Dumpster Diving (Tips and such)

[Cephius]

dumpster diving

increasing your quality of life

k

[hey]

k

Having more money often does that, yes. Especially for those that don't have a ton of it.

[Hiryo]

Idk about you guys but if I could pick up a free love seat or some toys or bread, for little or no work involved, I would.

Hell there are people who do this to MAKE money off of it. Picking up meats can be resold to butchers, restaurant owner's and chefs for almost pure profit. Toys, furniture and electronics are resold on eBay all the time. You can almost think of it as browsing yard sales or flea markets for profit, except behind someone's home or business and in the shadow of the night.

Also, you don't have to be poor or a loser to get stuff for free lol

[Cephius]

Having more money often does that, yes. Especially for those that don't have a ton of it.

I don't have a ton of money. Getting up at 2am to go down and brave disease and things that smell like a combination of dead fish, indian food, and shitty diapers so I can save a few bucks on food isn't my idea of improving quality of life.

Taking a TV or couch from the side of the road or getting free dented furniture != dumpster diving. There is no defense for going through garbage for half-moldy food. Zero. None.

[hey]

There is no defense for going through garbage for half-moldy food. Zero. None.

No, but i don't think that's what anyone here is doing.

[Meresgi]

There is no defense for going through garbage for half-moldy food. Zero. None.

Except no one said it was 50% moldy, defense successful.

[Cephius]

If mold on food > 0, food bad

[hey]

If mold on food > 0, food bad

True. However most packaged food that is marked as best by yesterday is still perfectly fine, and no different than what you'd find in the store.

No one is literally diving into dumpsters.

[Bregor]

No one is literally diving into dumpsters.

Great, now I'm just envisioning some guy in a J-List shirt doing a Scrooge McDuck into a dumpster.

[Tweek]

I wonder what this thread would have been like had I been the OP

would be completely different thread tbh



here is a suggestion for everyone else.. you are all so caught up on "free" and "saving money" why don't you go the route of "extreme couponing"? You actually can get more free shit that what's thrown away, you can get things that never expire, you can pick and choose what you want to buy, your hauls will be a shit ton more successful and you can also donate anything you don't want to local food shelters to help the needy and others. The biggest challenge in this way of life is finding grocery stores that allow you to "double up" if you can find that store in your local area the amount of money you can save is really limitless.


inb4coupons only apply to bad foods there have been multiple shows showing that this just isn't true, with the credits you can earn on different deals you can apply those to anything in the store i.e. vegetables and other produce or even meats.. beware though I'm sure not all the dumpster divers would be up for the task it requires dedication and organizational skills you may lack, I can assure you the payoffs are much better than the lazy and sometimes even considered illegal way of stealing trash.

[Belipo Jones]

extreme couponing is more annoying than dumpster diving / the people bitching about dumpster diving

[Ishido]

The demographics of BG are fascinating.

[miokomioko]

At least rumming through trash generally doesn't bother anyone. "Extreme couponing" annoys the fuck out of everyone everywhere you shop.

[hey]

would be completely different thread tbh



here is a suggestion for everyone else.. you are all so caught up on "free" and "saving money" why don't you go the route of "extreme couponing"? You actually can get more free shit that what's thrown away, you can get things that never expire, you can pick and choose what you want to buy, your hauls will be a shit ton more successful and you can also donate anything you don't want to local food shelters to help the needy and others. The biggest challenge in this way of life is finding grocery stores that allow you to "double up" if you can find that store in your local area the amount of money you can save is really limitless.


inb4coupons only apply to bad foods there have been multiple shows showing that this just isn't true, with the credits you can earn on different deals you can apply those to anything in the store i.e. vegetables and other produce or even meats.. beware though I'm sure not all the dumpster divers would be up for the task it requires dedication and organizational skills you may lack, I can assure you the payoffs are much better than the lazy and sometimes even considered illegal way of stealing trash.

Probably because that's significantly more work than driving over to dunkin' donuts and grabbing some out of the pile. Also, until recently, i had never even heard of stores allowing multiple coupons for a single item, and most coupons i've seen will also have a limit of one per customer.

sometimes even considered illegal way of stealing trash.

You can't steal trash. If someone throws something away, it means they don't want it, and anyone is free to take it. That is the entire purpose of throwing things out: to get rid of them.

[Nephlite]

would be completely different thread tbh



here is a suggestion for everyone else.. you are all so caught up on "free" and "saving money" why don't you go the route of "extreme couponing"? You actually can get more free shit that what's thrown away, you can get things that never expire, you can pick and choose what you want to buy, your hauls will be a shit ton more successful and you can also donate anything you don't want to local food shelters to help the needy and others. The biggest challenge in this way of life is finding grocery stores that allow you to "double up" if you can find that store in your local area the amount of money you can save is really limitless.


inb4coupons only apply to bad foods there have been multiple shows showing that this just isn't true, with the credits you can earn on different deals you can apply those to anything in the store i.e. vegetables and other produce or even meats.. beware though I'm sure not all the dumpster divers would be up for the task it requires dedication and organizational skills you may lack, I can assure you the payoffs are much better than the lazy and sometimes even considered illegal way of stealing trash.

