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My running buddy gave me this button awhile back. . . guess she knows what she's talking about. 😉
This morning I found myself at 5:45 AM, standing outside Aldi in my workout clothes and doing a little dumpster dive. Not exactly the picture of myself I'd like to portray.
Now don't worry, there is (kind of?) a reason, but as hurried back in my car I thought to myself . . .
Why on earth do I do this?
I usually make a run to Walmart to price match the produce in the Aldi ad and stock up on milk once a week. Our Aldi doesn't open until 8, and I like to beat the crowds when shopping by going on my way home from the gym in the morning.
My normal pattern is to go exercise bright and early, swing by Aldi to pick up an ad (they always had a few out front in their carts, and my Walmart requires the ad to price match), and then head to Walmart for the deals. So clever of me, right???
Until this morning, when there was not a single Aldi ad in sight. (Apparently their cleaning crew did an awesome job of tidying up last night.) The only one that I could see was precisely 42 carts in, and as you Aldi shoppers know, to get to it would require me to use a quarter to un-lock 41 carts ahead of it when it was still dark outside. Not gonna happen.
I looked around (seriously y'all, I put some thought into this!), noticed a trash bin nearby (gasp!) and considered my options. I mustered every ounce of my I'm-not-really-gonna-die-from-those-germs-courage, and used exactly 1/16th inch of my pinky finger to open the lid. (Bleck!) And there it was, the blessed ad, sitting right on top of all the (quite stinky) trash.
I climbed in the car so proud of my work, slathered on some hand sanitizer, resolved to come up with a new way to get my hands on that ad, only to realize it was the month long ad that didn't include the produce prices. Seriously??? I weighed my options, sucked it up, and drove away.
Thankfully Walmart had some awesome prices on produce this morning, so it all worked out just fine.
Now, I have done some pretty ridiculous things in my time for a deal (anyone else remember the days of purchasing gas-reducing-Phazyme just to make a buck?), so I'd love to know if you're with me too. I'd like to say I've matured a bit in my penny-pinchin'-escapades and typically don't go all that far, but today I hopped on over the edge.
What about you? What's the silliest thing you've ever done to pinch a penny? I'd love to hear . . . come on folks, misery loves company you know!
- What's the wackiest thing you've ever done for a deal?
- Anyone can be a penny pincher
- {a brief penny pinching rant}
- How much should a family spend on groceries?
- Don’t Sacrifice What You Really Want For What You Want Right Now
- Budget Check Up Week One: Have You Determined Your 2013 Grocery Budget
- Are you on an all cash budget?
- New to couponing? Here’s where to start.
- Are You Spending Within Your Budget?
- Save the Way You Can Save: Penny Pinching Is Not A Competition
- Are You Satisfied With Your Penny Pinching?
- You Do Have Time To Coupon (But You Don’t Have To Do Everything. . .)
- Are Coupons For Everyone?
My best sale item to date…my van I bought it nearly 8 years ago now for $7,800. Kelley Blue Book for it was $12something. The dealer had it marked 10k. But it was July and they put it on the lot without cleaning the inside of it, like didn’t even look at all-and there was ice cream smeared on one of the rear seat belts (that I didn’t need to use right away)and one of the door motors was dead. Their fault for putting it out in that condition (the car reeked to high heaven of spoiled milk in July) and they met me at my price. They also replaced the broken door motor and then actually did detail the inside. It still smelled pretty bad but I drove my stinky new van home(which was otherwise in perfect condition) and set a Bad-air sponge in there for about a month. Smell left and I had my lovely van. It’s now 12 years old with 150,000 miles on it. It’s been a good car.
We packed ((almost)) our ENTIRE apartment in liquor boxes when we moved into our house! We did grab a few very large boxes from the PetsMart dumpster too! The liquor boxes were sturdy and small– perfect for a self move! We called our local liquor store and picked them up 2x per week until our whole house was packed. I surely hope our new neighbors didn’t think we had drank that much alcohol but they surely did an amazing job!
