Sometimes it takes time before you have enough coupons to really excel at the call of coupons. I get the majority of my coupons from dumpster diving.
With that said let me redirect your mental image.
Wikepedia defines dumpster diving as "the practice of sifting through commercial or residential trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but which may be useful to the Dumpster diver".
This is not exactly what I do. My dumpster is a recyling bin called the paper retriever and I do not actually get in at all because the bins very clearly say not to.
The Paper Retriever is a fund raiser recycling program, often found in school or church parking lots, where people can drop off their unwanted paper. This means that the chances of finding the Sunday paper and the coupons that go with it are great. So how do you sift through all the other paper, and how do you do it with out getting in? The answer is the Gopher.
You can get these handy dany tools at Walgreen's and other convenience stores for $9.99. Before my friend shared this secret with me I was using an umbrella stroller to reach for the burried treasure, the gopher has increased my findings by at least 80%.
I have done some research about dumpster diving and as I already mentioned there is a Wikepedia article on the topic that you may want to check out . The laws vary from State to State, but for the most part if someone is throwing something out on the side of the road, or in a dumpster it is fair game to snatch up. In the case of the paper retriever you are taking paper from a fund raiser so you may want to give some paper back. I have plenty of paper to recycle so I end up giving more than I am taking. Everybody wins when I go dumpster diving.
Now, some people might be thinking "WOW! That is so sad, I hope I never have to stoop to that level" I should mention that this is not something I HAVE to do. It is something I enjoy doing. It is a challenge. Sometimes on Saturdays one of my friends comes with me and she doesn't even do coupons, she just likes to help me spot them, we have a blast. Some people like fishing and hunting, some people like searching for coupons. It's a hobby, like playing Call of Duty. Ah, see we've come full circle with this thing.
To find a paper retriever near you go to paperretiever.com
1 comment:
Around here the inserts from the previous Sunday come in the Free Thursday paper, so I go around on Sunday and get the ones from people that don't want them. I get about 8-12 usually. I could get more, but then I'd be overrun with coupons. I usually have more than enough. If I really needed a particular coupon, I would probably get more. Like I'll probably get as many as I can this week, because that awesome Buddy coupon came out.
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