Except that even couponing costs money and isn't free. While I don't agree with the food from dumpsters thing, it does make sense (if that made any sense then yes, let that be my statement). Couponing is fucking annoying. It destroys the profits for the companies, makes you stand in line extra time, and in the end it can drive you batshit insane. It's just arriving to legislation in the District but they're starting to put a hold on couponing here. There's no food taxes in D.C., but people are taking it to the extreme and cutting corners even more, forcing some stores to ban coupons completely. It's just a matter of time before some companies stop printing them all together and places like Groupon go out of business.

You can't steal trash. If someone throws something away, it means they don't want it, and anyone is free to take it. That is the entire purpose of throwing things out: to get rid of them.

Depends on the jurisdiction. Usually once it makes it to the curb, it's considered abandoned property but some places consider it trespassing or Burglary if you enter a receptacle that's been locked/behind a gate/plainly marked with a "No dumpster diving" or "No trespassing". Edit: It's also illegal to take something out of a recycling bin. I think it's because there's some kind of federal reimbursement or tax relief for large companies who have recycling options.

[Kalmado]

About the extreme coupon route and the food you get, is most of it processed food or boxed stuff like hamburger helper or Juicy Juice etc? Between my wife and I, we try as hard and as best as we can to eat a good diet and eat as much fresh and organic food as we can afford. For myself personally, I've been told by my doctor to stay away from processed food, pasta, etc. I understand we're not going to find coupons for say Paul Newman products for 90% off, but I'm curious what people find.

I'm all about free stuff too. I wish I could eat like I did when I was in my teens and early twenties(ramen, mac/cheese, etc every day). If I see something on the sidewalk that's free and it looks decent, I'm not above not taking it. 110% definitely no food from any source at all. I do like craigslist free section, freecycle, etc.

[Tweek]

Probably because that's significantly more work

oh very good point, I forgot we're dealing with people that do not like doing things that take actual effort or doing such absurd things like "work"

You can't steal trash. If someone throws something away, it means they don't want it, and anyone is free to take it. That is the entire purpose of throwing things out: to get rid of them.

some dumpsters are located on private property and it's considered trespassing, it also varies from state to state or city check Minnesota Tennant Company v. Advance Machine Company or Missouri Valley, Missouri or Layton, Utah for example.

Aside from trespassing some states do have laws and several cases protecting the dumpster diver.

[Meresgi]

If mold on food > 0, food bad

yeah, but in a package of 25 tomatoes, if one has mold on it and all the others are perfectly fine, the package is thrown out. You can just throw that 1 bad tomato out and then the rest are fine (yeah yeah they were in contact with mold). When did this nation become full of germaphobes by the way? Shit when I was a kid I played out in the mud, I've had to jump into dumpsters at some jobs to pack it down so we could throw more shit in there, i've sifted through actual garbage if someone dropped their keys in it (had this happen twice at a restaurant I worked at) and other things. Never gotten sick from it, never gotten sick so far from doing this. I think it just boils down to a few factors, some people do it to save money and some do it because they literally can't get food any other way.. and then you have Archi Kardashian types.

And like Kal said, i'm trying to change up my diet but i'm not paying out the ass for better organic produce and shit if I can just show up and find it for free.

[Ksandra]

Idk about you guys but if I could pick up a free love seat or some toys or bread, for little or no work involved, I would.

Hell there are people who do this to MAKE money off of it. Picking up meats can be resold to butchers, restaurant owner's and chefs for almost pure profit. Toys, furniture and electronics are resold on eBay all the time. You can almost think of it as browsing yard sales or flea markets for profit, except behind someone's home or business and in the shadow of the night.

Also, you don't have to be poor or a loser to get stuff for free lol

you know. You just made me realize I think I have been essentially "dumpster diving" with a middleman.


There is a swap meet in LA where you can get stuff for insanely cheap. I haven't been BUT my sister-in-law and mother-in-law go practically ever other weekend. They are always passing over clothes to me that they find for like 2 bucks that often still have a tag on them. I always ask, "where are they getting this stuff?" My initially worry was that this was all stolen goods..now I think I know where these people are getting this stuff...

[Meresgi]

you know. You just made me realize I think I have been essentially "dumpster diving" with a middleman.


There is a swap meet in LA where you can get stuff for insanely cheap. I haven't been BUT my sister-in-law and mother-in-law go practically ever other weekend. They are always passing over clothes to me that they find for like 2 bucks that often still have a tag on them. I always ask, "where are they getting this stuff?" My initially worry was that this was all stolen goods..now I think I know where these people are getting this stuff...

Yup, a lot of people do it too. Hell if I find more furniture i'll start throwing it up craigslist for a few bucks and get some extra spending cash. Maybe i'll use that cash to purchase food up to Archi's quality of taste even!