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This ‘dumpster diving queen’ makes $30,000 a year selling her finds

They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure — and that couldn’t be more true for 31-year-old Tiffany Butler, AKA Dumpster Diving Mama. The mom of four is an expert at finding valuable goods in the most unassuming places — and some of the stuff she’s found over the years is guaranteed to shock you.

“When it comes to valuables, I’ve found SO many things,” Butler told In The Know. “From six boxes of untouched perfect makeup to a $3,000 armoire or boxes of brand new pet supplies, I have found so many awesome things I really can’t keep track of everything.”

Butler has become something of a celebrity on TikTok. Her profile, where she shares some of the finds from her dumpster dives as well as tips for wannabe divers, has more than 387,000 followers and nearly 4 million likes across all videos.

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Based on how much valuable stuff she seems to find, one would think Butler’s been doing this for decades. However, the Texas resident told In The Know that she did her first dive in January 2017 after watching a video of someone else’s successful haul.

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“I saw a video of a girl dumpster diving at Ulta, and I was shocked at the fact she found perfect makeup just thrown in the dumpster,” Butler said. “So of course I had go try it out for myself! I did my first dive in January 2017, and I found makeup. From then on I’ve been hooked!”

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Though Butler keeps some of the items she finds — for instance, she currently has “about 200 pounds of cat food for [her] kitties and litter for a few months” all from dumpster diving — she sells the majority of the items via garage sales, Facebook Marketplace and online marketplaces like Poshmark and Mercari.

“In 2018 I made around $30,000 just selling my dumpster finds,” Butler revealed. “I sell about 80 percent of my finds.”

When Butler first started dumpster diving, she would keep track of which days she went to certain dumpsters and whether she found anything on those days. Now, though, she prefers to just wing it.

“I just go everyday and it’s a hit or miss,” she said. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It’s part of the fun!”

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