Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
There’s No Free Garbage
Here is what I imagine when I pack up stuff for Housing Works: I imagine that some artsy, creative, DIY person will find this cast-off table or skirt or china plate and re-fashion it into something great, whimsical, unique. I have a vivid imagination.
The reality, I am sad to inform you, is a little more depressing. On a recent job I was helping a family empty out an apartment after the death of their elderly mother. After the family took what they wanted, we sold what was valuable, threw out the trash and lastly called in Housing Works to take the remainder. I’ve worked with Housing Works many times over the years and they always reserve the right to reject items when they see them, but I have rarely seen it happen. This time was different: they rejected almost everything. When I mentioned that I thought they had gotten picker, the driver, Eddie, explained to me that they were trying to be more discerning because picking up junk was costing them money. Eddie explained it like this: once he left my job, he went directly to the nearest Housing Works store. If they didn’t sell the stuff a few weeks it would go to the warehouse, where it might or might not be sent to another store. Eventually the warehouse would get too full and Housing Works would have to pay to have stuff hauled away. Uggg. That is not what people are hoping when they give their stuff to Housing Works. We like to think that when we get shiny-new furniture we are doing a virtuous thing by giving our old stuff to charity, and sometimes we are, but anytime we are giving something away we have to know that it may end up in a landfill somewhere.
I have been amazed when I have worked in the suburbs at how picky the charities are about what they’ll take and also at how stringent the rules about garbage pick-up are. I think that when people have houses they fill the attic and garage and then they do a big purge and overwhelm the thrift stores and garbage trucks. So charities get more particular and sanitation departments get stricter. And it gets harder to unload your stuff.
Consider 1-800-GOT-JUNK. It works like this: you pay them to come haul your stuff away, which isn’t cheap; and if they are able to sell some of your stuff they will send you a cut of the proceeds. That is a big ‘if.’ The fact that 1-800-GOT-JUNK exists is both wonderful and horrible to me. It seems like making a legitimate business of what was always an underground industry of garbage picking, which is cool, but the fact that we are throwing out so much that we there are national franchises profiting from it is discouraging.
The reality is that throwing stuff out isn’t free. Whether it is the sanitation department funded by your taxes, or paying for a dumpster or hauling trash to someone poorer’s back-yard: trash costs. And I’m not even talking about the environmental factors. So, next time you have the urge to upgrade, restrain yourself. Make do, re-upholster, re-finish. Of course, as your friendly-neighborhood organizer I don’t want to inhibit you from throwing stuff out, but make purging a habit, so you get rid of stuff a little at a time, so that you won’t end up having to fork over cash to take your trash away. Because in the end… there is no free garbage.