During and following a move, there is always a shortage of many things: Hours, for example. there just don’t seem to be enough of them in the day. Home cooked meals, free hands and babysitting volunteers. Where are those things when you need them? Nowhere near us that’s for sure. The one thing that there is always too much of? Trash.
While most of the boxes and packing materials get recycled, there just seems to be an abundance of garbage from vacating an old and setting up a new abode. I am someone who despises having anything superfluous around, so this tends to be a problem. For this reason, I have always been drawn to dumpsters. Seem odd? Why, yes. Yes, I am. But, the fact that I can just load up my van and drive to the nearest restaurant or Target and not have to wait until trash day kind of thrills me. I’m a simple girl.
It’s not always that easy, though. A few years ago, we were moving from Tennessee and had some trash to dispose of. I schlepped to our community clubhouse and made a drop off at the dumpster. It felt great. Liberating. Cleansing. A few days later, I got a call reprimanding me for using the communities resources for my needs. Apparently, they dug through the bags to find an envelope with our address. I was mortified. And repulsed. I apologized and started to get off the phone. Not so fast, the manager retorted. You need to come and get all of your boxes and dispose of them properly. I laughed. He did not. And if you don’t, we will fine you $1000. Ma’am. So, I dug. Through a dumpster.
You would think digging boxes from under the community pizza party would be enough to stop me from this behavior. You would think.
Flash forward to this move. Despite living in the city and paying a million dollars in taxes, our trash pickup sucks. My heaps of garbage went ignored on trash day and I was desperate. My husband, knowing how happy these things make me, had noted an unlocked dumpster at a local drugstore. So, last night I trekked over. Considering that I had just spent a hundred bucks on overpriced cleaning supplies, they owed me a little trash removal.
Unfortunately, the dumpster was a tad higher than I approximated. As I lifted the bag up to throw it in, the entire contents of it spilled back out. All over me. Down my shirt, over my head and onto my freshly pedicured toes. I met the gaze of people in the drive through pharmacy line and attempted unsuccessfully to turn invisible. Again.
I’d like to say that I learned my lesson and will no longer pull these kinds of shenanigans. Unfortunately, I think I’ll just be on the lookout for front loading dumpsters. And, I’ll start double bagging. Just in case.
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try apartment complexes. Every complex we have lived in has had at least one dumpster and they are never locked. That’s what I do!
.-= Dolli-Mama´s last blog ..Pregnant and Grade School =-.
you know i was afraid what this post was going to entail when i saw the title. how did they catch you? was there a camera? this ALMOST happened to use once. i had a semi-valid excuse (ok white lie) i was taking out the trash for one of the old ladies that lived in whatever community it was that i dumped my shit. we only did it once (three times), but now we have a dump pass.
i hope you wore gloves? mask? plastic pants? LOL
.-= vanillasugar´s last blog ..espresso-cream cheese rice krispie treats =-.
Your a rebel Scary Mommy…a rebel at heart. Just like me. :-)
I have done this too…only I usually go to an apartment complex where people have to throw their trash in the dumpster themselves. Then no one asks questions. Hehehe…. :-)
Shhh don’t tell!
Megan
.-= Megan´s last blog ..Hot Diggity Dog!! =-.
i have a similar fetish! when we are at my parent’s cape house my dad is obsessed with no smelly diapers in his trash, so i am constantly bagging and trashing them at the gas station. so gross, i know, but what else is a girl to do? and gas is really freaking expesnive, so they owe it to me too. good luck with balto trash pick-up! i remember them (and not in a good way!)
OMG-lol! really hard! Where was the camera or video when you needed one? Would have made a great vlog-how not to get rid of your garbage….
Thanks for the laugh-need it seeing as hubby has been stuck in london since thursday and looks like airports wont be opening till monday at earliest and then who knows how flights are going to be…
.-= Susie @newdaynewlesson´s last blog ..Sometimes Life Throws You A Curveball: Just Don’t Let It Knock You Down =-.
Sounds like it was a “revenge of the dumpster” experience. Horrible. But I support you in fighting back. Don’t give up, scary mommy!
.-= Melodramommy´s last blog ..You Might Be a Back-Seat Driver if . . . =-.
I can not believe they actually took the time to look for your information! That is absolutely crazy! I wonder if it really would have been legal for them to charge you like that. What jerks.
.-= Frugal Vicki´s last blog ..Excuses excuses. =-.
Im sorry, but why are they jerks? I guess they should just be forced to spend their money to pay to empty everybody and their mothers garbage. That seems really fair to me….
No offense…I love your blog. But it really isn’t fair for other people to have to pay money to get rid of everyone else’s garbage. You could take your stuff to the city dump. My mom has a dumpster at her business and they have to pay everytime that dumpster gets emptied. If they allowed people to use it as a dump then they’d end up paying alot.
I’m not offended. This is not admirable behavior, I agree. I totally got what I deserved. Twice.
Yuck…yuck…yuck. I actually got quite sick just thinking about what would be pouring over your head (at least if it were our trash!!!). I think we are so lucky that Balto County lets you dump excess trash at the landfill for free in Hunt Valley. They also have e-recycling and hazardous waste recycling. I couldn’t imagine not having that service for the excess trash. I hope you took a LONG, HOT shower and salvaged the most important part – your pedi.
I love how you picked your TARGET…they did owe u! Now, I’m going over to youtube to see if I can find who captured you on video.
.-= Poppy´s last blog ..I Need Training Wheels =-.
I can only hope it was moving related trash and not kitchen trash!
