Among the many projects we were determined to get done upon me having more time once I retired was REALLY cleaning our garage. We got it done a few weeks back, thanks to having a dumpster delivered and a trip with a car full of donations to Goodwill. The other thing we got rid of? BOXES. I don’t mean boxes with stuff in them, but rather empty boxes. I’ve been, shall we say, a cardboard box “collector” for years. I never met a box I didn’t want to save. Hey, you never know when you’re going to need a cardboard box of just the right size and that’s why I’ve always hated to part with them. When you get the itch to get rid of them, I promise you, the very next day you will need that perfect box you got rid of. Just you wait and see!
Now that we have the garage orderly, and The Fisherman has set-up a workplace for projects, we have to be diligent about NOT saving boxes and, instead, breaking them down right away and getting them into the recycling container. So far, we have kept on top of it. Who knew it could be so easy? It used to be that the cardboard breakdown process was something The Fisherman and I did together and often we would get into a “recycling debate” before it was over. He calls me a “Girl Scout” about many things. Yes, I’m a Rule-Follower. I will own that. When it comes to the recycling containers, I follow the rules on what the collection company wants put into the container. That means no food containers, and you break the cardboard down to sizes that aren’t too large. Yes, I read the rules/guidelines and I follow them. The Fisherman believes it’s up for negotiation as to what goes in there and breaking down the boxes. If we do the project together, he gets exasperated if I say the cardboard pieces he cuts down need to be smaller. I don’t know if he has spotted me on the security camera “Policing” the cardboard container to see if he’s broken the recycling rules, but he probably has and when he reads this, he will start watching, I’m sure. Actually, he does a great job these days on the cardboard. He’s learned from the “Cardboard Sheriff.”
The worst boxes to break down are the ones from Costco that they give you to hold your groceries. Those are some STURDY, heavy boxes. I have no doubt I have, on more than one occasion, provided comic relief in the Costco parking lot when I attempted to lift one of those filled boxes out of the cart. Now I’m not overly short at 5′ 6″, but I have short legs and arms to match and by the time one of those heavy Costco boxes gets packed full, I would get to my car by myself and I couldn’t reach in and get it lifted up and out of the cart. Sometimes a tall guy would see me struggling and offer to help and other times I would unload some items in order to get the box out of the cart. Now that I’m retired, The Fisherman and I trek to Costco together (as he says, “What else do I have to do?”) and he’s really tall, so he has zero problem with getting the box out of the cart and into the car. What he will struggle with, though, is sawing through that heavy box to break it down for the recycling container. That’s another thing that having him around takes care of–When I was single I had dull knives, dull box-cutters, you name it. Sharp utensils were few and far between in my house. Along came The Fisherman, and now we have sharp tools to make any Samurai proud! Generally, they make the Costco box breakdown much easier, as compared to the days when I would try things like ripping the glue on the box to try and tear them, or I would put them on the ground and try to jump on them to break them down. The first time The Fisherman saw me doing that move he just rolled his eyes……and then whipped out one of his Samurai-sharp pocket knives. Oh and I cannot talk cardboard without mentioning that The Fisherman used to work for a paper manufacturing plant so he can tell you all about grades of cardboard and why those Costco boxes are as strong as they are—Think Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory telling you all about cardboard strength. I’ve heard the Cardboard Teachings while attempting to jump on a Costco super-strong-box to flatten it. You know what came next in the lesson—The whipping out of the Samurai-sharp pocket knife!
Observations on getting used to being one of those gray-haired retired people 