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

这天凯特·桥本与她朋友相遇时，她正在上西街区的食品商场捡拾一些杂货品。

“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.

“嘿凯特，你喜欢肉卷吗？这有个鸡肉卷，” 她朋友说道。“但是小心，还有点湿。” 她们的对话并不是在什么杂货店的走廊里。她们站在商店前，在三个漫出来的垃圾箱翻找着。

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年来桥本一直都在垃圾箱里找食物，不用厕纸，不去洗衣店，也没有买过任何化妆品。她其实并不需要这样生活，她是一名有工作的注册会计师。

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

“我一直都很节俭，但是如此极端的生活方式，却是在被一家网络公司解雇后才开始的。” 桥本这样解释道。

“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.

“没有哪个工作是铁饭碗，所以我以这样的方式过活，这样就算是被解雇了我也有所准备。” 她说对于以捡垃圾为生的人们，曼哈顿是一座金矿。

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

“生活在富裕地区的人们，往往希望他们的一切生活用品保持完美，所以那些的商店会把很多还很新的产品扔掉。”

“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.

“纽约可能是生活费用的地方，但如果你知道怎么生活，所需要的费用可能是的。” 桥本邀请记者用的时间和她学学如何像她一样生活。

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.

她住在纽约黑人居住集中的哈莱姆区。2010年她在那里买下了一个工作室，用了九个月就将贷款全部支付完毕.但是她每周会去三次上西区，捡一些免费的用品和食物。

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.

她还有许多其他省钱妙招，包括用肥皂不用厕纸，做一些网上的有奖调查赚些礼品卡，参与医疗实验（她免费获得可使用五年的避孕产品，参加一项疱疹疫苗试验还得到了现金奖励），产品体验的免费样品，自己理发，边洗澡边洗衣服，还有跑步上班以省下地铁费用。

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

“我听到地铁票涨价的消息时气疯了，”她说。

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.

桥本也有她的底线。她的家居都是免费赠品，但是她情愿睡在旧的瑜伽毯上，也不用旧的床垫，害怕会有螨虫。

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

而且她也不会免费三餐而跟男人交往。

“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.”

“我曾经为了得到免费赠品而谈了一个男朋友，但是我放弃了。” 她说。“我情愿单身，翻垃圾找食物，也不要和一个我无法忍受的人在一起。”

What Kate Spends Per Month:

凯特每个月的生活开销：

On food: $15

食物：15美元

On clothing: $0

衣服：0美元

On toiletries: $0.17 a month on toothpaste

梳妆用品：17美分买牙膏

condo: $237

公寓：237美元

She puts into savings: $4,000

储蓄：4000美元

Into 401(k): $1,000

养老金：1000美元

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

目标：明年存款25万美元