One of the best things about our county services is the trash pick up. I dread the day they privatize it. Right now we get 2 days regular pick up, 1 day recycling, 1 day compostable yard waste. They are a bit of a stickler that your recycling bins and bags be the expensive ones you buy from them (not even the very similar blue recycling hefty bags will work). They’ll take furniture and appliances, too, though not construction materials. And if you have a particularly large load you just have to call and they’ll make a special trip to pick it up. They may charge you $50 for furniture/appliances/specials, but they might not.
So are you jealous?
(I live in Metro Atl, but my county seems to be the only one with this great service)
.-= Cranky Sarah´s last blog ..A first for my husband =-.
The good news is that your in B-more now. Nobody cares enough here to go through trash. So go dumpster hopping to your hearts content.
.-= Cara´s last blog ..Friday Fluff =-.
I think I would have cut my boxes and stuff up and put them in garbage bags and left them in my garage and put an extra one a week out with the regular trash.
I actually got rid of carpet I pulled up myself, as well as the padding and cut up into pieces that would fit into a garbage bag. I put one extra bag out each week with the regular garbage until it was all out of my garage.
That sounds awful. I hate garbage pile ups. Absolutely hate them.
We pay privately for garbage pick up. It is worth it and I’m glad we have that choice.
You poor thing. I’d get desperate,too.
.-= Alexandra´s last blog ..If You Answered Yes To At Least 6 of the 8 =-.
i got in trouble for doing this in college – used the main apartment dumpster when i was moving. fortunately they didn’t ask me to remove my trash. i think i might have had to come up with $1k … i have a bit of a weak stomach.
.-= MommyNamedApril´s last blog ..I am (Mostly) Hiding from the Internet this Weekend. Please Don’t Take it Personally. =-.
That is truly gross. Did you have to climb back into your car covered in dumpster juice?
I had to dumpster dive at WORK the other day because the cleaning lady dumped my personal trash, which contained my car key (solo key), in the dumpster. Half the company watched, like it was a Happy Hour. I was praying I would produce some private tidbit on someone that I could waive in the air as punishment for mocking me.
You have convinced me NEVER to throw my garbage into a dumpster. (again.)
Ewww!
Great post! You made my whole day!!! Thanks!
You’ve got balls! I could never do that, for fear that exact thing would happen. That I would get busted. My mom dumps tree limbs in the dumpster behind a church all the time, but she got permission first.
.-= Soccermom´s last blog ..Weekly BAND =-.
I have only been brave enough to do that a couple times…but what a high – from dumping and running!
As a kid I used to go thru our apartment trash bin and found some great stuff..a broken record player, an old black and white tv…I understand your obsession!
.-= jade´s last blog ..Confessions =-.
Too funny! Makes me think of when my son was about 5 months old and we were and there was a garbage strike. My husband and I drove around town trying to find places to dump stinky diapers without being caught.
.-= Naomi´s last blog ..The plight of the toy filled home =-.
Gross. Just gross. I think you might need a 12 step program to break you of this habit. :-)
.-= Allison´s last blog ..Meal Plan 04.19.10 =-.
Different continents same problems.
In Flanders fields, where neighbours dump their old furniture in the dumpsters lined up row by row…
My sympathies on the trash thingy, I hope you will feel clean again at some point this week.
Our city has the BEST trash collectors. I even wrote the city to let them know how much we appreciated them. Because it is truly a gift. In our old city, when you had a lot of garbage, they would just slap a sticker on the trash can saying “Over 50lbs”. What the heck am I supposed to do with that? And with all my trash that no one will take? (Okay, I hear that you are suggesting illegal dumping. That’s kinda my husband’s forte. I prefer to keep my illegal activities to other things like not getting my car inspected and jaywalking.)
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Blog-spiration: Deodorant Edition =-.
Did you say you paid a million in taxes? Well, I want to thank you for all the gold trash cans your tax money paid for. ;-)
I srly love this post. I have a dream of renting a dumpster to park on my driveway one day.
.-= subWOW´s last blog ..Interview with my child: “Why I don’t like blogs” =-.
Very funny, and I have totally been there. We have the town dump with takes pretty much EVERYTHING. Even the toys and chotchkies that we all accumulate. You drop off whatever you need to get rid of: the numerous flower vases that come with the Valentine’s Day flowers, the baby rocker, the crappy plastic ride-on Cozy Coup. It’s called the “Dumptique”– even better.
Oh, and they have dumpsters. You still get your dump high.
Cheers.
.-= Betsy´s last blog ..Brief follow-up to the best complaint letter ever. =-.
Hahahaha! That would be the worst. Thanks for giving me a laugh. Our trash guys just went on strike so I am not sure I won’t be driving our trash to the next town soon.
.-= Seattledad´s last blog ..Hammering Man =-.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved this because I remember years ago hearing how one could get in trouble for putting personal trash in someone else’s dumpster so I was wondering if that’s where you were going with it.
Well, I have found myself driving around for some hot dumpster locales too. I just haven’t been caught yet. YET.
.-= Live.Love.Eat´s last blog ..Chicken Piccata – Healthy Makeover =-.
Nice. This is also good for home remodeling debris. I had a bunch of drywall and lumber scraps left after some basement finishing. My generally be-suited hubby donned a flannel shirt, drove the debris over to a new housing edition sight. He was dutifully sorting the wood and drywall scraps in to their correct repurposing bins when he was approached by a foreman looking fellow. My quick thinking hubby quickly informed him that “Bob” told him to dump the items here. The man replied “Oh, ok. I just didn’t recognize you.” My husband had quickly thought up a construction guy-type name and spewed out a quick doozie and saved his bum. And our kids think we’re so dull! (And trustworthy!)
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