One Frugal Tool — Get Over Your “Eww, Gross!” Reflex
by Katy on May 18, 2025 · 63 comments
I made a decision in 2006 to stop buy buying anything new and for the most part I’ve kept to it. Sure there have been a few new things that snuck in, but they’ve been the exception, not the rule. It’s saved us countless thousands of dollars, but it’s also been an environmental win as my “purchases” aren’t made from virgin materials, are packaging free and utilize an object that would otherwise hit the landfill. Unfortunately, some of those things have been initially disgusting.
Take the above free plastic bin as an example. I brought it home yesterday from our neighbor association cleanup event, even though it was filthy and contained four pennies, a bobby pin, hair and general detritus. However, it was completely intact and there are very few things in this world that can’t be cleaned, repaired or otherwise brought back into circulation.
I’m not exaggerating:
So what did I do? I wiped out the bin and ran it through the dishwasher, along with the pennies. (What am I, a Rockefeller to turn down 4¢?) I even located this exact bin on the Target website, priced at $8.
I wasn’t sure how I’d utilize the bin, but it turned out to be actually exactly the right size to hold the our ping pong supplies and a random video game cord. These things had previously been loose on this closet bookshelf, which is now a bit more organized.
I highly doubt that anyone else was going to claim this filthy bin, as evidenced by it being still available at the very end of the cleanup event. (Even though it came with free money!) The ability to move past my initial “Eww, gross!” reflex allowed me to bring a useful object in my home, diverted it from the landfill and even saved me a schweet eight dollars!
I challenge you to rise above your understandable “Used stuff is too gross for me” reflex and see what happens. You’ll definitely save money and even save a thing or two from the landfill!
Win-win, baby!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
I think most of us that have children are well exposed to “gross” items. Good for you for seeing the potential.
I am notorious for running anything and and everything thru the dishwasher
Oh yes, the dishwasher is like a home autoclave!
https://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/you-can-wash-that-in-the-dishwasher/
I have met people who would not pick up dropped change from a sidewalk because it was perceived as dirty. Which made me wonder if they think the bank sanitizes money before dispensing it.
Ruby-
OMG… cracking up! Reminded me of a distant boyfriend who would get so mad at me for picking change up off the street and refuse to hold my hand after… What an idiot he was (in so many other ways)! I remember walking once and came upon over $.40, all in pennies all over the street. Luckily, it was a residential street and I scooped them up and filled my pockets and shoes- It’s was like hitting a jackpot!
Karen, I think we can safely assume that this distant boyfriend is so distant that he’s now an ex? 😀
When I lived at an apartment complex, someone (probably a college student) threw a great big Corning Ware casserole dish and matching lid on top of the trash in the garbage dumpster. The dish had moldy macaroni and cheese in it, which had hardened with time. But I retrieved it from the garbage and took it over to the car wash area (they had a hose and a water sprayer for us to use for said purpose). I blasted the dead pasta out of there, then took the casserole set inside and washed and sterilized it. (Boiling water, Lysol, the whole bit and then put it in the dishwasher.) I’ve eaten food out of it many times and haven’t gotten sick yet. The lid alone would cost upwards of 15 bucks if bought new, and the bottom dish was a vintage pattern and very large — I’ve seen those suckers go for $75 or more. I was really happy to get it free! Admittedly, it’s much too big for one single person, and the pattern does not match anything else I have. But there’s been many a potluck dinner where my food was brought in that salvaged Corning Ware set. Just don’t tell the potluck attendees where it came from!
Fru-gal Lisa, I too have found Corning Ware in the trash–or, to be more precise, in a recycling bin. It’s a 1.5-liter container (with intact lid) from after Corning Ware went metric, and I’m using it to this day. I also have a 4.5-quart Revere Ware pot that I trashpicked at the end of the local party-school university’s “academic” year (I use that term loosely!), plus a couple of other Revere Ware pieces that one of DH’s student tenants left behind.
A.Marie,
I once bought a knee-length formal gown from a consignment store for $25. It was right around college graduation time — hippie Christmas, another NCA person called it. Apparently, the snooty-snooty sorority sisters can’t be caught wearing the same dress twice, so they turned it in. I wore it to the hospital anniversary gala and a lady physician and several male doctors’ (wealthy socialite) wives all complimented me on it.
