Ok, so I've been doing some freegan activities for the past month, ever since I came back from overseas. It seemed so much longer than just 1 month.
I tried quite a number of things to get a good feel of what it was all about. Incurred a little bit of extra transport charges, etc. But was a great learning journey.
Over the weekend, I was gathering my thoughts about how my new freegan mentality has changed my life and what activities I would like to add to my own personal money saving activities.
Now, this whole post is NOT to say that any freegan ideas are bad. Rather, I have tried a number of activities and feel that certain things aren't for me, cos it isn't worth the effort and certain things are worth to do.
Like every other activity, people should try them out for themselves before concluding what they like or what they don't like or what they feel is worth it or not.
Freegan activities are different from freegan mentality.
For me, freegan mentality is about thinking about other ways to obtain something which I want or need.
So for me, I will try incorporate this mentality to most of my life from now onwards, but also taking into consideration whether it is worth the effort to get it for free.
As I said in my previous post. The transport and effort to obtain something for free, makes the item not really free, as there is a cost to it.
So, yes... freegan mentality is something I would like to continue practicing.
Now... there are many different freegan activities and I won't say I tried them all.
I would say I tried a bunch of them which are the more common activities which the Singaporean community does.
Here are the stuff I have done and my take on them.
Getting vegetables from the wholesale market at Pasir Panjang (PP). This is when a bunch of folks will go down to PP at around 9:30am to ask for unsold vegetables which might be old stock or ugly stock from the vendors.
Typically, someone who does this will be able to get a week's worth of vegetables in a trip.
For me, I will likely not continue with this activity.
Now... this is a great way to get free vegetables. I'm not saying it's a bad activity.
We are just a pair so we don't eat much.
I don't cook much vegetables and I don't like to stock up my fridge too much.
My wife is fussy and only eats certain types of vegetables so it's hard to get the exact stuff that she is willing to eat.
Personally I find that the travel is a bit far as well.
So for me and my own personal needs, this activity doesn't suit me, but it is a good activity for someone who has different consumption habits from me.
Getting vegetables from the vendor at Little India (LI). The community has an arrangement with a vendor in LI to collect his unsold vegetables on a regular basis. This occurs at around 10:30pm when his stall is about to close. The operations for this is a lot easier, cos we just go to his stall and help him remove all the inventory that he doesn't want, move the baskets to an open area and we sort out what we want there.
I like this activity slightly better cos it's easier than to approach multiple vendors asking for stuff.
However, similar to the above activity, I will also likely not continue with this activity.
Similarly, I will say it is a good activity to get a week's worth of vegetables.
The timing IS a bit late for me, cos I have early sleep habits.
My reasons are the same. My wife is choosy over the vegetables so random free vegetables doesn't suit our consumption patterns.
Dumpster diving (DD). I've DD-ed a couple of times. It's pretty fun. I'm a bit mixed on this activity. You see, I don't want anything, as I've previously mentioned. I have low desires. So when I DD, I hardly want anything for myself. More often than not, I pick stuff that I feel are worth something or something that I feel can be sold.
So I'll classify them...
Type A : I get stuff which can be sold, like old ovens, toasters, old bags, etc. Stuff which I feel still have slight value but too old or dirty for me to gift my friends and family or to sell well on Carousell. To push these items out quickly so that it doesn't clog up my house, I have been dropping them off at Cash Converters. I've gotten $17, $18, $27 from these sales. Hardly worth the effort
Type B: Next, I also find stuff which are in really good condition. Some are brand new in the their packaging or visibly used but still in very good condition. Example of these are things like printers, some bags, backpacks, perfume in sealed box, etc. These are items which can be gifted or sold on Carousell. Also, they are higher value per piece and can be sold slowly without cluttering up the house. They can also be used for my own personal consumption. Like a good bag could be sold for $20, which is the value of what a load of stuff could get me at Cash Converters.
Type C: Then there's the last batch of stuff which is almost worthless stuff. Like the ovens, toasters, microwave which don't work, or clothes, etc... These are usually sold to recycling companies in some "Cash for Trash" recycling program. The companies buy stuff by weight for just a few cents. I've gotten $3.40 for selling a few kilos of stuff... totally not worth the effort.
Do take note that what I sell stuff for isn't what I can buy the stuff for in retail. So I might be able to dumpster dive for $500 worth of value but end up quickly selling it for $50 cos I need to clear stuff quickly. Of course to sell it cheaply is a waste, cos the consumption value is worth more than that, but the market is inefficient and to pass them on also has it's issues.
Anyway...
So after going through this experience, I have decided to be extremely selective in the stuff I pick up to focus mainly on the Type B, good as new/brand new items. Cos these are the stuff I don't mind keeping for myself or to gift others or to slowly sell. Out of all the stuff I have collected, this comprises about 20% of the stuff I get. Which is a really small amount. Most of the stuff I get, 70% are Type A, I have dropped off at Cash Converters and the remaining 10%, Type C is the items sold to recycling companies.
Now, once again, I will say, I am in no way saying that dumpster diving is a bad activity. I actually enjoy doing it. For me, I don't need a lot of material stuff cos I have everything I need already in my home.
