Every year or so we visit family in Hawaii (I know what a shame and on our new budget it might not be happening any time soon). When we go I'm always reminded that in most areas of the island (the big island at least) there is no garbage collection, in other words, you have to take your own garbage to the dump. Think about this. If you had to collect up your own trash, hold it at your house until the next time you could make it to the dump, wouldn't you think twice about what you threw away?
So there is recycling and composting and worm bins and many ways to deal with our garbage. If you had to keep it around longer you might choose to use more rags and less paper towels, and compost more to reduce food waste in your garbage (I mean, you have to put this stuff in your car). Even if you have pickup you can get really good at all this then you won't fill your can every week.
Here is a simple way to save a few dollars every month - which adds up over the year. Resize your garbage can. Get a smaller can and pay less or if you are really careful with what you throw out you might be able to opt for every-other-week garbage pickup. Think carefully about each item you throw away and where it might go other than the trash. Think hard about what you are putting in the trash and if there is an alternative product you can use that creates less waste. Think to yourself, if I had to carry this to the dump myself, when I had the time, would I be throwing this out?
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