Is there such a thing as FREE?

I have always heard that NOTHING is free in this world. Well, I think the lesson was that of responsibility for actions…cause there is such a thing as FREE.

I admit that I like to watch Oprah and always have. It is great that during the summer they air re-runs so that I can see a well liked show again or catch a show that I may have missed. Well, yesterday they aired a show about freegans. Who knew there was a name? Many people were interviewed from thrifty to dumpster divers. It was interesting! You can read more here about freeganism on Wikipedia. Basically it states that freegans believe that we consume too much and waste too much. TRASH! Got my attention, my kind of story. There are many main stream people including a physician and engineer that were interviewed that find the majority of there groceries from dumpsters. Sounds gross, doesn’t it?

Well actually the eye opening part is that perfectly good food is in the trash. I am not talking about eating what someone scrapped off of there plate into the trash can like you may do at home. Grocery stores and restaurants throw away perfectly good packaged foods that can be pulled from the garbage that are not unsafe. Of course they recommend washing fruit and vegetables at home before consuming, but entire packages of baked goods were thrown away because of “rules” and “it is easier”. (I suppose easier than sorting and marking down or donating to a shelter for good use?)

All of this made me thinking about the recent find that I have had as well as the challenge that it had created for me.

Can I feed my baby for free?

Now wait, I am not talking about dumpster diving for my child. I also am not talking about breastfeeding that is much more acceptable. I am talking about formula for my child that is free and not from any type of assistance program.

Just wanted to get some of the misconceptions out of the way :)

For the love of CRAIG……Craigslist that is!

My baby is eating free. I am not needy, but thrifty and the formula companies always send out samples.

Many people who get these samples though do not have needs for them and list them for free. Of course, I will only use formula that is unopened and originally packaged.

Look what I have for FREE

That is cutting $21 from the grocery bill every week, for several weeks. Together retail this formulas would cost $66. Can you believe that they are sending out full size samples?

They also come with the can for lactose intolerant or sensitive fussy formula. I take those as part of the package deal and then relist them for free to pass the help along.

Everyone that I have received the formula from states that they don’t have a need for it and that if not taken would become TRASH!!!

As I stated before, I am going to challenge myself to see if from now until we are done with formula in the next few months how much $$ I can save by rescuing another’s trash to feed the baby.