Late Night couponing

I've always found that late at night is the best time to coupon. The stores are generally dead, so if you take forever in line, no one really cares. But it can also be a great time to source additional coupons.

I enjoy a good treasure hunt, so I really get a kick out of dumpster diving. Around here there are several paper recycling dumpsters. They seem to crop up around schools and churches. Whenever I take my paper for recycling I always take a peek to see if I can find any coupon inserts, in whole or in part. My ground rules for this are  (1) that I always deposit more paper than I take from each bin; I've heard that the church/school is rewarded based on the amount of paper collected. (2) I have to be able to reach the paper. I'm not going to climb into a dumpster. I'm far too clumsy for that foolishness. (3) I only take coupons. Here's a handy tip for everyone. DO NOT recycle whole credit card applications. Shred them first, then recycle. I've never not found CC apps when digging for gold. 

Recently I discovered that the local 'free' paper that runs Wednesday and Saturday carries the SmartSource insert in their Saturday edition. Around here it's a pesky little publication that no one reads and few people even bother to collect from the end of their driveway. The past couple of weekends I've gone for a little walk around the neighborhood and have gotten some excellent results. I've set myself some ground rules for this as well. (1) I only collect Sunday night or afterwards, giving people at least 24 hours to collect their papers if they want them. (2) I take the whole paper, and in some cases, all of the papers. Call is neighborhood clean up, and I can sort them out at home. (3) I only take the free one. I had the opportunity to snag 2 Sunday papers, but since those people paid for that paper, I left it alone. In fact, I left them the free one too.

Tonight I managed to get 12 full inserts on my little stroll. The best part is that my Sunday paper didn't have any inserts this week...

I'm not 100% on the legality of these activities, so I'm not recommending anyone else do what I do. I'm just telling my tale.

And now that my recycle boxes are full I think I'll go dump them at the church down the road. Their dumpster is usually packed full after Sunday service. :D