so, it was trash/recycling day on munjoy hill today, and as i was doing my early morning zombie stomp down the hill to work, i was reminded of an article i’d read recently on the penny hoarder. now this guy can be a little over the top at times, but he does have some pretty innovative ideas about making money. walking through the garbage strewn recycling day streets this morning, i remembered a particular scheme involving selling box tops for education. weird, right?
honestly, i’ve been throwing them away for years. i still don’t even really know exactly how the whole system works, but somehow they’re each worth $.10 to benefit the local school of your choice. but that’s really not important. what is important is that for some reason, people will pay near face value for them on ebay. i picture lazy and indulgent parents buying their box tops online so that their children can win the pizza party, or whatever bullshit. why else would they be such currency? could anyone out there enlighten me?
anyway, apparently these little bitches are worth money. and there’s something that seems a little bit wrong about profiting from that, but hey- the school gets the money and so do i. win win. except that i don’t eat very much of this food. but when i saw the recycling bins lined up on the street i thought that if i could muster up the cojones to dig through people’s bins… those box tops could be mine!
no seriously, it that weird and wrong?
broke 207 
Go for it!
I save them for a family member, but may also look into this, thanks for the tip. Maybe the market is competitive parents?
it’s so weird right? i never even thought about it until i read that article. right now i have about 6, but come next tuesday…. hopefully that will change. i figure if anyone gives me shit for digging through their trash, i’ll just scream “BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION!”. i figure nobody can argue with that.
You are too funny…Dive right into those bins!!!
Yes, I’m sure parents buy them online to help their kids get a reward at school. I wouldn’t do that. We only send in the box tops from products we actually consume, like Cheerios. I am a member of the PTA for my son’s elementary school (shocking and freaky, I know…) and we get a shitload of money for these things each year….like thousands of dollars…and since Mel, The Coupon Goddess, also has two daughters in the same school…well, let’s just say we’re fing lucky to have her. My son’s class won an ice cream party in December for brining in the most box tops….he was so amped up about telling me he nearly jumped out of his skin getting off the bus…which is super-cool. He’s in 1st grade and is a total tough-guy…races motocross (yes, he has raced at MX207!!), loves everything extreme. So it was awesome to see him get excited about something as innocent as an ice cream party!! I’m sure you will get some buyers if you are able to dig into those bins…
thank you for unveiling the mystery! it’s amazing how much excitement a pizza or ice cream party can create. ice cream at home… meh. but ice cream at school- you would think that everyone was getting brand new bikes or something. i guess it’s all about how you frame it. do the coupon goddess’ kids always win the party? i’ve seen the woman standing in front of a pyramid of hamburger helper the size of a small house. (she’s my f-ing hero!).
i love that your son is a little extreme sportsman! i feel like since the 50s kids have been getting softer and softer. it’s all self esteem and peanut allergies now. i have hope that extreme sports will give the next generation the thicker skin that they’ve lost over the last 60 years. skateboarding & bmx biking are on their way to the olympics in the next few years. you could be raising yourself a future medal winner 🙂
I’m sure Mel’s girls win often…my son isn’t in the same class with either of them. The month his class won was the month with the bonus box tops from Shaw’s!! I did send in about 300 that month…he thought I was a hero, at least for a day.
I know what you mean about kids being soft! My younger one (4 years old) is the sweetest little wuss you will ever meet!! And I say that with TOTAL love. He can’t even shit without me next to him. Don’t know how they turned out so differently…same parents and all that. My older one, however, is tough as nails. Tortures the little one on a regular basis. Hopefully it will toughen him up! My older one wants to be a professional mx racer for 6 months a year and a professional gambler in Las Vegas for the other 6 when he grows up. He is a hustler, too. When we have family over for dinner he is the first to get his wallet and a deck of cards to see who wants to play him in rumy, scat, poker…even cribbage. No lame games of Go Fish for this kid. It started with WAR at age 3! Genetics, I tell you!!! My late father-in-law was a professional gamble for years but my son was only 4 when he died and he BARELY knew him. It’s in the genes, I’m sure of it.
My 4-year-old, on the other hand, wants to be a professional ice cream tester when he grows up…good luck with that, baby, says mommy.
I have already had the “You will have to beat up kids who tease your brother, you will have to make sure he’s not left out, you will have to take care of him forever…” talk with my older one. And in return, he will post bail for you when you need it:)
That’s funny~ a few months back I got a $5 worth of box tops from a Shaws catalina, and I was able to trade it for a bunch of coupons I wanted on afullcup… oh the lands we venture into with couponin’ and money savin’…
a few months ago i got a $5 box top catalina from shaw’s… AND I THREW IT AWAY. doh. needless to say, lesson learned.
Be sure when you go bin diving that you wear leg warmers, fingerless gloves, a beanie, and someone’s old suitcoat. Maybe don’t wash for a couple days. Then noone will dare mess with you.
the punchline is, that’s what i’m wearing right now.
no seriously, i do enjoy legwarmers, and i do tend to push the boundaries of “office casual”, but my hobo look could probably use some work. or, i could take it in a whole other direction, and go out wearing a suit. just confuse the shit out of people so they don’t ask any questions.
[…] lot hand jobs or get one of those payday loans), and maybe see if i can cash in my change jar or my box tops for education. but really, i just need to rein it the fuck in and start finding things to do/eat/own that are […]