Some people suggest giving Type A items to other freegans or people who may need it. Personally, I have had quite bad experience giving away stuff to people whom I do not know. Typically, even to ask them to come to my place is a hassle for them to get free stuff, or I have to make special arrangements to meet them, etc. So I'd rather focus on Type B items which are the really good items to pass to the people whom I am familiar with and I would like to give them good quality items.
So I will likely continue with some light dumpster diving and be extremely selective of the stuff which I collect.
Freegan gatherings. Over the weekend, we had a freegan gathering. It was supposed to be a barter trade to trade the stuff that we didn't want with each other's stuff. It ended up basically asking each other to help clear up each others items. So it was basically... "Come come, just take whatever you want..."
These are pretty much useful miscellaneous items. We got a couple of nice bags which we can pass on, a usable relatively new mouse which we needed, an ethernet cable which I was looking for, etc etc.
I found the event pretty fun, like a gathering of friends with free food and drink, then I could pass off some of my miscellaneous stuff and collect some small items which I needed or are good to have.
I will also likely continue to attend such events, cos I get to meet new people in the community, make new friends, etc. I get to pass off my stuff to people who might need it and in return I also get stuff which I myself want.
Another thing is going to someone's home to help declutter. I'm also a bit split on this. Cos usually it's not near my area. But there's a good chance that the person is giving away good as new stuff along with the other second items they are giving away. I have received some good items whilst doing this.
So maybe I'll continue going for such events depending on the location.
Expired food giveaway at Food Bank, this is when Food Bank has food which has expired and they are unable to give it to other organizations or sell them, so they just pass it on to the freegan community. This is actually one of my favourite activities, cos it's organized, and there is a large quantity of the particular item which they have in stock. So if it's something that I like, I can go and get a load of it. Unfortunately, this activity has been halted for a short while so I'm hoping that it will resume again soon.
Ok, so this pretty much wraps up my conclusion for freegan activities.
I'll still be practicing the mentality. I think it's a good way to reduce expenses.
To always keep in mind, that many items can be obtained for free and if they are convenient and a good enough substitute, I should try to get it for free instead of paying good money for it.
Depending on the situation of each individual, the activities may or may not be suitable for each person. For me, when I first started this journey, I thought that I would like to collect vegetables for free and I would have avoided dumpster diving. However, it turned out that I found DD more suitable cos it is convenient and around my neighbourhood, and I came to a different conclusion after experiencing it for myself. So I do think that people should try out different things (in general) first before concluding if ANYTHING is suitable for them or not, this does not mean only freegan activities, but everything in general, cos you really never know until you try it out for yourself.
I've made new friends along the way and learnt that haters will always be haters.
Even within the community of dumpster divers, which is already considered "socially unacceptable behaviour", they are having heated discussions on whether the items which are collected should be given away as presents or if the giver needs to tell the receiver that the items were salvaged from the dumpster, regardless of whether the item is good as new or brand new in box and wrapping.
So people are always split regardless of actions.
Some people think dumpster diving is ok, others don't think it's right.
Some dumpster divers think it's ok to give items as presents, others don't think that's right...
Even within those who think that it's ok to give them as presents, some think you MUST inform the recipient that it's obtained from the dumpster, and some think it's ok to keep quiet on where it's obtained from.
So there will always be haters regardless of actions, even within the community of folks who are deemed to be having "socially unacceptable behaviour" by dumpster diving, there is even MORE "socially unacceptable behaviour", by giving away dived gifts, etc etc...
This manifests in all parts of our society cos typically people judge people who are different from themselves.
So seriously... we are all adults and are free people to choose what we want to do with our lives and how we build our relationships with our friends and family, and my friends and family are not "your" friends and family, so I can choose to tell them or not, or to give them or not, etc etc...
Ok... anyway, this post does not mean I'm stopping my experience or posts about freegan activities or ideas. Rather, I'm just coming to a checkpoint to consolidate and regroup what I want to do and how I want to move on from here.
As I said before, different people like different activities, I'm not saying that any of these activities are bad, we all pick and choose what we think is best for ourselves and what is efficient and worth for us to do.
What's important isn't each of these individual activities but rather, the spirit of freegan-ism, to keep the mentality of "HOW might I be able to obtain this for free?"
Instead of, "Do I need this? Do I want this? Can I get a discount? etc etc."
Some of you might notice, why do I ask, "HOW do I get it for free", BEFORE I ask, "Do I need this"?
Cos I want to know how I can obtain it for free. Regardless of whether I need it or not.
Cos I might not need it now, but I might need it in future. And I don't want to think HOW to get something for free when I come to a point when I really need the item. Cos by then, it will be too late and I might need to pay good money for it.
So when I walk around, I look at stuff and I think... "Hmm this looks useful, how might I be able to get it for free", and I think about it. So that one day, WHEN I need that item, I know where to get it for free.
Doesn't mean just cos it's free, I grab it immediately even though I don't need it or want it at this point in time.
Ok, that's it for this post.
I hope that you will NOT draw conclusions from my conclusions, cos what works for me might not work for you and what works for you might not work for me, if you have interest to develop on getting stuff for free, you can drop me an email or comment and I can point you in the direction for you to start your own learning and experience.
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