On the joy of a dumpster in front of your house

It may be a side effect of suburban living: you always have too much stuff.

There’s always stuff you want to throw away.

But you can’t—because you never remember to toss it, or your trash removal service won’t take it, or it’s simply too bulky to get rid of.

Enter the dumpster.

A dumpster is the opposite of my suburban dilemma.

If my house and property say, “We don’t have enough space! We have all this stuff that doesn’t belong!”—then the dumpster says, “All I have is space! Everything belongs!”

We ordered a dumpster a few days ago to deal with the construction debris from a partial demolition of our deck—but there was SO MUCH SPACE LEFT OVER.

My mind suddenly danced with the possibilities. That old sandbox in the backyard? With the rail ties that we’d never be able to fit into our garbage cans? TEAR IT UP. The broken compost bin slowly being scavenged by our neighborhood rat? TOSS IT IN. The old patio table with its broken corner panels? SEND IT.

It’s not, as you may note, a matter of small stuff. It’s chucking the big stuff that makes the dumpster such a delight, the junk you would get rid of if not for the inconvenience of getting rid of it.