Salvation

I guess you can call me obsessive or maybe even obsessive-compulsive, but as a landlady, whenever there is a turnover of tenants, there is also the accompanying discard of stuff, particularly if the departure is hasty ( though this doesn't happen very often). In any case, people are always offloading things when they move.

One particular tenant, unlike me, had no concern for what ended up in the landfill. To this day I regret not salvaging the bags at the curb from her penultimate trip, because apparently the two or three bags were stuffed with teenage girls' clothing, including prom attire, in perfectly good condition. What a waste!

The last trip to the curb for the above-mentioned tenant consisted of seven full bags. This time I could not resist. So with the help of a good friend, we discreetly spirited the seven bags into the backyard and took a peek.

My suspicions were confirmed: Inside was a massive horde of items that could be diverted from landfill. We disposed of:

• Food -- fresh or canned, boxed and jarred into the green bin; the containers went into recycling;
• Clothing, some with price stickers still attached -- second hand store;
• Stuffed animals -- second hand store;
• Miscellaneous papers and magazines -- recycling;
• And so on.

Believe it or not nothing was really disgusting (like the toys and clothes) and we reduced the seven bags to a measly quarter bag of actual garbage! And believe me, I do know what actual garbage is. Boy did it feel good. A banner day!! (And I got to keep the six remaining bags for my own use. Yah, I'm obsessed.)

I now make it habit to do this with each tenant departure, as well as offer to take stuff off their hands when they leave -- they can give me things directly or leave behind and I will deal with accordingly.