*Sigh*..At times it feels like cycling backwards!

[Miss Cellane]

Some things can be disassembled and then parts put in your car to take to the dump. Some areas have bulk trash day once or twice a year.

If you have a weekly limit on big items per house, see if several neighbors will let you put items at their houses. Or just put out your limit per week each week until you catch up.

Somewhere on the internet, I have read about a woman faced with getting rid of a sofa. She couldn't move the sofa by herself and her car wasn't big enough to hold it. So she took it apart. The cushions were removed, then the upholstery and padding, and put in trash bags. Then she took out the springs. Finally, she took a saw to the wooden framework. It took several weeks, but bit by bit, she put that sofa in her weekly trash pickup.

[Selah]

When I lived in Nevada, whatever was too big for the curbside garbage pickup needed to be hauled to the dump. Residents could use the dump for free. If I could fit the item in my own car, I'd haul it there myself. If not, I'd find a friend with a pickup truck and do it that way, "paying" said friend in beer, lunch, or whatever! Now that I live in a high-density Israeli town, I see people getting rid of large items by simply putting them next to their communal dumpsters. Lots of people just come by and take those items privately, so it works as a kind of informal Freecycle program.

Anyway, like other posters have said, don't be down on yourself. Decluttering is sometimes like excavating a site with multiple layers of sediment. There's the surface layer, and then more gets uncovered and dealt with, and then another layer "seems" to emerge. It was all there, all the time, but since we'd dulled our awareness about it, it seems that the more we uncover, new clutter seems to appear! This is a normal part of the process, as is dealing with frustration and a lot of other emotions. But remember, "no shame, no blame," and just keep going. You can work through these uncomfortable feelings, you can "do hard." You're doing it already!

[Tiam]

You have a 'dump' available???? 'Dumps' around here were closed decades ago and we can only legally dispose of stuff by recycle or waste company pick up. We have Republic Waste Trash and Recycle service who will take most anything (no tires) including 1 large item per week but they have always taken everything we put out to the road. Check the classifieds for trash haulers, guys with pickups, not sure how much they charge or exactly what they do with it (take it to a landfill or back 40). Dumpsters from big waste companies (Waste Management/Republic) and small local waste services come as small as 5 ad 10 yds which around here is about $150 for a one time delivery and pick up.

Well, the dump is strictly controlled by what and how much they will take and you have to pay for it by the yard. Unfortuately, since I'm decluttering in increments I never have enough to justify a large 150 dollar container.

[Tiam]

When I lived in Nevada, whatever was too big for the curbside garbage pickup needed to be hauled to the dump. Residents could use the dump for free. If I could fit the item in my own car, I'd haul it there myself. If not, I'd find a friend with a pickup truck and do it that way, "paying" said friend in beer, lunch, or whatever! Now that I live in a high-density Israeli town, I see people getting rid of large items by simply putting them next to their communal dumpsters. Lots of people just come by and take those items privately, so it works as a kind of informal Freecycle program.

Anyway, like other posters have said, don't be down on yourself. Decluttering is sometimes like excavating a site with multiple layers of sediment. There's the surface layer, and then more gets uncovered and dealt with, and then another layer "seems" to emerge. It was all there, all the time, but since we'd dulled our awareness about it, it seems that the more we uncover, new clutter seems to appear! This is a normal part of the process, as is dealing with frustration and a lot of other emotions. But remember, "no shame, no blame," and just keep going. You can work through these uncomfortable feelings, you can "do hard." You're doing it already!

Thanks Selah. I like the architectural dig picture you paint.

[goldensmom]

Somewhere on the internet, I have read about a woman faced with getting rid of a sofa. She couldn't move the sofa by herself and her car wasn't big enough to hold it. So she took it apart. The cushions were removed, then the upholstery and padding, and put in trash bags. Then she took out the springs. Finally, she took a saw to the wooden framework. It took several weeks, but bit by bit, she put that sofa in her weekly trash pickup.

That works. I would never think to 'deconstruct' a sofa but I did that once with an old entertainment center. I deconstructed it, kept the screws, wheels, knobs, etc for future use, took the rest of it piece by piece to the weekly trash pick up and after a few weeks.....all gone.

When I was a child, people burned most of their trash so the stuff they took to the 'free, open-to-anybody-dumps' were mostly what we would recycle today. Once a year my father would load up a wagon and off we'd go. One time while dad was unloading the wagon I picked up an old trumpet and took it home without him knowing about until we were home. The dump attendants shack was laden with cool stuff he'd scavenged from others cast offs.

[artist]

We break it down and haul it to the dump in my husbands hatchback. Amazing what you can get in a Hyundai accent if you are determined enough.