Saving Hundreds in One Month

When my husband found his job after almost one year of being unemployed, our family looked at this as a way out of the financial rut, yet it actually did our family a little more harm than good. This should have done the exact opposite, yet it caused us to lose more than we have been able to gain back.

My health is one of the causes of me being a Stay at Home Mom, other then me wanting to be home with my son rather than some random babysitter. When my husband went back to work, I had been in remission from Ovarian and Uterine cancer for a little over 7 months, yet newly diagnosed with a laundry list of Degenerative and nerve disorders. I felt healthy enough with the proper medications to provide my son with the attention that he needs, being born with Down Syndrome, and fortunate to have the insurance to cover the very expensive medications. To make a seemingly long story short, my family was receiving Medicaid and with the new income of little over minimum wage, this now disqualified myself and my husband from being covered. This also reduced the amount of Food Stamps that we were receiving to feed our four children. I could adjust to the lose of one, but when we lost both, it began to cost our family money that was "robbing Peter to pay Paul." We had to choose between buying my medications or paying or bills. You can only guess which one we went without. 

It seemed as though the hours spent clipping coupons and planning shopping trips weren't working in saving as much as we needed to in order to pay for at least some of my medications. I was no stranger to taking items that others have discarded, as the majority of the furniture in my house was obtained this way. I was also no stranger to going to the dumpsters of retail stores, as I had obtained ALL of my small kitchen appliances this way. Yet I needed a way to save money on the thing we needed most and what we spent the most on, our food. This is where my families greatest need was, and if I were able to find a way to save on food, I may be able to pay for my medications.

I had seen others who were literally LIVING off of the food they were finding while Dumpster Diving at grocery stores. I would never had considered to even go to the grocery store, had I not seen the results others were getting. JACKPOT! Since I began searching my area grocery stores, I have found that about 75% of the grocery stores have compactors, which are totally inaccessible to anyone outside of the store. The stores that do not have a compactor throw away enough food to literally feed my family of six, with enough left over for me to be able to help out five family's that would not have had food otherwise. The amount of waste that these stores produce is amazing, many times for little more than an imperfect package, hardly ever is the food closer than a week of sale by date. I have definetly learned the true meaning of "one man's trash is another man's treasure."

Since I began diving for groceries, I have not had to spend more than $40 at the grocery store. I haven't had to buy meat in over one month, and I already have my Christmas ham. By no means am I trying to boast or brag about how much I save or what I find, I'm only trying to enlighten you all about the possibilities that are available. Some may say that we should have learned how to manage without the help of the government, and maybe that is true, but this is a position that we were in and the position I felt responsible to get my family out of. I felt responsible to my family since I wasn't able to work, I had to contribute SOMETHING! I'm not saying that you have to be disabled to be able to get your food from the discards of big business, but what I am saying is that no matter what your situation, you are able to make a way for you and your family to survive. WE ARE ALL SURVIVORS.