Actually went door to door in my apartment plex to ask if they were going to use the Sunday paper coupons I'm newly married and scared about the money. Just wonder if you could help me on this. Came home with an armful of coupons a box of donuts and a bag of canned goods from a woman who loves to help young people. Whoa! Never again.
oh, yes I over 30 yrs ago to get coupons there was no limit on the double coupons and how many coupons you could use this was great for stocking up so me and my mother would take a step stool and take turns getting the coupons from the sunday papers, in the apartment dumpsters we would go early in the morning when every one was still a sleep as we thought, I was standing outside the dumpster and my mother was in handing meet our coupon treasures she pokes her head up and hands me the coupons and a man walks by and sees my mom in the dumpster and says to her goodmorning
I have you all beat. Finally splurged at the age of 48 and had a boob job. Lol dr. Had a coupon special to save 500 but when I had my consult stating the price was higher since they had a limit for the special. I noticed he had not removed the special pricing poster in the room and also receptionist had told me when I booked consult special was still running. Needless to say I got the special. My husband still cracks up about this.
You are brave! I am way too chicken and I know there has to be great freebies in the Home Depot trash. My husband scored a great set of hand blown glass fixtures from their sale rack for a penny. He was talking to the clerk and she said, “Oh they are supposed to throw these out when they do this reduction not put them on clearance rack”! They sold it to him anyway but I still never had the nerve to peek in their trash knowing that (they were brand new and perfectly fine too – but they were wall sconces and we didn’t have that fixture in our house! He gave them to family only bought them only because he couldn’t pass up the amazing deal). Now if only if I had the courage, imagine what I could get…
When we moved to our new house we hardly had any furniture ( no couch, no chairs and no table) thanks to junking ( aka looking for used furniture that's been put out for the city to pick up as trash) my whole house was furnished for free. And it matches!!
My mom, who was a SAHM, used to love to “dumpster dive” when I was growing up. She would go in department store dumpsters and get her shoes and home decor items mostly, or things she used for crafts. She made me go with her and I was always terrified someone I knew would see me. Lol It wasn’t because she had to. She loved free things, and said she grew up with nothing. My dad retired when he was in his 40’s and passed 8 years ago. She’s in her 70’s now and in a wheelchair. .. and now sometimes i miss those days with her doing crazy things. 🙂
I was most impressed with the fact that you can get up that early to work out!!
It makes my day so much better Betsy! 🙂
Oh Laurie, while I have never done that .. I have gone to probably far too much effort for a deal. You were resourceful! Your description was perfect! Thank you for sharing!
I needed a box for shipping something yesterday, and after discovering that a box at Office Max was almost $5.00, I decided to look elsewhere. Elsewhere happened to be a large dumpster right off in the distance as I exited the store. It was overflowing with boxes that just happened to be the right size, so I helped my self to a few. Nothing beats free.
Sooooo smart Jessica ~ I’m going to remember that one!
print it off @adli.com
Great story Laurie! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Why do you shop at Walmart? It would be a lot easier to just shop at aldi and buy the produce that is on sale.
Hi Dee! It would be, but Aldi doesn’t open til 8, and my days are packed full. I usually work here on PPP while my kids are in school, and once their out my afternoons and evenings are spent cooking, driving carpool, and helping with homework. And, I love running in early at Walmart because I never have to deal with the crowds! 🙂
I bought a photo cd @ Office Depot on clearance for 4.97 because the was a $10 mail in rebate. I fugure if I get the 10 I’m ahead of the game $5 & if I don’t I have to learn how to use it to get my 4.97 out of it, either way can’t lose much. It was originally $30.
Love that Robin!
you could have just went to the Aldi website and looked at a digital copy of the ad, thats what i usually do.
I used to do that, but our store requires the actual ad now 🙁 It would be great if that worked!
I laugh only because I've done this very similar thing.. lol
Thanks for making me feel better Martha! 🙂