White trash.

And when I say 'white trash', I'm referring to the crazy amount of trash that Jim and I have accumulated, yet can't seem to throw out with any sort of ease.

You see, in the town where we live, we can't just put all our garbage on the curbside to be picked up.  Everything that we put on the curb for trash pick-up either has to be in a special town trash bag, or has to have a special 'bulk item' sticker on it in order for the trash fellas to take it away. AND you can only have one 'bulk item' per week.  The bags cost $25 for 10 large bags, and the stickers are $5 for a 'regular' bulk item (couch, chair, etc...) or $15 for appliances (refrigerators, stoves, etc...).  Also, if you plan putting something out there with a $15 sticker on it, you have to call in advance to let them know that it's going to be out there. 
How I miss the days of putting everything on the curb and being done with it!!! 
I will say that, aside from the minor inconvenience of it all, it's a much more pleasant experience dealing with things this way.  In the places I've lived that didn't have special trash bags, trash day was usually a very ugly scene.  Lots and LOTS of trash everywhere and a lot of it didn't necessarily get entirely picked up, so there was a lot of crap left behind.  With the town trash bags, not only does it look 'nicer' when all the trash is out there (pretty, yellow bags all along the curbs) but it seems to cut down on the amount of loose trash that ends up sticking around after the fact.  Having the town bags also forces people to recycle a lot more than they normally would.  Jim and I recycle EVERYTHING we can so that we aren't taking up unnecessary space in the large, town bag.  Thankfully, we don't generate a lot of trash.  We average about 1 tall kitchen trash bag per week, and I can usually fit three of those into one large town bag....so we really only use about one or two a month.  That's not counting the 'BBQ months', when we generate a bit more.   :-)

So.....where was I going with this?!?!  Oh yes!!! 

We have a bunch of stuff that we need to throw out, but unless we shell out a ton of money. we've got nowhere to toss it.  For example, we have a few broken chairs from our old dining room set that need to be thrown out and our options are to either break them up small enough to be stuffed into a ton bag, or slap a $5 sticker each one and put them on the curb.  Neither option is too thrilling to me.  Same goes for the GIANT cardboard box that our TV came in.  Do I spend FOREVER trying to cut it into pieces so it'll fit in the recycling bin, or do I pay $5 to have them take it away?!?!?
Believe me, it adds up. 
What I wouldn't give to have them recall the 'trash laws' for one week....I'd have a full curb and a beautifully empty basement. :-)  

So - that's the current dilemma at home.  We have no town dump to bring things to and are too thrilled at the prospect of paying all that money for stickers.  Jim's dad has a permit to the dump in the town where they have their cottage on the Cape, so that's certainly an option, but the idea of finding a truck and making all those trips is daunting to say the least. I'll certainly keep you posted, as I KNOW you're all on the edges of your seats dying to know how it all turns out. 

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading my rant. 

Seeing 'The Producers' tonight, softball playoffs tomorrow (then I'm DONE!!!), and a trip to the Cape with my parents on Sunday. 
Hmmmm.....maybe they'll let me fill their car with trash?????    :-)