Friday, June 18, 2010

No More Trash Bill!

Deciding to eliminate our trash bill is one of the weirdest things we have done to try and save money, but two years ago we finally made the leap to no longer having a trash bill! I know it sounds a little bit strange, but this is something that my husband and I had been trying to do for several months. I first got the idea after reading Tammy's blog and how she did not have a trash bill. At first I thought she was crazy, but after I thought about it for awhile I realized that it was actually a really smart idea.

Here is what we did...

-We realized that we had mandatory recycling in our city and we pay for it every month so we might as well use it.


-We made our goal to only have 1 bag of trash per week.


- I set up a recycling bin in the garage right off the kitchen.


- We recycled everything we could...paper, junk mail, glass, tin cans, and aluminum.


-My husband made a compost pile on the side of our house for the garden.


We decided to see how things went for 2 months and then make our decision. Since we try to buy as few prepacked foods as possible and reuse as much as possible we quickly realized that we would probably be able to easily meet out goal. The result-2 months later we had managed to consistently have 1 bag of trash per week.

What did we decide to do with it? Well, we would prefer to burn it and not have to deal with it at all, but in our small suburb that did not seem like a good option. So instead we have been taking the 1 bag to my mother's house and adding it to her trash cart.


We did not see a reason to pay a trash company to pick up 1 bag a week. That is a savings of $35-$40 a month or $480 per year. This may not seem like a lot, but it is little things like this that add up to big savings. Especially if you are trying to save money. Not to mention the way it helps our environment that God gave us to take care of.

For More Frugal Friday ideas head on over to Life As Mom

5 comments:

  1. Fascinating! We live in a duplex/apt complex with paid for trash, but I still try and reduce how much we end up throwing away by avoiding packaged materials, reusing paper for kids activities, etc. Great ideas for when we move into a home. :)

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  2. Good for you! I love new ideas for saving money!

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  3. Hey Laurie,

    Nice to meet you.

    Love your ideas. Especially about the pink icing!

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  4. It is amazing how little you have to actually trash after recycling. :D Haven't tried the compost pile yet though.

    Thanks for sharing! Have a great weekend!
    Sherry

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  5. I just visited your blog today and bookmarked it. I'm loving these sites that help do natural on a budget - thanks!

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