紐約摳門女白領:如廁不用紙 食物傢俱全靠撿垃圾大綱

Kate Hashimoto was picking up a few groceries at the Upper West Side Food Emporium when she ran into a friend.

這天凱特·橋本與她朋友相遇時，她正在上西街區的食品商場撿拾一些雜貨品。

“Hey Kate, you like wraps? Here’s a chicken wrap,’’ her pal said. “But be careful, it’s kind of wet.” They weren’t in the grocery aisle. They were in front of the store, digging through three overflowing trash bins.

“嘿凱特，你喜歡肉卷嗎？這有個雞肉卷，” 她朋友說道。“但是小心，還有點溼。” 她們的對話並不是在什麼雜貨店的走廊裏。她們站在商店前，在三個漫出來的垃圾箱翻找着。

Hashimoto Dumpster-dives for all her food, doesn’t use toilet paper or do laundry, and hasn’t bought toiletries in 10 years. She doesn’t have to live this way — she’s an employed CPA.

10年來橋本一直都在垃圾箱裏找食物，不用廁紙，不去洗衣店，也沒有買過任何化妝品。她其實並不需要這樣生活，她是一名有工作的註冊會計師。

“I’ve always been frugal, but it was when I was laid off in the dot-com crash that I became extreme,” Hashimoto explained.

“我一直都很節儉，但是如此極端的生活方式，卻是在被一家網絡公司解僱後纔開始的。” 橋本這樣解釋道。

“No job is guaranteed, so I live as if I could be fired at any time.” Manhattan, she said, is a gold mine for Dumpster divers.

“沒有哪個工作是鐵飯碗，所以我以這樣的方式過活，這樣就算是被解僱了我也有所準備。” 她說對於以撿垃圾爲生的人們，曼哈頓是一座金礦。

“Consumers in wealthy areas expect their products to be perfect, so upscale stores throw out a lot of items that are still good.

“生活在富裕地區的人們，往往希望他們的一切生活用品保持完美，所以那些高檔的商店會把很多還很新的產品扔掉。”

“New York can be the most expensive place to live, but it can also be the least expensive if you know how to work the system.” Hashimoto let The Post spend a day with her learning how to live way below your means.

“紐約可能是生活費用最高的地方，但如果你知道怎麼生活，所需要的費用可能是最便宜的。” 橋本邀請記者用一天的時間和她學學如何像她一樣生活。

She lives in Harlem, where she bought a studio in 2010 and paid it off in nine months, but treks down to the Upper West Side three times a week for good, free food.

她住在紐約黑人居住集中的哈萊姆區。2010年她在那裏買下了一個工作室，用了九個月就將貸款全部支付完畢.但是她每週會去三次上西區，撿一些免費的用品和食物。

Her other money-saving methods include using soap to wash herself after using the toilet, taking surveys online to earn gift cards, participating in medical trials (she got free birth control for 5 years and took part in a herpes vaccine trial for cash), testing products for free samples, cutting her own hair, washing her clothes while she showers, and running to work to avoid using a MetroCard.

她還有許多其他省錢妙招，包括用肥皂不用廁紙，做一些網上的有獎調查賺些禮品卡，參與醫療實驗（她免費獲得可使用五年的避孕產品，參加一項皰疹疫苗試驗還得到了現金獎勵），產品體驗的免費樣品，自己理髮，邊洗澡邊洗衣服，還有跑步上班以省下地鐵費用。

“I was extremely angry about the latest round of subway fare hikes,” she said.

“我聽到地鐵票漲價的消息時氣瘋了，”她說。

Hashimoto does have her limits. Her furniture is a collection of found freebies — but she won’t take an old mattress for fear of bedbugs, and sleeps instead on used yoga mats.

橋本也有她的底線。她的家居都是免費贈品，但是她情願睡在舊的瑜伽毯上，也不用舊的牀墊，害怕會有蟎蟲。

And she won’t stay in a relationship for free meals.

而且她也不會免費三餐而跟男人交往。

“I’ve been in a relationship where I stayed because I was getting freebies and gifts, but I got out of it,” she says. “It’s better to be single and Dumpster-diving than to be with someone you can’t stand.”

“我曾經爲了得到免費贈品而談了一個男朋友，但是我放棄了。” 她說。“我情願單身，翻垃圾找食物，也不要和一個我無法忍受的人在一起。”

What Kate Spends Per Month:

凱特每個月的生活開銷：

On food: $15

食物：15美元

On clothing: $0

衣服：0美元

On toiletries: $0.17 a month on toothpaste

梳妝用品：17美分買牙膏

condo: $237

公寓：237美元

She puts into savings: $4,000

儲蓄：4000美元

Into 401(k): $1,000

養老金：1000美元

Goal: $250,000 in savings by next year or so

目標：明年存款25萬美元