NOT a White Trash Cache

[Guest raygun_88]

A colleague geocacher made a comment recently that he was a poor student and couldn't afford to spend much money on making his cache...a very good point. This sport shouldn't be about huge outlays of cash to put really cool things out there.

 

Last week I put out a new cache. It cost me roughly 25 dollars US for the goodies, and that didn't make it particularly extravagent. Tupperware was about $5, camera was $5.69, and other items were less expensi ve. I was amazed how little one could find at K-Mart for under a buck.

So to test the idea that it can be affordable to make an interesting cache, I took a trip today...and hit on an idea.

 

I went to two thrift stores and walked away with an interesting cache, sans camera, which will not be included in this cache, and sans pen and log, which I have around the house as general office supplies. The "Thrift Cache", please don't call it a "White Trash Cache", contains a Blues Clues micro pocket purse, Winnie the Pooh clip, rabbit coffee cup, Sheffield Steel cheese knife, nutcracker, wood and silver bracelet, four-inch teak spoon, and Pete's Wicked Ale ESP Lager keychain, all to fit within a 50 cent plastic twist-top freezer container. Sadly the Solingen Stainless Steel horn-handle knife is just too long I will put in a polished pebble of Minnesota ironstone to cover for it. All totaled it was $3.69 USD, less than it will cost to drive to the eventual site of its concealment...

 

...and it was fun to look for the loot at the thrift stores. Sorry, K-Mart, Walmart, and Target stockholders, recycled goodies just might catch on.

 

raygun_88

[Guest Peter Scholtz]

My first three caches mostly contained interesting items from my "home stash" - computer parts, books, african artifacts, etc.

 

Since then I've been shopping at a local R10/Crazy Store. Basically cheap plastic crap.

 

So my cache cost works out to around:

1. 4.5 Liter tupperware = R30

2. Logbook and pen = R7

3. Ziplock bags = R5

4. Loads of cheap fun items = R50-R100

 

Total = R92 - R142, about $12 - $15

 

I've even included books before that go for R80-R250 (e.g. Farside and Travel books)

 

Btw, One Dollar ($) = Eight Rand ®

 

I'm going to hide my first multi stage micro cache in the Cape Town CBD this weekend (might end up as a pub crawler cache), so a cache could cost next to nothing if it's a micro cache. Surely loads of fun when combined with the multi stage cache concept.

 

The only problem is finding a good hiding spot ... (considering satellite reception, street people etc. ...)

 

------------------

Peter Scholtz

www.biometrics.co.za

 

[This message has been edited by Peter Scholtz (edited 17 May 2001).]

[Guest makaio]

Another excellent way to gather potential cache items is to hit local yard/garage sales. You can find perfectly fine small toys, books, and other items of interest for next to nothing. My wife keeps me in mind when she's out perusing the saturday morning neighborhood thirftshops.

[Guest Ron Streeter]

I often find brand new McDonald's, Burger King, etc toys at thrift stores in their original plastic, unopened. 3 or 4 of these will be in a larger plastic bag and the whole bag sells for $1.00 or so. Some of them are even older and may be "collectible".

 

Adhering to the idea that "the hunt is the thing" and that many children go on these hunts, I think these are great items for a cache. I also mix in some things adults might like, but they are generally on the thrifty side too. Even though the dollar stores have a lot of junk, if you look you can find good items at $1 each. I bought two dozen music cds (at $1 each) that would go for $5 to $7 each at a Tower records store.

 

Look around...you can find good stuff that is inexpensive.

[Guest bunkerdave]

I appreciate the trouble and effort many of you go to in order to make your caches appealing and attractive to seekers. I have a little different take on this: I went to four caches yesterday, and traded nothing. Honestly, I have gotten to the point where I really could care less what is in the cache, just so long as it is where is is supposed to be so I can find it, log in, and get to the next one. I always take the time to read as many of the previous visitors' log-ins as I can, and that is the second best part - after the hunt. As much as I like the idea of having goodies in the caches, I would prefer to see it less emphasized than it is. I like to put in one or two "good" prizes, and then some other stuff. I am not saying that the prozes should be eliminated, but I do think that it misses the point.

