Avoid the Mess
With Garbage Cans

One of the best devices to help you avoid a mess and have your house, garage, deck and office be clutter free is to have large sized garbage cans in all the right places.

I just spent part of Labor Day weekend at one of my good friend's second home on a river in northern Wisconsin.

We have got together at his place 2 or 3 times in the summer since he bought the place 2 years ago.

The group is composed of 4 friends.

My friend's brother, his brother's wife, 3 kids and sometimes his mother also come up for those weekends.

My friend's girlfriend spends part of the weekend there too.

One friend has a wife and 2 kids.

It depends on the weekend how long anybody stays.

The guys usually go golfing early in the morning and then we all have some type of nice lunch afterwards.

We all then spend the afternoon boating. My friend has a pontoon boat docked at his place.

Two of the friend's own a large boat together. They haul it on a trailer. Their boat works well for water skiing, pulling inner tubes and general boating around.

After boating all afternoon we have a nice meal for dinner.

We then spend the rest of the day socializing in the back yard around a fire.

Our socializing normally includes adult beverages, soda and water. Plus the kids all drink soda and bottled water.

My friend is a real super organized kind of a guy. He is a successful optometrist and a high achieving fellow. How else would you expect someone to have two nice homes, one being on the water?

He really doesn't need any organizing advice from me except for one thing. He could use a couple of the right size garbage cans in the right places to help in the cleanup and avoid a mess. Both in the house and outside.

His place really isn't that much trouble to get picked up when the weekend is over. Whoever is still around when the weekend is over will pitch in and pick up the mess and help put everything away.

But, if you have ever spent any time at a party of any sort you will notice that dealing with the mess of all the beer bottles, beer cans, soda cans, soda bottles, water bottles and plastic cups, paper plates, plastic utensils and paper napkins is the one thing that is forgotten in the planning.

I think it would be nice to have a large garbage can for recycling items like cans and bottles in the house and outside as well as cans for regular garbage.

The cans outside should be big and heavy with heavy duty lids so that they can just stay outside. If they are heavy enough and have hinged lids they won't blow over in a storm. The indoor cans should also be fairly large because if it is a cool or rainy day people will be inside.

You will want all the cans to be nicer looking so the cans themselves don't look like a mess.

What normally happens is that the one inside garbage can gets full right away as a meal is prepared. Then the cans and bottles all start to stack up on any available tables.

If we are there for awhile, there will be a lot of bottles, if you know what I mean.

Placing large cans in strategic areas make it so easy for guests just to throw out their mess as they go. Plus it will be easy for the small kids to help. It is something for them to do to help out. It is hard for kids to help with the picking up when they are not at their own home and know what to do. Large garbage cans are intuitive.

I would even put huge stickers on the cans so it is very clear which can is for cans/bottles and which is for garbage. That way everyone knows which can is which, especially the kids.

Having the cans outside is very important also because people naturally want to clean up as they go.

So, if we are eating outside when you finish your meal you will want to get up and throw away your paper plate, utensils, napkin and can or bottle. You will have to go inside to do that if there is no can outside.

The benefits of having the cans outside are:

1. It saves wear and tear on the door.

2. There is less of a chance for the door breaking.

3. There is less chance for bugs to fly into the house.

4. There will be less dirt tracked into the house.

5. It will make for a neater appearance always, inside and out.

6. It will make for easier cleanup.

The drawbacks:

1. The cost of the cans and garbage bags.

2. The space they take up.

I think the space they take up is a minimal concern because once the cans and bottles start to stack up they take up a lot of space. If the style is chosen properly, they will look fine outside. Probably the best kind will have wheels so they can be wheeled into the garage if you are going to be away for awhile.

I really have no answer to the cost of the cans. The kind of big cans and heavy garbage bags I recommend are much more expensive than small cans and leftover plastic bags.

I just think it would be worth it because it will really help to stop a mess before it starts.

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