The Family that Dumpster Dives together... gets more free stuff

When you have family members that support your habit? (Thanks Pa-Pa and J-lo)

The new Single Stream Recycling meant that we could recycle Plastics 1-7, Mixed Paper, Cardboard, Metals, Glass and Newspaper all from our curbside. The Waste company would be providing a large (brown) trash can for all recycles to be through into one recepticle (thus single stream) which could be wheeled to the curb every other Friday for pick up. That Brown Recepticle has yet to show up, so currently we have a number of small recycling stations throughout the house and a central recycling consolidation center (in the garage) where the recycables are prepped for their method of recycling.

Newspapers are taken to The Elder’s School because they receive Cash Money for the weight of newspapers they collect.

Aluminum Cans are collected for The Elder’s Bestest Friend in the entire world his Great Grandmother Collects the cans for her Lion’s Club so she can get Cash Money for turning them into recycling.

Everything else either gets kicked to curb on recycling days OR chauffered to the Recycling Center when it starts to over flow in the Recycling Consolidation Center.

This morning was one of those times when I needed to take a few cardboard boxes to the recycling facility and I filled them with Mixed paper and plastics just to make the trip worthwhile. Well, at the Recycling Facility, I did a little Dumpster Diving and made out like a bandit.

I scored with

60 MyCokeRewards Points

4 Pepsi Stuff Points

50¢ of Box Tops for Education for The Elder’s School

1 Tyson Foods Project A+ for The Elder’s School

Thanks to all those who send me those Coke reward points, especially the people that go out of their way, such as my lovely, talented and dumpster diving wife (she scored 2 codes out of the trash can at her Mom’s Group on Friday). I appreciate you all. Now if Coca-Cola would just restock their inventory, maybe I could get some great stuff. You can take this to Vegas: Contest Free Crap Supply will increase when Coke replenishes.

THANKS!

Addendum: I just got the “Rest of the Story” for when My Lovely and Talented Wife text me some codes. She was at her parents house, saw that they had some 2 liters. Took the caps off, text me the codes and then put the caps back on. Some say she’s crazy… I call it true love!

It was a lean day at the Recycling Facility for MyCokeReward Points. Although this excursion I wasn’t really jumping into the containers and looking for them, I did find 2 codes hanging out. So I didn’t go empty handed.

On a MyCokeReward note, I was thinking that they were going to close up shop on the game because they didn’t restock their inventory at the start of the basketball season like they did last year. The new prizes that they did add to the list of rewards were pretty much crap. I was actually thinking about cashing my points like Weiner Hallie and buy MORE Diet Coke. Of course, that would leave me with 30+ coupons of soda… not bad. But I would rather get something really nice and then use the other points to offer give aways! I mean the next Guess My Time, Win Crap contest will be in January and then about once a month through May, that’s alot of free swag that I can have shipped to people.

Then, I get this email today saying:

So just when I was going to bail on them, they tell me they love me and I’m hooked all over again. I sure hope that whatever they decide to add to their prize locker is less sucky then what is there now.

A big thanks to all the people who send me codes!!!

I was talking to my brother at the time and telling him that I was on a roll with Coke Reward Points when I recycled. Last 3 times that I was here, I have scored a few codes from people’s trash. I had made the comment that it didn’t look good today, they had recently dumped the mixed paper container at it looked practically empty.

Practically empty except the mound of broken down soda boxes, all within arm’s reach.

I racked up good on Saturday!

My previous Highest number of codes had been 4, on Saturday it was 9!!!

So, what does this mean? This means that this week’s “Guess My Finishing Time” is going to be a GOOD prize!

One aspect of people with Aspergers is that they function best with strict schedule and a set routine. I’m high enough functioning that I can recover from a change of plans, without having a meltdown. You try to tell The Elder a change is happening immediately that is against ‘The schedule’ and expect a meltdown. However, give him a 1 minute transition warning and it’s usually much smoother.

So after 30 minutes in the parking lot, I decided that no one was coming and so now what do I do? On Terry Thursdays, I make a schedule broken down in 15 increments. And it’s not that I actually follow the schedule exactly, it’s that it’s there in front of me and there is security in that. If it needs to be changed, I have the ultimate authority to change it at my whim… and that’s perfectly fine. But now, someone else has totally eradicated what I was supposed to do for Thursday. I was in a state of paralysis, “what do I do next?”

I knew that I had to drive back to Knoxville, I was currently in Oak Ridge (about 20 minutes away). So while I drove back, I was able to come up with a loose plan of going to the Recycle Facility (I had the trunk full of cardboard and mixed paper) and the to maybe Wal-mart and perhaps to Panera Bread to regroup.

By the time that I made it to the Recycle Facility, I was okay again. It’s like I was back on track and could think again about stuff that I needed to do while I was out.

I almost thought that my streak of finding My Coke Reward points was going to be broken. There were no empty soda boxes in the Mixed Paper bin. And as much as Marianna thinks that I get inside the container to scavenge for points, I don’t. Oh wait, I was waist deep in the container briefly because I was tossing the mixed paper and I lost my grip on the plastic bag and it slid inside. I could hear the recycling gods start to exhibit their anger that I, a mere mortal, had mixed paper and plastic. Blasphemer!

Just when I thought I would be writing this blog entry with words such as “didn’t find any points” or “there was nothing of value this time”, that’s when I saw something gleaming from the larger Cardboard Container. It was a Mello Yello box, flatten down with all the care of an OCD soda drinker/ cardboard recycler. I smelled smoke. Pilfering through the other box carcasses, I found another Mello Yello and then, I struck gold, a Coke box. But it didn’t have the tab that the points. Grrrr, Fools Gold.

“Thoughts become Things” (Think and Grown Rich, Hill) Withjust a little more shuffling, I found it! The streak was still alive! HA! A Refrigerator Pack worth 10 points (as long as they hadn’t already redeemed them). Then I found another. and another and another. FOUR codes! *fist pump* YEAH!