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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{ 68 comments… read them below or add one }
You positively inspire me : )
So glad you are almost done schlepping around the trash from this move!
.-= Life with Kaishon´s last blog ..girls, girls, girls! =-.
Oh. Em. Yuck. You poor, poor girl. I totally feel ya, though-we pay 6 million dollars a month for a garbage can that will fit two bags. We totally make dumpster runs. Apartment complexes are usually good places to go:)
.-= Kisha Floren´s last blog ..I Just Want to Wear My Skinny Jeans! =-.
Been there, done that. We live in a HOA and they are such a pain about the trash. I wrote an entire post about throwing bad meat away in the local park’s trash. I have an obsession with throwing things away. I know all the “good” places to stash trash after The Holidays and Birthdays.
.-= Julie´s last blog ..First Professional Baseball Game =-.
I’m sorry, but I am totally laughing at your pain. But what the hell is wrong with those clubhouse people that they would actually dig through your trash to find you? While they were in that dumpster they should have removed the stick from their collective ass….
.-= Anne´s last blog ..More Great Earth Day Deals! =-.
Well, most places DO have to pay for those dumpsters and for them to be emptied. My mom has a dumpster at her business and if she just let people come and dump stuff all the time she’d end up paying for extra dumping. The more people who use it, the faster it fills up and the more it has to be emptied. I don’t blame the community club for digging thru to find out who had illegally dumped. Its not really fair for them to have to pay to empty other peoples trash, and that will put a stop to repeat offenders. IMO…
Condos. The dumpsters at condominiums are never locked and if you go to a busy enough condo complex they don’t know whether you live there or not. Same for apartments, but apartments usually have an office on the property. Condos have no offices.
A $1,000 fine?? I can’t believe that garbage. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)
.-= Stacia´s last blog ..Haiku Friday =-.
We used to do this, too, but haven’t for awhile. I have to say, though, we were always on the lookout for video cameras but I never even thought of someone going through our bags to find out who we were. Now I know to shred every piece of paper into a bunch of little pieces if we ever decide to take it up again.
.-= C @ Kid Things´s last blog ..Some Things Stay the Same =-.
In college, some people I know didnt want their couch at the end of the semester, so they drove out into the country & dumped it :( Unfortunately for them, one of them had left a receipt from an atm visit between the cushions. The cops came to find him & fined him $500 for dumping! Now I am too freaked out to try – I swear they are going to find me somehow.
I am amazed by the amount of trash our family produces. We recycle with the best of them, but with kids and convenience foods, it is ridiculous. Luckily we have a dumpster where we live now, we used to have cans and it was frustrating sometimes after birthday parties or barbecues with friends as the cans overloaded (I can feel the desperation as I think about it now!). There was a great article the other day in the NYTimes about incinerators in Europe where they are burning trash to make clean energy. I wouldn’t feel as guilty about producing so much trash if we had those here!
.-= Liz´s last blog ..DOCTORING VS. MOTHERING ERRORS =-.
I just love you. That would absolutely happen to me. Because that is just how I roll.
.-= BlissfulBabe´s last blog ..Here I Go Again! =-.
Ew! I’m always paranoid that the military is going to phone us up when we use their dumpsters.
Oh NO! That is such a hilarious story (though I feel for you). A similar event happened to my aunt. She tried to use a dumpster; a guard caught her and made her remove everything.
We usually go to the dump with any large trash or unusual recycling items (car oil and batteries), but it can actually get pretty pricey.
.-= Mrs.Mayhem´s last blog ..We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules =-.
We live in a neighborhood that is still being built-out. There are tons of dumpsters in front of partially built homes. Last fall my husband chucked our dead grill into one of them. Someone pulled it out…walked it back to our house…rang our doorbell and left it at our front door. I know the dumpsters are expensive and the builders have to pay for them but really was that necessary?!
yes!! Why should other people have to pay to remove YOUR trash!!! Im sorry, but seriously, its not fair.
Oh my!! I don’t know what I would do if I had garbage dumped all over me. I probably would take like 10 super hot showers…
But I understand when there is more garbage than the garbage men will take. that happened last year when we were “spring cleaning”. We actually got a $50 fine because we put too much trash in our garbage cans and the top was open like an inch.
.-= This Mama Works It!´s last blog ..Let Me Take A Few Steps Back Because I Still Have A Lot Of Debt To Get Paid Off =-.
Oh no!! Luckily, I have a husband with a truck and a city dump near his office. I despise our trash pick up system. It is horrible. There is something SO wrong about leaving garbage bags out on the common area grass where the kids play later. Eww!
I love your dumpster collage, though!
.-= Lolli´s last blog ..I’m Out! =-.
I think I threw up a little in my mouth when I read this! How gross! You poor thing!
For the record, our trash pickup sucks, too. When we first moved here, they refused to pick up our trash and left us a nasty little note on the garbage can saying that the trash receptacle had to be facing a certain direction on a certain part of the sidewalk in order for them to empty it.
