I Lived like a Freegan Once: A Reply to the Special Report on Oprah (how to be a college bum)

Associated Content, Inc. ^ | 2/27/08 | Pip the Writer

[Clint N. Suhks]

On February 27, the Oprah Winfrey show featured a special report by Lisa Ling. In her report Ling took a look at an ever increasing social movement here in the United States. The people in this movement have nicknamed themselves 'freegans'. Their lifestyle is a reaction against consumerism and capitalism in America. Instead of focusing on building up wealth and adding materials to their life, they avoid these possessions. In order to do this, they spend very little money on essential items like food and even less on non essential things. Lisa reports that one of the ways that they do this is by scrounging through other people's garbage to find what they need. I am not a freegan, but this whole lifestyle reminds me of a time when I was a part of a similar society. The group that I was involved with: college students.

I remember it as if it were only a few years ago, which in fact it was. In four years, I slowly built up a gigantic debt and that was without ever having a large credit card bill. At the private school I attended, tuition rose from $9,000 a year for room and board to $13,000 a year. I had monthly bills consisting of car payments, car insurance, and phone bills. These things consumed most of my money. If you couple that with the fact that I could not work all too often, since I was only an average student and needed to spend most of my night studying, then the result was that I was $10,000 in debt by the end of school.

In order to combat this, I stopped spending money. I no longer did or bought anything that cost a double digit sum of money ($10 or more).

[MrB]

AFAIC,

as long as someone isn’t harming others, nor using the government to confiscate my property for their livelihood, nor are “liberals” using the government to confiscate my property to subsidize this “lifestyle”,

live and let live.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Not for nothing, but this was one of the suckiest pieces ever written. I cannot believe I actually made it to the end.

[Bitsy]

I bet they still manage to scrape up enough for some weed.

Most probably inspired more dumpster diving after a bong session. What a party!!!1

[Oatka]

A couple of Hard Times anecdotes.

1) Back in the late ‘50s I talked with an aspiring actor who said that he and he friends would go down to the Automat for breakfast (this was NYC - everything was priced in multiples of nickels). Breakfast consisted of “tomato juice” which was made from a half of glass of ketchup taken from the bottle on the table and a half glass of water. Never heard of him since.

2) Last week I told a guy at work about an Ann Landers article wherein the wife had mixed a can of dog food in with some leftover mashed potatoes, intending it for Rover’s meal the next day. Hubby gets the midnight hungrys and raids the fridge. Next morning he raves over the great “meat leftovers” and says the wife ought make that more often. Wife wanted to know if she she fess up. Abby told her “Let sleeping dogs lie.”
2a) The guy got a kick out of that and said he could top it. He ran a small placer gold mining outfit in Arizona in the ‘80s and met a welder who was living out of his car. Gave the guy a few jobs and an old trailer to stay in. The guy got a few bucks for some dust he had and went out and splurged. Back from the store, the guy says “I’m gonna eat like a king tonight! Got a loaf of bread and a can of Alpo. Makes a great sandwich!” The first full payday he comes back beaming “NOW I’m really gonna eat! Got a box of macaroni and cheese and a can of Alpo. I’ll make the best casserole you ever ate!” The owner respectfully declined.

I guess it all depends upon your outlook.

[SuziQ]

Our youngest son (18 yrs. old) and I decided to volunteer at our local Food Bank. The grocery stores send over hundreds of pounds of food; canned goods, baby food, shelf stable milk, cleaning supplies and toiletries, every week. A big cracker manufacturer sends a truckload of boxes of snacks that have been smashed on a corner, or snack bar boxes that have split open.

Our job today was to go through a big bin of those boxes, check inside the crushed boxes to make sure the interior bags weren't broken, then tape the boxes shut. It's great that the food manufacturers have a place to send this stuff. Now homeless shelters, and social service agencies can have access to good food for their clients. The boxes may not be pretty, and some of the crackers may be smashed, but they're still edible!