Confucius Says...

Confucius Says... "One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure."

My mom and I were doing some yard work on Sunday. I noticed a few times that my neighbor would bring items out to the curb. Minutes later somebody would drive by in a truck and pick it up. At first I thought "well that was weird. I wonder why their friend who picked up their stuff didn't stop to say hi to them." Then she came out with another load of junk and the same thing happened-only a different person in a different truck. I looked at my mom and said "You don't suppose it's spring clean up days, do you?" We googled it and sure enough- Tuesday was City of Johnston Spring Clean Up Day.

Spring Clean Up Day ranks right up there with things like Birthdays and Christmas. Not only is it great to clean up your house but the entertainment it provides by the disbelief of people taking your trash off your curb is priceless.

At about 3pm on Sunday my mom and I drug out my old mailbox, old kitchen sink, a broken lamp and old microwave. My mom left about ten minutes later, I shut the garage door, and looked at the front door. A truck was approaching. The truck pulls up to the curb, the driver yells at his son to get out the back and shout back what he sees on my curb. The dad likes what he hears and gets out of the truck and they load up everything- yes everything. I stand there in disbelief. I mean, I knew it would happen, but yet was so surprised that somebody literally wanted my garbage and so quickly.

My mom called me on Monday and reminded me that I had a Christmas Tree, Satellite Dish, old flower pot and  some old fencing that was around a garden that I needed to get rid of. I hauled it all out to the curb and watched over the next thirty minutes as the trucks and trailers went by looking through all the trash my neighbors and I had brought to the curb. Sure enough, people found more treasures. By the time the garbage came today, all that was left was the Satellite Dish. Somebody even took the old fencing! Unreal!

I had not gotten rid of those items yet because Midwest Solid Waste wanted to charge me between $15-$45 to pick up those items. These hoarders took them off my hands for free! Now all the hoarders will have to wait until next year to make their trip around the neighborhoods for their trash treasures! I feel so bad for their heirs who are going to have to clean all that trash those treasures!