This is the story of how a vitamin box became a waste basket. When it is time to gather the trash to take to the collection center, we swoop around the house emptying waste baskets. I line two with supermarket bags, one in the bedroom and one in the master bathroom. The photo, with Sadie as background, shows one basket properly lined.
Son John $pencer was the one swooping that day, and it was hours later that I thought of getting replacement bags. John ties up used bags for recycling in the laundry room, so I struggled to retrieve two and put them on the kitchen counter. More hours later, I opened a box with vitamins and threw it in the bathroom basket without thinking. This made more sound than usual, alerting me to the unlined basket. Out came the box, and I tucked in a smaller box from a toothpaste sample. By bedtime the vitamin box had two more additions, a tissue and a flossing pick. It wouldn’t take long for this new little litter basket to overflow.
The next morning I looked for the bags I had put on the counter, but they were gone. I tugged two more from the tied bag, then saw the original two wadded up. John, bless his heart, must have tidied up the counter. I can see that a 24-hour time limit for replacing liners was a bit too long. Does anyone have a tip about reminding yourself to do something on opposite ends of the house when it isn’t related to what you are doing at the moment? In other words, I NEED HELP!
Mehrling Muse 
You don’t want help from me. I sometimes find my keys in fridge.
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Cold storage!
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This is my routine every Sunday night for the Monday morning pick-up! I just carry the number of store bags aka trash can liners with me, and whip out one and tie it and replace with the new one. If I am running “Late” on collection, Randy will pop in and toss me a bag while collecting the bathroom trash. 🙂
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You are very organized. We might not be able to coordinate that well.
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Randy would find it amusing that anyone thinks we are organized. LOL
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Bill takes care of all trash duties, thank heavens! I would definitely “forget” to replace bags. I just stuff them fuller and fuller. Yes, THAT’S the kind of person I am! 🙂
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You are in lots of good company.
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Not from me. I sometime go down several rabbit trails going from the front to the back of the house.
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LOL!!
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I love that the vitamin box got a second life. (I am guilty of removing the newspaper before Charlie has finished reading it.)
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That’s a good story.
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We actually wad up a few plastic bags under the plastic bag we actually use as a liner. That way if we forget to have a replacement in hand, there is a spare waiting. This is starting to get trickier now that grocery stores and WalMart no longer provide plastic bags.
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I would still have a problem when the last bag was used.
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You kinda get in a habit of bringing one, and replace the spares if you have to. I have great faith in you. I bet you could learn to avoid the problem.
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At the office, they stick 2-4 bags on the bottom of the bin then set an open one on top – like Chrissie said. I’ve started doing that at home.
(It is annoying to be running out of plastic bags to reuse now that we don’t get them from stores….boxes just don’t work very well as a substitute…the cat keeps jumping in it.)
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That’s funny about the cat 🙂
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We still get bags from stores, but what happens when you use the last one from the wastebasket?
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Okay, thank you for that visual, and the gut laugh. Of course the cat jumped in!
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One of our cats would lick the plastic bags. He loves licking plastic.
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My house is not expansive … if I crane my neck, I can see the front and the back of the house at one time. I always put in two at a time so that when I am getting the garbage ready to go out on Monday morning, I don’t have to fool with as I run out the door to go on my walk. That usually works. I used the store bags sometimes too but not shopping as often, I don’t have the collection I usually do. I always go to the U-scan and pack my own groceries – I use triple bags so I get more bags to use at home. If the cashier packs, you get one bag and it often rips, then no bag and gritting my teeth.
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You’ve got it all figured out.
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I suspect this is a common occurrence in most homes. Or maybe just your house and mine?
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It’s a common problem, but no one has a suggestion about how to remember to get new bags when they use the last one in the bottom of the basket.
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Sometimes I save those small plastic bag big enough to line our waste cans, once you throw them, it’s tidy in the trash bag. Nowadays though, I also disinfect our waste cans after throwing the trash.
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We are not that thorough.
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Oh, I am fussy about bin liners. I always want them there as if the order of the world depended on it. Haha. I just make sure I replace it the moment I take the full one out. The vitamin box scenario has also happened to us though. Haha.
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Bin liners keep things so much neater, at least when you are gathering trash to take out.
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Yes, I don’t know what I am going to do without them. I found that as I grow older I am more fussy about cleaning the house and keeping stuff organized. When I was younger, this is definitely not the case!
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I was more particular about cleaning when there were babies and toddlers in the house. As long as we don’t trip on the dust now, we’re OK.
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I’m amazed at how much trash just Michelle and I generate. If I could sell it, but it seems we have to pay someone to haul it off.
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Our garbage is free!! We take it to the collection point ourselves.
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I think we have to pay around $12 a month for them to come empty the bins in the truck.
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Is that a good price? In NY the garbage collection was paid for by a property tax. In rural NC, there is no pickup. Everyone takes his own trash to the dump.
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It’s about average around here.
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I’ll bet John would be glad to pay someone to pick up our garbage at the curb.
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I’ve done the same!😊
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Great! I have good company!
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I have no solution other than I take the new bag with me when I empty the old one
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That’s a great idea. It means I’ll have to be the one at the beginning of the process. John will thank you for that.
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Lol it’s the only way I get bags into the cans before they’re needed
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You’re on top of the problem!
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Had a good laugh here Anne! Thank heavens for the sound of more solid things landing in the waste paper basket to alert that that shouldn’t have gone in. But sometimes I don’t hear – We’re always running out of essentials.
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We tend to be overrun with essentials. When we moved six years ago, a number of gallon containers of hand soap were uncovered in the basement. They moved with us and took up residence in the laundry room and my bathroom. I’m sure we have several more months to go before we empty the last of these huge bottles. John was doing the shopping at the discount store back then, and he must have bought a gallon every time they were on sale. Six years is a long time to not need this essential.
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Amazing post
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Just curious: I guess you don’t have recycling service out there? Like, for clean used paper/plastic/glass products? Maybe it’s more of an urban/suburban service.
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We do have recycling, of sorts. We separate recyclables and kitchen garbage. At the collection center there are also bins for cardboard and for metals.
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Oh, that’s good!
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My husband is much more organized than I am so when he takes the trash out he always gets the replacement bag before he takes the bag out. If I notice that the trash needs to go out I usually just grab it and take it out. then have to go get another bag. About 1/2 the time I can manage to make it back without distractions or forgetting. 🙂
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I guess I live in half time, the half where I forget to replace the liners.
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