Besides the Corning Ware, my other apartment complex trash-picked items, no doubt from college kids, include a Martha Stewart shower curtain, a chrome table base (got the glass top at Big Lots), a floor lamp (no shade, got one at Target), a pair of huge stereo speakers, rugs, chairs, plants, a coffee pot, a stereo with stand, many books and numerous clothing items. Everything was in like-new condition.
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One thing I will not take for free is home canned foods other than jams, unless I know the canner and have confidence they follow guidelines for safe canning. Too many people are calling themselves “rebel canners” and doing things like preserving meat and fish using water canning methods. I used to say I would not take home underwear but I salvaged a sports bra once and another time I found a hysterical Christmas patterned pair of men’s underpants for the husband at Good Will. They didn’t look like they had ever been worn, so first I left them outside at 35 below zero to kill off lurking critters and then I washed them twice and figured all killer microbes were dead. When we had miniature sheep I had an outbreak of maggots on a newborn and every day I had to pick them out of the lamb’s butt with tweezers and then apply a dark purple killing agent. After that, it is hard to think of anything that is too skeezy for me to consider, at least momentarily. A friend offered me all of her recently deceased mother’s dresses. Hell, yes! She had great taste and I am still wearing some of them.
This! ^^ Just because you put something in a jar and the jar seals does not mean it is properly canned.
Rebel canning: aka hellloooooo botulism. Sheesh.
Re animals, I have mostly beagles which are anal gland factories. Ugh. But it bugs me less than gross photos.
I followed your lead and started picking up soggy and abandoned clothing from parking lots and the road. The very first thing I picked up, revealed itself to be a double thickness, merino, hat. A huge transformation from the brown, soggy lump in the parking lot!
Today I went to a seed rummage, seeds free, with a donation to a sanctuary encouraged. They are two years old, but I am sure most will still germinate. Some people wouldn’t want to risk it, but I am fine with lower rates if I know that’s possible. So happy to restock with seeds, after having to give mine to the gardening club when we moved countries. Made a reasonable donation to the animals.
Our new village doesn’t seem to be too engaged with an exchange economy, but did respond enthusiastically to our first “free pile” at the end of the drive! Am hopeful people will copy our lead. I have another pile ready to go out, the previous owners left a lot of stuff we just wont use.
An “eww, gross” reflex? What’s that? To the extent that I ever had one (I was right out there with the boys turning over rocks and finding worms and pillbugs as a kid), I’ve certainly gotten rid of it over the last several decades of trashpicking, bottlepicking, and frugal living in general. And good score on the storage bin and pennies, Katy.
Yay!! Another thing saved from the landfill. A good trash/free pile is one of my favorite things.
Oh boy, our “squeamish bone” was removed years ago. Very few things phase DH and I. We love picking through trash piles.
Some wins:
6 really good beach towels
T shirts galore
2 gorgeous blue glass cereal bowls
Half used cleaning supplies
Our favorite trash pic, which was not gross but was just so amazing. Were two beach chairs that retailed for over $100 apiece sitting outside of a dumpster.
We use them for three years
I don’t think used is gross, but i think THAT used is too gross for me. My gorge rose just at the pictures. I got issues, I know that.
1. I had one of THOSE weeks. By the time Friday came around, I was D.O.N.E. DONE! I was NOT about to cook supper. Said to they hubby, “Let’s go out.” Went to Applebee’s and used my Visa Debit card that’s linked to my Upside App. Saved $10 (which was the amount I tipped the waitress, but still a $10 save IMHO).
2. Tree Pruner – Hubby bought 12′ tree pruner last summer to trim some high in the tree stuff that was dead. Landlord now doesn’t want anything else pruned (he asked hubby to prune it in the first place – DUH?!). Anyway, Hubby sold it today for $40. Paid $60 for it last year. Decent recovery price. (Landlord is “book smart, common sense dumb.” He cut down a dead tree with what I call his “little toy chainsaw” which was about as big as our electric carving knife.
