No time for cloaks and secret handshakes I need advice

If you read every thread on the forum (and I have my doubts) then you would know there are slow periods. The forum has also covered the topic of where to find scrap quite extensively.

Skippy, you said you were a carpet installer. Even if you can't physically manage regular installations anymore, there is still a lot of small carpet work out there. I'm in the flooring business and regularly call upon a couple guys to fix my doorways/transitions when existing carpet abuts to new hard-surface flooring. Stairs, re-stretches and repairs are other areas where you could pick up a few bucks. You could even team up with someone just to do seams. While you're traveling to and from these jobs, you should be able to pick up the odd piece of curbside scrap. Also, while you're on the job site, chat up the homeowner - you should be able to get some of their scrap as well. Doing this, the fuel cost doesn't come into play.