Hello from thebugguy

Howdy, all-

I've been lurking on and off this forum for a number of months. While I doubt I'll ever have the time to contribute much, I've learned a whoooole lot about scrapping from you folks (particularly e-scrapping!) and thought I should go ahead and sign up.

Scrapping is not my day-job, but something I enjoy doing on the side with my kids (though my wife doesn't always appreciate the piles of stuff under the carport!). I use scrapping to teach the kids about economics (how much something is worth, how people make money buying and selling stuff, how much an hour of work is worth, etc.), environmentalism (the difference between taking stuff to the scrapyard vs. the city dump vs leaving it on the side of the road or in the woods), a little science and engineering (how things are put together (and not designed to be taken apart and fixed anymore!), what different types of metals are and what they're used for), and the interest/value of doing something active as opposed to sitting around playing video games. So far, the kids are still young enough that I don't embarrass them every time I stick my head in a dumpster!

So far we've "re-invested" our profits by buying old US silver dollars and have accumulated quite a little "pirate hoard" of cool-looking (and inherently valuable) coins that the kids can play around with (I guess they've learned a little history, too!). I tell them we're kind of modern-day alchemists, turning steel, aluminum and copper into silver- just something fun to do together as a family.

I'm prepping my first shipment of e-scrap to an aggregator- should that turn out to be reasonably profitable I might consider how to turn my hobby into something of a sideline business, but that's a bit in the future....

Anyway, cheers from Kansas!
thebugguy

Welcome from North Carolina

Welcome to the forums from a sandbar off the coast of NC.

Sirscrapalot - Keeper of the traveling cooler.

Hello from Denver.

Welcome to the forum from Kentucky.
It sounds like you're teaching your children a lot of valuable lessons. It's great to see someone take the time and energy to do that.

Go Jayhawks!!

hey tbg, welcome to smf, and good luck!

Gino your broken again!

Sirscrapalot - Show your love for cold beverages, an hug a cooler today.

Thanks for the welcome, folks! I can't say how rare it is, but I really *do* like spending time with my kids and have actively tried to introduce/involve them into my own hobbies and pursuits (scrapping, hiking/camping, biking, metal detecting, etc.). I can't (and don't want to) keep them busy and away from the computer screen every second of the day, but I place a high value on being a "well rounded" person, for whatever that means....

That said, there is definitely a part of my psyche that just thrills at the idea of picking up money that other people have left behind. I guess that's how I (and probably a lot of you) look at cans and wire and such- most people see trash, I see dollar bills. Does it pay all the bills? No, but that's not the point. It's just fun, a chance to get out and *do* something, a chance for some *me* time (with our without the kids) and it does indeed pay for a few extras we otherwise wouldn't have....

cheers,
tbg

Welcome from ontario canada.

For whatever reason every time i see your name i keep seeing it as "thebuggy" LOL maybe sirscraps right. I am goin loopy.