3. Tomorrow’s agenda (after work) is baking 2 batches of oatmeal cookies – one with butterscotch chips for me (butterscotch is a migraine trigger and hubby can’t eat it as a result) and one with craisins for him. Also, a loaf of homemade bread. I’ve been baking my own rather than buying bread. Trying to bake more goodies rather than grab commercially processed goodies – you can control what’s in it; and ultimately, it’s cheaper. $5 for a package of Oreo’s?! NO THANKS.
4. Took my sister for her errands, groceries, etc. yesterday. Found 2 dented cans (14.5 oz?) of red beets marked down on the clearance shelf at Wal-Mart. Scooped them up for the hubby. He likes beets, I don’t. Savings of $.19 per can. Not a lot, but that’s $.38 cents more in my pocket. In Pennsylvania, we don’t have sales tax on clothing, shoes, and MOST groceries. Soda (pop, soft drink, whatever you want to call it) is taxable; a bottle of water is not. When I worked for a local grocery store, I was told that the GENERAL rule of thumb for beverages is that no bubbles – no tax; bubbles – tax. Prepared foods are taxed (like you get from a deli or a salad bar); box of cereal – nope. Sister is widowed and doesn’t drive. I have the information for her grocery store loyalty card which I can use to get $.10 off a gallon of gas (up to 20 gallons) for every $100 she spends. Got $.30/gallon off today + another $.03/gallon with my Upside app. Hubby used our $.10/gallon off the other day + the Upside app.
5. Don’t have a $14.5 million parade scheduled for my birthday! (I’d have to live in the Southern Hemisphere to even HAVE a birthday parade for me as my birthday is in December. Brrrr….)
3.
I have a small, safe chainsaw too. I call it Baby’s First Chainsaw since I am not up to using a real, big one. For me, it works great.
That’s a nice bin. I would have taken it, too. I think the grossest thing I picked up was a used vacuum cleaner from Buy Nothing. The amount of someone else’s hair wrapped around the bristles may have grossed other people out, but I took it as a challenge to get every last hair out.
A.Marie,
I once bought a knee-length formal gown from a consignment store for $25. It was right around college graduation time — hippie Christmas, another NCA person called it. Apparently, the snooty-snooty sorority sisters can’t be caught wearing the same dress twice, so they turned it in. I wore it to the hospital anniversary gala and a lady physician and several male doctors’ (wealthy socialite) wives all complimented me on it.
Besides the Corning Ware, my other apartment complex trash-picked items, no doubt from college kids, include a Martha Stewart shower curtain, a chrome table base (got the glass top at Big Lots), a floor lamp (no shade, got one at Target), a pair of huge stereo speakers, rugs, chairs, plants, a coffee pot, a stereo with stand, many books and numerous clothing items. Everything was in like-new condition.
OK, folks, I have the grossest gross-out story, courtesy of Mr. Snuggles Dog. (For all of his adoring fans.):
I came home from work tonight and there was a buzzard in my backyard! Yes, a buzzard — I saw his ugly-looking head. Very unusual, since I live within city limits, nowhere near a rural area.
Earlier today, I let ol’Snug out in the yard while I changed out of my church clothes and into my work uniform and ate lunch. When I called him in later, I had to holler several times before he trotted from behind the garage. (Before this, he was always coming right away, running to me as fast as he could. Hmm…that was strange.)
Well, apparently, Snuggles got himself a squirrel this morning, and the buzzard was eating supper at the Road Kill Buffet. Eeeuuuwww! (I let the buzzard have at it, less mess to clean up. Ugh!)
No, it’s not frugal, but it IS gross!
Well, at least the buzzard ate it before he could roll around on it and get good and stinky. We’ve had a lot of rain, which drowns the giant earthworms, and my tiny Demon Puppy loves to roll on their corpses. She got very stinky and got a pet wipe bath and a brush out today.
Yes, I never thought I’d be this grateful to an ugly-looking buzzard as I am, knowing that if he eats it all, I won’t have to worry about Snug going back to his kill. Hope the buzzard enjoyed its meal and cleaned its plate. “Now, Buzzard, eat it all. Remember all the poor starving buzzards in Africa (or wherever).”
My husband and son once came home with several hundred pennies someone dumped in the Walmart parking lot. DH said it looked like they’d just cleaned a bunch of stuff out of the car and driven off.
