Too Cheap?

I will stop by funeral homes in my area and get free plants and flowers that have been thrown away. It's customary for those attending a funeral to bring flowers, wreaths or plants to a funeral. If the people who were in charge of the funeral don't want to take everything home, the funeral home just throws them away in their dumpster bin. I go into the dumpster and can get a lot of great plants and flowers for free. Sometimes they are worth hundreds of dollars.

I always have fresh flowers in my house, and my house and garden are full of plants I have rescued from the funeral dumpsters. The ones I can't use, or when I get too many, I give them away.

I will sometimes get a free breakfast from a hotel instead of going out to a restaurant and spending money for one. Almost all mid class hotels offer a free breakfast in the mornings.

One time when I was staying and eating at a hotel I was staying at, I got up late and just barely made it before the staff cleared away the food for the day. I asked what they did with the food that was left over, and much of it is thrown away. While food that is in packages and fruit can be used the next day, food that is prepared or displayed in certain ways (hard boiled eggs that have been peeled) end up in the trash.

This seemed like a complete waste to me. So even though I don't stay at the hotels, I will sometimes stop into one near the time they end the service and have a meal of the food that they would otherwise throw away (some serve up some good quality egg breakfasts). I get a free breakfast and food doesn't get needlessly thrown away.

One of the easiest ways that I earn a little extra money is that I go to the fountains around town and take the money that people have tossed into them to make wishes. There really isn't much too it if you are willing to get your feet a little wet.

There are some fountains where the money in them is collected for various non profit organizations. I don't take money from these, but it seems that if there is a pool of water, people are willing to throw coins into it.

The amount I make really depends. There seems to be seasons. I always find more money around Christmas time and Valentine's day. Most days I only make a few dollars, but I have made over $50 on occasion doing this. When ever I travel, I am always on the lookout for spots where people might toss coins for wishes.