Goodbye To 15 Years Of Rubbish

We've decided to have a bit of a clean-up. I have some 15 years of accumulated rubbish. Not that all of it is rubbish. I threw away a printer/scanner/copier that was fine until Windows XP came along. There was some other stuff that had to go too.

Had to do my homework though. I have a reputation to uphold, you know. First thing was to ring the dump, er waste management facility, and enquire about what items I could dispose of and how much it would cost, along with opening hours of course. Then I had to find a trailer to hire. Four hours should be enough time to load it up, take it to the dump, unload, clean the trailer and return it. Prices ranged between $29 and $49 for a 6' x 4' caged box trailer. Not a bad deal and the $29 one was nearby.

I started cleaning out the shed on the Friday evening when The Boy was attending a taekwondo class (extra) that isn't part of his normal schedule. It was a good thing too as there was a bit to do. On the Saturday afternoon I pulled out heaps of unwanted goods and piled them up in readiness for a quick loading.

Sunday. D-Day. I hate throwing anything away that I think may come in handy in the next five decades. I'm much like my father in that respect although he thinks longer term.

Took The Boy with me to collect the trailer. He checked the signals for me and found out that one of the blinkers wasn't working. Coupled with the fact that the chain to hold the trailer in place should it jump off the tow ball was broken, and somebody brought a trailer in good condition back, I cancelled my trailer and booked the other one. Hooked it on and headed for home. I have fond memories as a kid of doing similar things with my dad.

Loaded up the trailer. As I said, 15 years of rubbish. Well, it was some of 15 years worth of rubbish. Not the whole lot.

15 years of rubbish

15 years of rubbish

15 years of rubbish

That's what you use to get rid of 15 years of rubbish


The trip to the dump didn't take too long. Unfortunately I had something in the back that they wouldn't accept and had to return home with it. And it would have to have been at the bottom of the pile. Just about had to unload the whole trailer, remove the heavy items that weren't acceptable and then reload it. Hmmm, my fours hours of hire were ticking down. No problem second time round. It was kind of fun to throw away things that were no longer of use.

Returned home and had a shower. Took the trailer back and headed to the pool. Luckily for us they were having an open day so entry was free. I didn't know this at the time so it was a bonus.

By jingoes I have some spare space in the shed. I commented to the front end loader driver that if my wife had her way there would be another two or three loads of a similar size being thrown out. His comment? "They're all like that."