My favorite trash-picked item was an electric tea kettle that I use all the time. The exact model is no longer made but it sold for $60 when it was. We are still using a 40-bar package of Dial soap that was abandoned at my last university job, and I rescued enough open packs of toilet paper from move-out that we did not have to buy any for a year. The unopened packs went to the food pantry.
Last year, I found a nasty fountain drink cup filled with change, and some hair, and some sticky stuff. It might have been from a car that had been cleaned out. It was on the curb next to a sidewalk and several people walked by before I got to it. I couldn’t wait for the change to be clean enough to count! It added up to around $7.
Your reward!
I once watched a co-worker throw pennies in the garbage and you should have seen my jaw drop!
That’s frugal blasphemy!!!
I rescue lots of free stuff. But the grossest one was probably a very large (4 cup?) Pyrex measuring cup someone had put in my outdoor trash can. It was full of yucky caked on stuff. I soaked it and scrubbed it and prayed it hadn’t been used in making meth or any other scary thing. I also ran it through the dishwasher several times. Ive used it for years and no one has died.
And yesterday I revived my disgustingly filthy caddy for my cleaning products. I was going to chuck it and buy a new one but just couldn’t spend the money. I sprayed it with foaming cleaner and stuck it in the shower, let it sit for a bit then sprayed it off. Looks brand new!
Did you get a bit of a contact high while cleaning out the Pyrex? 😉
Once upon a time, I was in grad school in Columbus, OH, and I was poor as all get-out. There was an Eddie Bauer “salvage room” on the edge of town – this is where all the ail-in returns went, apparently. From what I remember (this was about 25 years ago), everything was 90% off retail. I still have the parka I bought for $8 – the only thing wrong with it was the lining on one sleeve was just a little long and stuck out at the cuff. One time I got a really nice pair of sweat pants for about $4. As I was throwing them in the wash, I saw why they were returned … someone had blown their nose on the leg then returned them! A big ol’ snot gobber that disappeared after a wash. Those sweats lasted me many years.
“Big ol’ snot gobber!” You paint a vivid picture!
If you’ve given birth (or had the unfortunate “pleasure” of watching a human give birth – you could not pay me enough to be filmed giving birth), you should have no eww gross left in you. Same goes for dealing with an infant, toddler, and/or pet, no ewwgross left. Childbirth class will *never* tell you that your own child could make you gag. Yes they can, yes they will. So unless there were body parts or other expelled from body matter, eww gross should not cross one’s mind.
Selena,
When one of my husband’s kids were little, my BIL would NOT change a #2 diaper due to a serious gag reflux. If his (now ex-) wife wasn’t home and one of the kids had a #2 diaper, he was calling neighbors, neighborhood teenangers, family members – ANYONE daring enough to clean up the kids and put on a fresh diaper! He could handle a #1 only diaper, but the scent and looks of a #2 diaper made him puke!
When our daughter was little, he was on his 50’s. We went to visit and, just as we got to their house, our daughter “erupted” at both ends simultaneously. She has GERD which is well controlled now; when she was little, it was like living with an active volcano! We took her in the house get her cleaned up. He hurdled a chair and a table and nearly broke down his own door to get outside as fast as possible! Never saw him move so fast in my life!
How uncomfortable for everyone!
I learned from my forensic entomologist student that to stifle the gag reflex, grin, real wide and cheesy. It seems to make some difference.
Men.
I was impossible to faze at one time, but I’ve gotten more gaggy over the years.
Plus I don’t remember being required to clean anything after giving birth.
24 years as a labor and delivery nurse!
Sing it Katy, loud and clear.
I too have used the dishwasher to wash many gross items.
DH has brought home many vacuum cleaners that were at the curb for disposal. They are generally clogged and he gets them working again and then we give them away. The motivation is to keep items out of the landfill.
I bet a lot of people toss their vacuums when the belt breaks as well.
I had. Friend that would wash the kitty litter lab in the dishwasher (by itself). I think I draw the line at that.
Hard no!
It’s college move out time here and I live at the nexus of like 3 universities, so looking into dumpsters, and looking into tied garbage bags that have ‘promise’ is a favorite pass time. I’ve gotten toilet paper, paper towels, Swiffer pads, menstrual products, hangers, foldable tables, empty container bins, etc. have all been incorporated into my things 🙂
It’s the reason for the college move out season!
