty of these while diving).
• A flashlight (for evening dives).
• A stick for poking around – although I haven’t actually used one yet, I can see where one may come in handy. I’d really love one of those things for picking up items that people cannot easily reach when they having bending problems.
• A friend/partner – especially for evening dives.

Well, if I haven’t inspired you to check out your own local dumpsters, I hope I have at least entertained you a little. I’m sure I’ll get into other ways to save, reuse, etc. again sometime soon. I’ve been pretty focused on that subject over the past month. Count this as my “Living on Less”, chapter 1 - Dumpster Diving. LOL. You know what I just thought of? You could totally feed chickens the produce from dumpsters, too (the stuff you may not want to take for yourself – loose lettuce leaves and stuff). Practically free eggs.