Hi, my name is Lydia and I’m a dumpster diver.

I’ll admit it. When I see good things sticking out of a dumpster, I take a look and sometimes take them. What can I say, I’m a poor college kid who loves to craft. So when I find materials I can use for a current project or future project, I’m going to take it! It was their trash and my treasure.

My most recent dive caught me a nice quality piece of plywood that I’m going to use on a hutch up-cycle. I needed new doors and I found some!

I don’t know about you, but I love free things.

And if I need to dumpster dive to get the free stuff, I’ll do it. Of course there are some things you should take into consideration to safely ‘dive’:

If its in some dark alley on the bad side of town, then take extreme caution. You never know what could be in there. Luckily, my favorite dumpster is outside of the art/theater department at my college. Plenty of people driving by wondering what I was doing. 🙂

Is is something that you can actually make use of? I think I’ll make excellent use of the free plywood.

I had this problem today when looking though the wood. I found some great pieces, but some just would not have ever fit in my car safely. But I kept digging and found the perfect piece!

I had to have my (strong and strapping) boyfriend lift some stuff out to get to the best stuff.

I’ll be writing a new post on the hutch that needed the free wood just as soon as I get it done and take some pictures of it in its new home! Its taking longer to finish this project, but its also Finals time and that takes precedence over crafting!

Keep up the creative work and don’t be afraid to dive!