I signed up for three months of trash service so dh and I can clear out the studio barn. It starts tonight. When I cancelled the trash service almost two years ago, it was because we hardly used it and the provider kept annoying me by not actually stopping for the trash (the can wouldn’t be there for a couple of weeks, and then they wouldn’t notice it...)

meanwhile, a surprising number of things that are larger than a bread bag have broken, and we have generated many medium sized construction scraps (two feet of crushed plastic, drainage pipe, 3 sq ft of wet and dirty fiberglass insulation, tattered plastic tarp....) we have also accumulated a lot of styrofoam packaging that I really wanted to transport to a recycling location, but I am trying really hard to believe that the trade off in time and gasoline (the closest one is over two hours from me) is not worth it. so, while the main thrust is to get rid of non-recyclable scrap, I have also become very aware of things that break and wear out.

And so, along with the intended clean out, I am exploring my home, randomly today, but with an eye to being more systematic after this initial load, and asking the following questions:

1) what is the ultimate destininy of this item?
(trash, compost, recycling, burn)
2) if trash, do I currently need/want it?
3) if no - can it be donated and used by someone else? Yes - donate, no - throw away now.