I was PISSED. The garbage collector got out of his truck to PUT the nasty missive on the garbage can, but couldn’t just turn the dang thing around and empty it (he still could have put the nasty note on at that point, right?). GRR. You have my sympathy.
.-= TheKitchenWitch´s last blog ..Hot Stuff: Camarones a la Diabla =-.
That’s awful!! And, so much more of an effort than just taking the damn trash!
I don’t understand where my comments go : ( I was so excited to be the very first comment last night : ) I hope you have the most wonderful weekend with the kids and your trash free house Jill-i-o : )
.-= Life with Kaishon´s last blog ..girls, girls, girls! =-.
I know!! You keep ending up in my spam folder. I don’t know why. :( It makes me crazy!!
I’m cringing for you, I really am. Yuck! I say use the dumpster at an apartment complex, because the residents care a lot less than they do at condo places. Just go after office hours.
.-= Jerseygirl´s last blog ..The Scanner Fairy =-.
That’s up there with the, “Oh, I’ll just take it our real quick,” and then leaving a trail of viscous funk from the kitchen all the way across the carpeted areas of the house and into the garage. #bestintentionsfail
.-= amanda´s last blog ..Love Letters =-.
i could never go garbage bin hunting, i would totally take the fine. we are lucky we have back lane garbage pick up so if our cans are full we go through the back lane at night and add to our neighbors collection :P when they switched it to street fronts a few weeks back we didn’t get the memo so we were still dropping our extra bags in the neighbors bins. we had a few neighbors come to our door asking us to stop cause they were tired of moving our garbage to the front. my boyfriend just laughed at them and closed the door.
.-= rachel-ann´s last blog ..one of those up and down days. =-.
Bahahahaha! That’s hilarious. Hope you were able to salvage (ha) the pedicure.
The last time we moved the previous owners left a ton of crap in the garage…just TRY to get rid of a nasty mattress in Austin. Impossible!
.-= Liz @ Peace, Love & Guacamole´s last blog ..The littlest monsters =-.
Oh wow. That SUCKS! Having too much trash is no fun…But, perhaps it would be best if you located the nearest dump for future reference :)
.-= Lindsay @ Just My Blog´s last blog ..Bananas4Bows Giveaway (Ends 4/22) =-.
I’m so lucky! First of all, I live in an apartment and have no worries about the volume of my garbage. Even when I did live in a house with my ex, though, we never had to think about it. We just put out whatever garbage we had and they took it. Believe me, when we gutted the basement, there was a copious amount of garbage! Anything big that the regular garbage men can’t take gets picked up by the city within the week. Reading the previous comments makes me glad to live where I do!
.-= Kat´s last blog ..So We’re Not Perfect! =-.
I’ve always wanted to move. Just so I can rent one of those dumpsters that are black and have “WHITE TRASH” written on them in hot pink. My neighborhood would just love that.
Wait. I take that back… they don’t say WHITE TRASH, they say TRAILER TRASH. Even better.
I can relate to trash pickup sucking royally….our county only picks up trash located in bins, and ONLY in bins that the county provides. It’s an act of Congress and a significant wait to get more county-provided bins to your residence (under contract, no less) at an additional cost, of course. If they had been like that when we first moved in here, we’d likely still have moving trash from 6 years ago.
I just live for the day when I can purchase an old pickup truck and find a landfill to drive my excess trash to. Are there even still public landfills anywhere?
OMG I can totally picture this, YUCK! I hate clutter and trash {we just moved into our house a few months ago so we have a lot} but I just cant imagine putting it all in my car and dumping it myself! So kudos to you for at least trying :)
oh gross, poor thing. Poor poor thing lol {sorry – stifling laugh}. I hate dumpster diving, although many of my friends have found treasures in the dumpsters. I cannot bring myself to do it.
.-= S Club Mama´s last blog ..prayer request =-.
Oh dear. At least it was your own filth that covered you?
Not sure if its better or worse, but whenever we move my husband refuses to pay for boxes. So we go to the “recycled boxes only” dumpsters behind stores and dig out ones to use. Selectively. Very, very selectively.
.-= Domesticated Gal´s last blog ..Cure for a Heavy…Conscience =-.
Just a warning to everyone…. using someone else’s dumpster can be ILLEGAL in some places. Be careful!
Not to mention that the places have to pay everytime they have that dumpster emptied. Why should other people have to pay to dump your trash? Its not fair, it really isn’t Take your stuff to the dump.
Oh, I’ve dumpster snuck garbage many a time. It’s thrilling, living on the edge.
I’m hoping it was dry garbage that fell out of the bag and that you weren’t forced to publicly experience the intimacy of wet garbage seductively slipping down your shirt.
.-= Melissa´s last blog ..Happy 101 =-.
No. It was not dry. And, there may have been diapers involved. But, let’s not go there.
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!)