Dumpster Diving can be as simple as picking up free items off a curb, or as involved as planning a night time trash stake out behind your favorite shop.

Here is an amazing array of resources for the dumpster diving lifestyle. I've never seen anything quite as comprehensive as that.

Would you do it? Have you done it?

You might want to watch a video called the Tao of the Dumpster. It is fascinating.

Alaska rocks it for dumpster diving. Th areas where most of us take our trash - known as transfer sites, often have an area where anything that is reusable is left. I have gotten lots of furniture, clothing, random do-dads, and my DH recently got a tv that orignally sold for $3000. The TV is huge. It need some sort of simple electrical repair, not even a new part! Now its like we watch movies on a small theater screen, because the tv is so big and we sit closer to it than you do at the movies.
I am really selective about taking home any food items or beauty products. Recently I scored some really nice beauty products, barely used - Neutrogena grapefruit scented face scrub, Bed Head Control Freak control Serum (a product I regularly use), and a Redken deep conditioner for curly hair.
When I get compliments at my regular day job on an outfit, I am always quick to tell someone if I got my clothing from the transfer site - I think it is one of the best recycle/upcycle programs out there.

AKLIsa, your transit station sounds so enlightened. You've gotten some amazing goods! I wish there was a system like this in every city and town.

When my grandmother died, my mother could not bear to look at her stuff, so my father took it all to the landfill. I was hugely upset about this and begged him to bring things to goodwill instead, but he just wanted it over and done. I still feel upset about this. So many nice things! It's wrong on so many levels. Some people have nothing and we happily trash it all away.

Our transfer station is a for-profit that jealously holds onto their 'product'. No one is allowed to take anything. And of course they charge you dearly to dump things off. I try to dismantle everything down to its components so i can recycle and compost the parts of it - i refuse to give money to this broken system.

Right now i have this ugly chair that came with the house. It's wood and upholstery (foam and cloth), with a lot of metal inside (it swivels and stuff). It's big. I really need help breaking this things down - i don't have a sledge hammer or a chainsaw. It's been kicking around and around. I finally got help to load it into my utility trailer and plan to drive it to a friend's house so her family can help me break it down.

Anyway, the thing is not reusuable. I had it outside in the weather for the whole time i lived here and all the upholstery is cracked and eaten-looking. It's a Zombie Chair!

Well, that rant is neither here not there, is it?

I've also received many wonderful things from curbside and trash bins. If i look long enough, I can pretty much find anything eventually, including big things like shelving, desks, sofas and outdoor furniture.

The dump in my town, or transfer station as it is called, has a big trailer that is open at one end to walk in and place things that still have use like clothes, toys, books, and many other things. When the trailer is full the contents are brought to goodwill. It is great, and I have put some things in there that I no longer use.

Debbie, what an enlightened idea! I wish all communities would consider something like that.

Today I checked behind my local senior center thrift store. THey have a little FREE box.

I was able to get an eight piece set of tupperwares, two little buckets, some small containers with lids, and a few more useful kitchen items. Dollar store type stuff, except free. I am just using a little bleach to make sure everything is clean right now and then putting them on the kitchen shelf.

I got some mixing bowls out of the free box yesterday. A free box is not exactly dumpster diving, though.

Here is a random how to article on dumpster diving that I found. Just FYI.

Latest dumpster acquisition: tools! I got a bow saw and shrubbery loppers, both in great shape. And a 75 foot hose with a nice attachment, plus a cooler and a step stool.

I don't understand how people can toss these things.

Last week, I got a very nice, wood not pressed board, coffee table for $20. Nope not free, but really it was close, plus that $20 went to help domestic violence victims.

One of the ladies in the office building where I work finds a lot of stuff that people simply leave on the street.

That's great, Jeanne. Real wood furniture is getting harder to come by. I love a find like that. Good job on supporting the cause, too.

The other day I was tossing my tiny amount of garbage (i recycle and reuse everything, mostly), and I saw a bunch of usable school supplies and some nice lounging clothes in my fourplex's trash. So I grabbed it all.

There were six spiral bound notebooks with only a few pages actually written in, a binder, some sheet protectors and a few folders. I can use all that. I recycled the used pages.

In the clothes, everything was super clean and smelled freshly laundered. I got a nice warm white zipped hoody, an Abercombie anorak hoody, some flannel sweats, a bunch of white tees, and some button-up work shirts.

i took the work shirts in to donate to an animal shelter thrift store and kept the rest. Nice stuff.

Wow, Jilly, a great find for you. Amazing that somebody would throw all that good stuff away.

Thanks, Grace. I'm always shocked that people throw away good things with lots of life left in them. I don't understand that mentality. Do you?

Dan was looking at stuff at Best Buy, so i wandered out back to look at what they might have tossed. They actually bust everything up before selling, but i did find a penny in the parking lot, plus a ton of nice aluminum screws and washers, and a dozen little glass stones - they kind people put around candles.

It amazes me what people thoughtlessly toss away.

The students who live above my apartment today tossed:

Three nice three ring binders
A packet of Neosporin, unopened
A silver and turquoise pinky ring
Some kid toys (saving for my grand-niece's visit this week)
Three really nice knit winter caps (i will use all of those - i love hats)
Some christmas decor (i will donate to goodwill)
Two very warm winter coats (one to keep, one to donate)
Seven mostly unused spiral ring notebooks
A pen
Unopened packets of trailmix-type food
Some ripped old cotton tees I will use as cleaning rags
A clean tuppeware container (i will put my washers and nuts in it)
Five Euro coins of various denomination, and one coin from Israel
A nice pair of sunglasses, unscratched
Flannel sweatpants, clean, and smelling freshly laundered
Several file folders and plastic page protectors
A keychain from Mexico
A safety pin (i added it to my sewing kit)
Several books that I donated to my library already

Most of these things could have been donated to a thrift store, or given away on Craigslist or Freecycle. The clothes are all really nice, well-made brands. I guess it's just easier to toss things in the bin, then to donate somewhere?

We are such a wasteful society.

I found seven plastic/flocked tablecloths today in a thrift store dumpster.

I like to keep some in my car for impromptu picnics, or as an emergency blanket. I also put some with my camping gear to use as tent pads and to actually use at picnic tables in camp sites. They are also useful at the beach, and work well as extra drop cloths in the workshop/garage.

Jilly, those tablecloths are a real find. I lay plastic tablecloths over our bed when we'll be away, to deter the cat from peeing on the bed.

Speaking of donating to charity. Today we donated my 3-wheeler adult trike to a charity. (It was too hard for me to maneuver.)

There is a video called the Tao of the Dumpster. I saw this years ago, and now it is on youtube. Fascinating piece of commentary on life, the universe, and everything.

Interesting series of videos. The son doesn't seem to approve though.

Susan, that was wonderful of you to do donate your machine. Happy Easter!

I was feeling bad, so decided to go look into some dumpsters. I found a stack of brand-new clear glass bowls at one store, and some produce in good shape at another.

Plus a rosary, and a pair of glasses I will donate to Goodwill.

I also picked up a new queen sized mattress behind a furniture store that I am excited to put on the hard, uncomfortable mattress in my RV.

OK, I took the glasses I found and brought them to an eyeglass store that has a collection bin for the Lions Club. So I can feel good that they are going exactly where they need to be.