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{ Sunday, September 08, 2002 }

Trash.

 
So, this week we actually remembered to take the trash cans to the curb. We missed last week.

I had no idea that so many glass bottles were consumed here. Mostly beer, but other liquors too. I filled, completely filled Rosie and then had to set another trash bag next to her. Herbie didn't fare any better, he has one extra trash can (full of yard waste actually. We don't have a Lenny.) and then another bag next to that.

Yes, here in Lexington, they've named the trash receptacles. Rosie the recycling bin actually sings and dances on the television. Lennie and Herbie haven't yet, but "sometimes Herbie can't handle it all".

It's kind of fun for all the garbage cans to have names. It's really entertaining to listen to Rosie tell us that we need to "Make it a habit to recycle first, and don't trash Lexington."

After we got all the trash gathered up and moved to the curb... Emma and I cleaned house. Not very actively, but some. Emma got into it and is doing laundry and rearranged her bedroom furniture. Then we had a long discussion about possible ways to rearrange the back room. We don't like the current arrangement.

I know I've said this before, but having roommates is strange. Because everyone has their own ways of doing things, and their own priorities to cleanliness. I like to be able to sweep the floor. That's my standard of clean enough. And then sometimes I worry that I'm too messy. That I only ran the dishwasher twice last week or that I might have food rotting in the downstairs fridge that they are afraid to throw away.

I also worry that they hate the cat. I did just learn today that the cat bites them. But the litterbox is upstairs where no one else seems to ever go... and that worries me too, that I have that whole upstairs to myself. Maybe they think I should spend more time up there and less time loafing about...

Anyway, the whole point of this was not that I am in some way insecure about my housing. Because I'm really not. I just worry a bit now and then. No one has given me any reason to. Well, sometimes Ellie looks horrified at me, but usually I am expecting it and trying to shift her mindset a bit. So I deserve the horrified stare.

The point was really that three or four or five or however many people there are living here (at least three. not more than five) generate a lot of empty bottles. And a lot of trash. And a lot of dirty dishes. And so much laundry. I didn't know, well, I guess I did know, but not on any real level, that people could have that much laundry.

I go through the following garments in a week: seven pairs of underwear, possibly one bra, two towels, four or five t shirts, two pairs of shorts, possibly one pair of jeans, possibly two socks, a couple pairs of boxers. That's it. That's one load of laundry. Two if I wash the sheets. I wear more clothes than that (some weeks), but I re-wear things. Sometimes I have to wash a t shirt after one wearing, but most of the time, everything else can be worn a few times before it needs to be washed.

So, I don't understand how these other people can have a load of laundry to wash every other day. Or every single day. Last year I used one gallon of detergent. It lasted me one year, six months of which it was being used for Waste and myself. I would guess I do 40-60 loads of laundry per year. That's including towels, sheets, blankets, everything. That's one bottle of detergent and one box of dryer sheets. I'm afraid I am going to have to hide my detergent in my room. I don't want to share. They go through it too fast.

I guess I shouldn't be that suprised. I used to fill my trashcan tops once every two weeks. Now, it's full almost daily. The indoor one, not Herbie.

It can be expected to some degree that living with more people means more trash, more recycling, more laundry, emptying the ashtrays several times a day, etc... It just strikes me as odd the different ways different people have of dealing with things. And it's harder with roommates and not a live-in significant other.

posted by mary ann 9:05 PM


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