Hello everyone! I was wondering if anyone knew where I can get 55 gallon drums free or cheap in New Jersey. My husband and I want to start collecting rain water to water our garden and fig tree. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Craigslist is the place to look I think. This looks like a good deal.
http://southjersey.craigslist.org/for/2573729882.html

Check out the greenhouses around your area, vegetable or flowers, nurseries, just find out what chemical they had in them, usually they give them for free if they didn't put down a deposit.

bakeries, candymakers, restaurants, often get supplies in 55 gallon barrells.
I got 4 from a local chocolate maker.

Grant

Just make sure they don't have any 4" x 4" diamond shaped signs affixed to the sides. This means there was hazardous material in it.

Yes, Fertilizer is considered Hazardous but need to make sure what the drums contained.

Not trying to scare you. Just trying to help you.
You would be surprised of some of the dumb things are considered hazardous.

Rafed is right, it's best to check what the contents were.

Thanks for all of your help!! I found some that contained bio degradable soap, is that okay?.

My favorite barrel was one we would be getting several times a year for the greenhouse called plant xl and Anti block, I don't know if they use it in New Jesery operations but from what we got there wasn't deposits paid so we had to recycle them somehow.  Both materials are fairly harmless, plant xl is humic acid and carbon and anti-block just helps break down mineral and biological build ups in irrigation systems.

I used garbage can for collecting rain water, is this a bad idea? Why?

There are many, many 55 g plastic food grade drums available in blue, white, and "clear". They are used for bulk food ingredients, and usually shipped to commercial food processing facilities. They often contain oils, juices, pastes, and other liquid ingredients used in the food processing industry. They cannot be reused, precisely because they are used for food ingredients, so they all move on to rain water collection systems, and many other uses. Here they are $10-20 each. I am planning on buying quite a few, cutting them in half, and making two 27-1/2 gallon pots out of them. Buying "nursery" pots that size costs $30-40. So if I can get them for $20, that makes them $10 per pot, and if they cost less, so much the better. They are pretty tough, and expect they will last longer tan a thin walled nursery pot.

I do not recommend using clear.  The issue you'll run into is with algae growth.  Your best bet is a dark, opaque barrel, since light penetration contributes to algae.

The clear ones make great pot in pot pots ( if that makes any sence ) the clear drum cut in half goes in ground and a 15 gal regular pot fits in nicely.
Works great for trees it keeps them from falling over in strorms.

if clear would not work could you sand a little and throw some paint on them?? i've never seen a clear drum. white, blue and black, but i would guess there are many colors.