My parent's neighbour two doors up is absolutley not a minimalist. Her general waste bin is stuffed to the top so that the red lid sits at a profound angle and white plastic bugs puff out like clouds. Her green waste bin looks like she's stuffed a giant troll into it, with grassy hair overflowing.
My mother is infuriated by the neighbour plus one.
Come bin day, said neighbour puts excess rubbish in my mother's bin if she has no room, which is every bin day. If it's too well stuffed, the garbage truck doesn't manage to empty it, and Mum is stuck with her plastic bags for another week. Mum's more annoyed at her than she is about Trump, which is saying something.
Mum rants and raves every Wednesday about it. She never puts plastic bags in the bin - a bit of newspaper at the bottom to absorb liquids will do, and it takes nothing - nothing! - to rinse out the inside bin. Why use plastic when you don't have to? It just ends up in landfill, she cries, and besides, the council advise not to! For Mum, it's incredibly unfair that she's going to such effort and the neighbour doesn't.
Until the council has a soft rubbish recycling program, soft plastics are out.
My parents have a beautiful house. Everything is in it's place. It's calm, and neat, and tidy. Mum works hard at it. But she does it ethically, responsibly, thoughtfully. She shops at wholefoods and the green grocer so that she avoids plastic in the first place. Every rubber bands around kale wind her up. 'They'll get stuck around the beak of something' she rants. 'I can't bear it!'.
Strawberries and blueberries go into washed and de-labelled gherkin jars. Paper bags of cashews and figs the same. Gherkin jars are just the right size for repurposing.
Her beautiful linen doona covers she dyed for a fresh look rather than buy new ones - in one room, a beautiful burnt orange, and in another, a deep blue.
She isn't adverse to buying new things, just she will really, really think about their longevity and their environmental impact. I'd never call Mum a minimalist per sa - but she absolutely has minimalist values.
Living there, I can't help but be caught up in the drama of the bins. On the day we put out the bins this week I take out the neighbours plastic bagged rubbish and place it back on top of her own overstuffed monstrosity. If it remains uncollected, that's on her. Mum and I plot and plan. Perhaps a label on the bin that says 'no plastic bags in here please', or I'd dump the bag over her freaking fence.
I don't think any of it will help. Some people are just maximalist by nature.
**Sugargum drive isn't the real name of my parent's street, but it sounded catchy for the title.
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That’s utterly crazy and yes fight back. Tell them who’s boss!
I like responsible garbage disposal, and this made me think of my mum in Jamaica. She's particular about her garbage and you need to place the right thing, the right way, in her bins. There's always a newspaper at the bottom, too.
So, I'm annoyed by your mum's neighbour from miles away. She should NOT get away with that abuse on your mother.
I hope someone will do something about your mum's neighbour because that's undue stress that I think elderly people should not endure.
My mother-in-law got a reprimanding letter from the local council here in the UK, accusing her of not abiding by garbage rules. She was livid and claimed that people place items in her bin after she puts them out for collection. I haven't heard her ranting about it recently because she no longer puts out the bin, and just leaves the garbage bag tied up:)
I think my Mum would be furious at being called elderly as well 😜😂😂😂😂 She's pretty spritely for 74.
Sounds like your Mum is as particular as mine. As Mum says it's not that hard!
Do they still collect your mother in laws rubbish even if it's just a garbage bag? I couldn't believe the rubbish only gets collected once a month in my mother in laws village in Somerset. But I guess that encourages people to use less waste.
Something sounds wrong there! In all other communities/cities that I know, they collect regular garbage and recycling weekly, and I think they might collect shrubs and green waste every 2 weeks.
Haha! I get that, my mum is 77 and she's a spring chicken who refuses to be called a senior citizen 😆... so my apology for 'insulting' your mum 🙏
Hahah no worries, lmao. I am sure we'll be annoyed when the time comes. My Dad was furious that the doctors were outside the ward talking about him. 'That's what happens with the elderly' they said. He was furious!
Yes, we will be.
In the Philippines, a young freelance Diving Instructor referred to me and another instructor as 'the older ladies' in their 40s. We took it lightly but threatened not to give him any more jobs 😡😆
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Phew!
Oh mine. Who lives like that. My kids will call me an OCD (Obsessive Compulsory Disorder) because of how I go about picking things off the floor. Its all about lifestyle.Hahaha 😝.
Well hopefully they appreciate you!
I wish so too. Thank you for your kind word. Blessings 😇.
I'd be pissed, too. I try so hard to reduce my use of plastics! While I don't have theproblem of someone else putting their garbage in my bin, I am horrified by what I see people put out every single week. I can't imagine how it's even possible to make that much garbage in one week, mostly plastic.
Ugh yeah that was definitely Mums biggest gripe - that she was doing the right thing and the neighbour wasn't.