Tag: clutter

Landfills: A Love Story

Posted on July 8, 2019 by - Piquant

This is probably the only ode to landfills, ever.

I love going to the local landfill. I remember my family dropping things off once when I was young, and how amazed I was at the immense possibility of what could be made from stuff I saw lying around; I envisioned robots, go karts, an epic treehouse. Unfortunately we couldn’t take anything from the junk piles, but the sense of wonder I felt in that landfill stuck with me.

Where I currently live the landfill is close enough to go there and back in well under an hour, yet far enough that I don’t smell anything. Huge win win.

I will note that on my first several trips to this landfill I was unaware of how pricing worked, and as a result paid more than expected…which took away some of the magic. The first time I was one bag over the lowest price tier, and on another visit I didn’t know I could have asked to pay by weight instead of by bag (which would have been nice since I was dropping off lightweight insulation batting). But never fear! I’ve now optimized my landfill approach and the magic is back.

My current approach is to wait until I have the maximum number of bags allowed under the lowest payment tier. With all of the home improvement projects and ultimate scrap challenges I’ve been doing, it doesn’t take long before I’m loading bags in my CRV for another lovely trip to the landfill.[1]

These bags have old garage junk, a long vinyl dryer vent hose that was a fire hazard, some old stove pellets, and stuff the recycling truck rejected (among other things)

My preferred time to go is in the early morning, right at open. The sun and cool air make going to the dump almost a poetic experience, which is probably a brand new sentence (at least in this context).

Empty car! Feels like sipping Sprite on a swing in spring

And I know it sounds weird, but every visit has been like taking a huge weight off literally and figuratively.[2]

Call me odd but nothing quite matches the feeling of driving home in an empty car, a brilliant sun coming over the trees, to a house that’s more free from unneeded items and clutter.

So take a look around and consider what you could improve by what you could remove, and do that. Start small; fill just one bag. Then fill another. Call your local landfill and ask about pricing, and when you hit the limit for the lowest price make a quick trip and see how you feel, too!

[1] This once again proves the magic of CRVs. All sorts of stuff goes into the bags, and a ton of bags go into the CRV.

[2] Ha. Ha. Ha.

The Ultimate Scrap Challenge

Posted on June 12, 2019 by - Making

I recently published a post doing what I called “The Ultimate Scrap Challenge” during which I created an outdoor patio table using only scraps from previous projects.

It’s a silly, embellished name for such a small project. And I was sure I wasn’t the first to use it.

As I prepared that post I searched online for “ultimate scrap challenge” to see if anyone had used the term already and if I was going to get in trouble for using the phrase.

What I found was this:

Huh.

I was surprised. I certainly am not the first to think of this concept. There’s a huge maker community out there, as well as super minimalist, conservation-minded, and waste-conscious people too.

My guess is these communities already have a term for this kind of activity- and that it’s a much better one than The Ultimate Scrap Challenge- but I’m not aware of its name.

Either way, I want to get people involved in using up junk and clearing their clutter. It’s good for the budget, the environment, and creativity.

So let’s make this a thing.

TUSC Rules

  • “Scrap” is:
    • Material left over from a project
    • Material that went unused (perhaps you bought it and never used it, and it’s too late to return it)
    • Material that’s repurposed (perhaps something is broken and you take parts off)
    • Note: trash does not necessarily qualify as scrap. More on this in the FAQs.
  • Create something new from scrap as defined above.
    • Instead of creating something new you may also improve an existing object
  • Don’t make things that hurt people.

FAQs

  • Does my challenge need to have a specific purpose or utility?
    • Kind of. TUSC isn’t about merely changing scrap into better organized scrap; it’s also about solving problems, inspiring creativity, and saving money along the way.
  • Can I make art as part of TUSC?
    • Sure. In “The Lessons of History” (which I highly recommend!) there’s a definition of art that I really like: “establishing a meaningful order in the chaos of materials.” I think that fits here.
  • But art, especially modern art, doesn’t have utility or meaning.
    • Yeah, I’m not gonna go there right now. Plus that isn’t even a question.
  • Does my challenge have to be made from wood?
    • Nope. I used wood because it was what I wanted to use up. If you have leftover paint from model projects or cloth from sewing projects then please, use that (and anything else you’d like)!
  • Can I 3D print/otherwise create stuff for this?
    • Sure.
  • What if I have to buy something for my challenge?
    • That’s probably fine. You might want to consider: “Will the overall utility of this new creation outweigh the cost of what I’ll buy to make it happen?” If so, go for it. If not, maybe adjust your design or project.
  • What do you mean when you said trash doesn’t qualify as scrap?
    • I admit there’s overlap, but I’d prefer the focus of your TUSC project is on reducing clutter as opposed to just going through the garbage. While a lot of clutter might just be trash, and good material can be sourced from garbage piles, try to prioritize scrap first from your living space and second from other places.
  • Then why don’t you just call it “The Ultimate Clutter Challenge”?
    • I’d argue that “scrap” has a broader definition than “clutter” and fits better here; I don’t consider wood left over from a table project to be “clutter” even though it’s cluttering up my garage. Shrug.

And if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can broaden the scope of your Ultimate Scrap Challenge project to include using only leftover hardware (nails, screws, cables, etc) for added difficulty 🙂

Post your Ultimate Scrap Challenges in the comments and let’s see what we create!