It started with me googling "budget blog" and rediscovering the Hot Coupon World forum. I've been there before, back when I was investigating couponing. At that time, I had passed up on making couponing a habit, because paying for a $2 Sunday paper that may or may not have coupons I want seemed a bit of a waste.
It's a fascinating forum, though. Many people make a lifestyle out of couponing. They stockpile huge hoards of goods, which they can often buy at next to nothing, or even free. They trade coupons among themselves through the mail. They boast about their best finds, and offer advice to each other on how to deal with problems (like a cashier refusing to honor the coupon).
And this time as I read the forum, I found the Dumpster Diving for Coupons thread. It explained in detail how to check recycling centers for discarded newspapers in order to get free inserts (the part of the paper with coupons in it). It even included a list of tools needed.
Well, I am helpless to resist a how-to guide. I bought me a grabber pole from Home Depot, loaded an empty box, flashlight, and scissors into the car, checked the web for recycling centers in the area, and headed off to investigate.The first place was gated and guarded. I was too nervous to try there. The second place I couldn't even find. The third place had no gate, but a guy was working there, compacting the boxes. I returned at around 7pm, and he was gone. The place was deserted.
I was expecting nasty smells, mess, and someone shouting "Hey you, stop that!" None of that happened. The newspaper bin smelled like newspaper. My handy grabber pole did all the work, shifting and sorting and digging. I didn't have to handle anything unsavory or stick my hands into unknown crevices. I found a small stack of inserts (if you're unfamiliar with them, the three main types are P&G, SmartSource, and RedPlum. They're the slicky pages that are slightly thinner than the slicky ads).
The real finds, however, were magazines and coke cartons. I'm a magazine addict, but hate the idea of paying for them, since I'll probably only read them once. No more! I now own a dozen horse magazines (I didn't even know they made that many) and two years' worth of Prevention magazine (out of which I clipped the recipes). And I collect coke rewards, since I'm a diet soda addict as well. The 24-can boxes are worth 20 points. I got two of them for free. Booya!
This is definitely something I want to take up on a regular basis. But doing this has led me to take interest in another hobby as well : real dumpster diving. More on that another time.
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