I’ll never understand why people wouldn’t pick up change or dollar bills on the street. During Covid, my wife warned me not to, but I wasn’t afraid. I’ve picked up so many coins and bills in my life, I could probably count that as a side hustle! And I have memories of my grandfather walking slowly, poking with his cane at things, looking for coins.
My dad had mobility problems, so he would ask strangers to pick up the change for him! LOL
Okay, that is amazing!
Understanding the disease process helps me to not be a germophobe.
My husband works for the waste department, so we have many, MANY garbage picked items! Our local Kroger once had a fire, and they had to trash so much food just because of health regulations – food that was nowhere near the fire, in cans and packaging, that my husband brought home. Actually everyone in that department brought stuff home! Old quilts, furniture, books, toys, clothing – a lot of people will offer it to the guys working because they don’t want to throw it away, but just either don’t know where to donate or don’t want to mess with donating. One of the best finds was a small chest freezer – guy didn’t want it, it worked great, but he didn’t like the look of it!!!
And back when Coke offered free things when you entered the codes from packaging, he would scrounge them at work, and I would scrounge them at sporting events (generally before other parents got there, just so I didn’t embarrass my kiddos!).
Alice, my late stepbrother-in-law (a son-in-law of my father’s second wife) worked for the DPW in my former hometown, and he had many similar stories about freebies that he acquired along his trash route.
It’s honestly ridiculous what gets thrown away! *I acknowledge that is kind of the whole point of Katy’s lifestyle! lol
I will be sad when he retires in 5 years, and I don’t get stuff from there anymore!
I once had a patient whose husband worked as a garbage collector and got him to tell me all the amazing things he’d brought home from work. It was many hours of enjoyable conversation!
Considering that I have made it through nursing school, all my hours of clinical, and lots of tech shifts without being grossed out…we can safely say that I am nearly impossible to gross out. 😉
Challenge accepted?
There’s a popular walking trail behind our house, and I often take abandoned clothes (usually jackets and sweatshirts) and wash them to donate or keep them if they are in my or my children’s sizes. I work in a large city and frequently see abandoned clothes all over the sidewalks, I won’t touch those though, there’s a higher likelihood they have feces, vomit, or blood in or on them and that’s apparently where I draw the line. Also the logistics issue of needing to bring them back to my office and then home, whereas if I find something on the trail behind my house, I can just throw it in the washer immediately.
On the flip side, I do try to clean and fix up the things I’m giving away, to make it more likely for someone to take them, since some people are easily grossed out. I understand sometimes people just want to get rid of stuff fast without cleaning it.
I’ve thrifted so many things through the years that had a stain that was easily removed.
One of our best frying pans ever showed up in a garbage bag of grass I scavenged for the compost pile. (I used to put our daughters in the ‘little red wagon’ and pick up leaves and grass put out for the garbage man. “Grass patrol,” our girlies called it.) I put it through the dishwasher and it served for years until I got a castiron fry pan.
Next question: who in the world would put a frying pan in a bag of grass??
It’s a mystery that will follow you throughout your days!
@Cindy Brick – someone who hated the frying pan and the person who loved it would never look in the yard waste bag.
Did anyone else notice the truck that overturned near Alvord, TX…and spilled out millions of dimes on the highway? The article says workers were out there cleaning things up for hours; no doubt they missed some. If I lived near Alford, I’d be out there so fast it would make your head swim.
https://nypost.com/2025/05/01/us-news/800000-in-loose-dimes-spill-onto-texas-highway/
I did not see that one. But I did see the Ben and Jerry’s truck that crashed and spilled hundreds of pints of ice cream. There was a construction crew out there grabbing them and putting them In their lunch boxes lol. It all was going to get thrown out otherwise.
When I was in junior high a truck hauling M&M’s overturned. There were many in my school who lived in that general area who had a stash of red and green peanut M&Ms lasting quite a while.
I have picked up coins from mud puddles, coins that were stuck to the floor in public places…..I will take ALL of them….they all wash! Same goes for free items, if its something I can use, and I feel it only needs a bit of elbow grease – it’s mine!