As much as I love living in the country, there are a few downsides. One for instance is that while I could walk my daughter to/from school in the city, I now have to drive 15 minutes to get to school. Same goes for a grocery store. In the city I lived in before we moved, I was within blocks of a restaurant, bar (not that I ever went), school, stores, etc.
Another downside is that trash pick-up is very costly, especially since we recycle or compost a lot of stuff most people throw away. We only have about one bag a week for the four of us, and at $90 for 3 months garbage pick-up, that’s roughly $7.50 a bag. Outrageous! My husband’s brother only lives a mile away from us, so we are “borrowing” one of his 3 can allowance to save a little moolah. Speaking of recycling, that brings me to the subject of this little blog today. There is no recycling pick-up in this beautiful county of ours. None. So, in order to save all of the paper, plastic, cardboard, cans, glass, etc. from ending up trying to decompose for years and years at the dump, we have to take it ourselves to the next county about 25 minutes away where they have community bins for the county to recycle.
Being the unorganized procrastinator that I am (sometimes), the lack of somebody coming to my doorstep to collect my recycling means that in the year since we have moved, everything, EVERYTHING, that can be recycled has ended up in a massive pile in my spacious garage that my car has not had the pleasure of parking in!
It took my husband and I several hours to sort through the mess and separate everything. If you think I am exaggerating, just take a look:
As you can see, we filled the entire bed of the truck just with recycling! I know, you are so jealous because you didn’t get invited to the party. I assure you that next year, if you send me your address, you will receive an invitation! Immediately after going to the recycling center, we got bins to be able to separate as we go so we don’t have to waste another Saturday as if we have nothing better to do. That was just from our little family of four, so imagine if every family were to recycle, how much of a difference we could make. Check with your local recycling center to find out if you can get pick-up or where you can take yours and what they will actually accept. I posted a previous entry on things you wouldn’t think of to recycle, so be sure to check that out too, for more information.