[Guest Anton]

ox, along with a log and pen. Cachers use it as a library on the trail, with the take/leave rule working as usual. Unlike a standard cache, you might visit a library cache more than once because the books will change over time. The only things you might need to buy to make a library cache are the box and the log.

 

Anton

 

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Anton Ninno - N2RUD

Syracuse, NY 13210

 

[This message has been edited by Anton (edited 17 May 2001).]

[Guest wtmrn]

I have 6 caches out with outlays of 10-15 usd, which includes a shoebox sized container packed with new, unused goodies, log and pens.

[Guest chipper]

Don't forget the Dollar Stores. I got a bunch of green glow sticks for 50 cents each. This is a great place to get "new" toys for kids. Most little children don't care how much a toy costs.

[Guest Iron Chef]

quote:

---

Originally posted by raygun_88:

A colleague geocacher made a comment recently that he was a poor student and couldn't afford to spend much money on making his cache...a very good point. This sport shouldn't be about huge outlays of cash to put really cool things out there.

 

Last week I put out a new cache. It cost me roughly 25 dollars US for the goodies, and that didn't make it particularly extravagent. Tupperware was about $5, camera was $5.69, and other items were less expensi ve. I was amazed how little one could find at K-Mart for under a buck.

So to test the idea that it can be affordable to make an interesting cache, I took a trip today...and hit on an idea.

 

I went to two thrift stores and walked away with an interesting cache, sans camera, which will not be included in this cache, and sans pen and log, which I have around the house as general office supplies. The "Thrift Cache", please don't call it a "White Trash Cache", contains a Blues Clues micro pocket purse, Winnie the Pooh clip, rabbit coffee cup, Sheffield Steel cheese knife, nutcracker, wood and silver bracelet, four-inch teak spoon, and Pete's Wicked Ale ESP Lager keychain, all to fit within a 50 cent plastic twist-top freezer container. Sadly the Solingen Stainless Steel horn-handle knife is just too long I will put in a polished pebble of Minnesota ironstone to cover for it. All totaled it was $3.69 USD, less than it will cost to drive to the eventual site of its concealment...

 

...and it was fun to look for the loot at the thrift stores. Sorry, K-Mart, Walmart, and Target stockholders, recycled goodies just might catch on.

 

raygun_88

---

 

I visited the cache that Raygun_88 made and I think it ended up pretty dadgum good. It also gave me a few new ideas for making caches and I liked the micro-cache idea that Peter had (one that I kinda just implemented in a recent multi-cache by only using a 1.3 pint container which is pretty tiny but still big enough for decent sized items and yet cheap). Thanks for the ideas all!

 

-Iron Chef ;~)

[Guest nhouse1]

I went to a local "everything's a dollar" store. Those things are everywhere. I bought a couple of those little metal puzzles that have a ring on them that you've got to twist around and figure out how to get the ring off the metal peace. I figured that would be an interesting piece of treasure.

 

I plan on putting one of the metal puzzles, an MRE (military food...meal ready to eat...or meal refused by ethiopians) and some other stuff I can find around the house in my first cache I am going to set up when I get back to Texas.

 

Nathan

[Guest Lazyboy]

The price of the contents don't mean anything to me. In fact I'd prefer it if things were on the cheap. I too have seen greedy cachers take all the money from a cache. I too once took one of 5 gold dollars and the next person took them all. I keep a "treasure" chest of all my finds and look for something a little different each cache. Many of our caches here are full of dollar store stuff and I don't mind it a bit. I even took a rusty wrench from one. Looks cool in the tresure chest.

[Guest tecmage]

Hey All,

 

Our first cache- Corporate Giveaway Cache is full of items from Career Fairs and Expos. It's all the stuff we had in our closet that was a giveaway from some company. I work a couple of fairs a year, love some of the junk I pick up (and will NEVER give away), and thought this is a good way to start a cache.

 

Richard and Tracy