Angel Williams - Finding Your Treasure: Our Familys Mission to Recycle, Reuse, and Give Back Everything—and How You Can Too

Finding Your Treasure

Our Familys Mission to Recycle, Reuse, Rehab, and Give Back Everythingand How You Can Too

Angel Williams

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Copyright 2021 by Angel Williams

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First Tiller Press hardcover edition July 2021

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Interior design by Laura Levatino

Jacket design by Patrick Sullivan

Author photo by Jim Franco

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-9821-5229-1

ISBN 978-1-9821-5230-7 (ebook)

All photographs courtesy of the author.

This book is dedicated to my grandmother Melvirdia Shelton.

Grandma is no longer with us, but she will always hold a special place in my heart.

I ll begin this book the same way I begin all my YouTube videos: Good morning, everybody!

In 2012 I started posting my dumpster-diving adventures on a YouTube channel called Mom The Ebayer. Its hard to believe, but it now has over 150,000 subscribers. If youve never tuned in, Im a spiritedand spiritualmother of four. I started dumpster diving in and around Chicago after a parishioner at my church mentioned scoring some surprising finds. My curiosity got the best of me (it often does), and so I gave it a go. On my very first outing, I returned home with a mint-condition playground set for my then eighteen-month-old. Total cost: zero dollars. Not to mention a BlackBerry that I then sold for $400 on eBay (you can find me on eBay at Angelsplace2012). Not bad for a rookie!

That was nine years ago, and, like a growing number of Americans, Ive been addicted ever since.

You might think dumpster diving is for people who are homeless, poor, troubled, and so on. Im here to tell you that its for everybody. I like to call diving a form of modern-day thrifting. Not only is it economical but it helps the environment by sending less stuff to the landfill. Dumpster diving has helped furnish our homeand given me a wardrobe more fabulous than I could ever have dreamed of! It has created a new income stream for my family through online auctions and has allowed me to provide for those in need through charity. This is an eco-friendly way of living that embodies the spirit of waste not, want not that our parents all taught us. Im determined to make it the norm. And I think more and more people will join the movement when they realize how lucrative it can be. In 2019 I boosted our income by at least $10,000, and 2020 was even better.

In my videos I take my followers on my diving adventures. As I tell them every time, today is going to be an ah-mazing day: Hopefully we can find something great, but if not, as always, weve been blessed, and weve been blessed with a lot more.

If I have questions regarding an item or situation, Ill ask them for advice or feedback. I share my finds and discuss what to keep, what to sell, and what Ill be donating to charity. I also share my personal life, the good days and the not so good. My husband and kids (usually!) enjoy participating in my videos. Were members of The Israel of God church, where my husband, Antwan, volunteers as a teacher. As a person of faith, my larger purpose is to share the belief that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves, and to emphasize the power of giving back. And so our mission statement is quite simple: Faith. Frugal. Fun & Family.

Diving has become my passion, transforming my life in ways I never imagined and helping me see the world in a new light. Im grateful and humbled to share this passion with you.

As described on Angels YouTube channel:

This is my family. We took this photo on September 6, 2020, dressed in denim and white for our first professional photo with Samuel, the new addition to our family.

The more I dumpster-dive, the more it makes me think about how much some people have, while others are in terrible need. I enjoy diving for the thrill of finding things, but I also love it because, in a small way, it allows me to spread the wealth.

I get such a rush from giving. Thats one of the things I try to highlight in my videos.

Diving in the Time of COVID

As I was writing this book, COVID-19 was continuing to spread across the country and the world. Regardless of what the case numbers are in your area, you should remain vigilant in taking steps to protect your health. The following is taken directly from the CDC website: Based on data from lab studies on the coronavirus and what we know about similar respiratory diseases, it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly eyes. This isnt thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but caution should always be taken. (I advise caution at all times when dumpster diving, pandemic or not.)

If you are interested in diving, do as I do and always wear protective gear to keep yourself safe (I discuss this in Chapter 3) and bring along wipes and disinfectant.

I dont know if its possible to call it a silver lining, but it took a pandemic to provide the opportunity for many Americans to hit pause and examine their spending habits. The economic slowdown has forced many of us to focus on basic needs and shifted our priorities from the tangible (the latest iPhone, a new sofa) to the intangible (our health, our families, our spirituality). It has underscored the long-simmering issue of income inequality and, I hope, has encouraged more people to see the benefits of acting for the common good. Because everyone is juggling all aspects of lifefamily, work, schoolwhile spending more time at home, most of us have been rethinking our relationship to our things and our living spaces. Small businessesa few of which I highlight in the bookhave also been forced to pivot in order to accommodate our altered lifestyles. Some of them have even started in response to our new needs and priorities.