Girl rummages through trash every Christmas season, reaping shocking spoils

Many people were surprised by a girl's act of rummaging through trash cans at the end of the year. However, the amount of money she saved from doing this was what shocked people when they heard.

For Melanie Diaz, 22, of Tampa, Florida, the joy of Christmas doesn’t come from shiny store shelves or online shopping, but from the trash. She saves about $20,000 a year by picking up Christmas decorations and gifts from these unseen places.

Diaz's savings come from high-value items from popular retailers in the U.S., including Christmas wreaths from Michaels and toys from TJ Maxx. For the past two years, she's focused on trashing in December and January, looking for holiday treasures that would otherwise go to waste.

"My favorite time to go dumpster diving is around Christmas because they start throwing out a lot of Christmas stuff. I like to save everything so I can put it in my house and decorate for next year," Diaz said. She frequents dumpsters behind popular retailers like TJ Maxx, Burlington, Michaels, Jo-Ann Stores, Pop Shelf, and Home Goods, and finds a huge variety of holiday goodies.

Diaz also found that at the beginning of the year, stores clear out their holiday inventory and a lot of stuff gets thrown away. "My biggest discovery was in January, I went through the dumpsters at TJ Maxx and found a lot of valuable stuff stuffed inside," she said.

This Christmas, Diaz has collected enough decorations, including 10 Michael’s Christmas wreaths worth about $400 and a $500 tree. She also bought puzzles and dog toys from TJ Maxx, saving about $200 each.

Not only that, Diaz also found Christmas-themed shirts and kitchenware in the trash, still fairly new. "I found Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, and all kinds of creative things," the creator said. "I found Christmas shirts, Christmas decorations for the table or Christmas things for the kitchen and things like that."

The Christmas tree and decorations are definitely Diaz's favorite part, as they save her a lot of money. "I started saving everything for myself the following year. I also gave some things away to friends and family. I don't sell anything I find," she shares.

Remarkably, the items found in the dumpster were so large that Diaz had to ask someone to come and take them away. "I even had to ask my family to help me because it was so overwhelming. I remember we loaded everything into the car and the next day we held a yard sale. We kept most of the stuff too. It was unbelievable," the young woman said.

Diaz emphasized: "These items can be reused, instead of being thrown away wastefully. I am happy to contribute a small part to protecting the environment and helping my loved ones have a more complete Christmas." Her story not only attracted attention on social networks but also inspired a frugal lifestyle, reducing waste in a consumer society. Currently, she continues to maintain the habit of rummaging through trash cans every year-end.

"I think I will start going through trash cans like Diaz to save money"; "This is a meaningful thing for both the girl herself and society"; "I can't believe she can save more than half a billion from picking up trash"; "It turns out getting rich is not too difficult. You just need to know how and be determined"... are the comments left by netizens.

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