Talk about a filthy habit.
A cost-conscious woman who ditched a good job to pursue her passion for dumpster diving claims to have saved $50,000 on clothing and other essentials in just two years.
Melanie Diaz, 22, developed a taste for trash after watching social media videos of someone else salvaging from commercial and residential garbage sources.
During her first dive, the Tampa, Fla. resident told SWNS, she found a treasure trove of books, toys and other reusable items — encouraging her to go back for more.
Over a two year period, the detritus devotee has found everything from clothing to home decor to pet food, she said — spending 4-5 hours a day sleuthing.
Her finds have enabled her to stop spending completely on clothing and other everyday needs — enough that she realized she didn’t need her full-time job in photography anymore.
“Since I started dumpster diving, I have saved a lot of money,” the freelance content creator said. “I have used the money to put towards traveling around the world.”
Diaz picked up her refuse retrieval hobby back in 2023, after seeing others show off their successes on apps like TikTok.
“I was like ‘wow, this is real’ and I decided I was going to start doing it full time,” she said.
Her biggest hauls come from dumpsters at TJ Maxx, Homesense, and HomeGoods stores, she said.
“Homesense has been the best store to go to because everything I have found still has tags on — all the items are brand new. Most things I find should not be in the dumpster,” Diaz stated.
While some divers resell their finds, Diaz gives hers away.
“I don’t sell the items I find, I will donate the stuff I don’t want to keep,” she said. “I’m originally from Colombia, so I will send items back home where people can make use of them.”
“I really love dumpster diving, you never know what you are going to find -— it is always a surprise.”
Meanwhile, a rubbish-obsessed Texas mom recently claimed to earn a whopping $76,000 a year dumpster diving by reselling her claimed castoffs online.
“You never know when stores are going to toss stuff — it’s really just all about luck,” said Butler, who dumpster dives at least two to three times a week.
One litter lover even wound up finding love in a hopeless place — meeting his wife at the bottom of a trash receptacle in Buffalo.
Scrap-happy Dave Sheffield, 35, met wife Erin, 39 back during his college days — the twosome bonded while Dave was picking through a pile of waste on the hunt for something of value.
“We met in a dumpster. I saw him, popped my head over and asked what he was doing,” Erin said. “He jumped out, we cleaned up and spent the day dumpster diving.”