It was a Thursday. It started like most Thursdays. An extra hot cappuccino and scrambled eggs. To begin with, I hadn’t planned on crossing “Dumpster Diving” off my bucket list. Mainly because
dumpsterdiving was never on my bucket list. But there it is. Imperfectly imagined.
This may not have been a deeply salient experience, but all of this happened; more or less. It also
could have lead one to drinking gin at 9 o’clock in the morning.
Here’s what happened.I was once again asked to decorate for the CADS spring gala.
As in most impecunious decorating jobs, it is de rigueur to repeat.
One also is afforded the added challenge of coming up with “cost-effective” ideas. i.e. FREE.
So I thought, for this year, why don’t I use skis and ski boots as the mainstay?
The question now becomes, how was I going to get a zillion free skis and boots?
Kijii.
I submitted my plea.
Unbeknownst to me, it just so happened that the “biggest ski sale in the world” was starting the next day
– and it just so happened that a volunteer from the sale saw my ad late that night.
She contacted me.
I contacted her.
And the rest is dumpster history.
That is, after two hours of precariously draping over the edge of this massive bin laboriously untangling skis from each other and sifting through soggy Starbucks cups, half-eaten McDonalds hamburgers and Twinkies, cardboard and bubble wrap, bologna wrappers and apple cores, growth hormone flyers and a broken umbrella, ripped sweaters and i-Phone cords, dripping beer cans and sticky lime green fluorescent tape.So two hours later, looking like 40 miles of rough road with a couple of digits ceremoniously glued together, I had this.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and all his carpenter friends!
“Enough.”, said my back. “But I want more.” I answered. “Maybe I can come back tomorrow.”
“That’s enough.”, said my brain.
“How do you know it’s enough?”, I retorted.
“I need more.”, now sounding like the whining modulations of a circular saw.
“Enough is enough.”, repeated my back.
Our culture measures our worth by our efficiency, our earnings, or our ability to perform. Many of usthink that we are not allowed to say we have enough. It almost seems undemocratic.
Enough doesn’t mean everything is perfect, complete or done; it simply means we have enough
because we’ve met a goal.
Whether in our home, at work, in our closet, on our dinner plate, or in our schedule, we get to say,
“That’s enough.”
We not only get to say enough, we have to say it.
So how much is enough? Are 2 pairs of running shoes enough?
Are 6 black tee shirts enough?
Are 3 sets of dishes enough – one set for company that never seems to get used?
Are 47 pairs of skis enough?
Again, how much is enough?
We need to be watchful about what comes into our home, and purposeful about what goes out.
The idea of infinite economic growth is the biggest threat we face.
So what can we do differently?
1. Don’t buy it unless you really want/need it. – Our reliance on the ability to return pretty much
anything is handy, but not so great for the earth. Why? Because most of those things you return are
not resalable and as a result end up in the dumpster.
2. Buy really good quality items. – Invest in something that is good quality so that you don’t end up
having to buy 3 or 4 of the same thing or replace a piece of furniture because it was not solid wood
that can be repaired if chipped or scratched.
3. Organize your belongings so you don’t buy another one of the same because you can’t find it.
4.Eat those solo bananas. – Often stores throw out solo bananas because no one ever buys them.
So give them some love and put them in your cart.
5. Buy locally. – Buying locally will help reduce waste because local producers are less likely to waste
food and packaging, merely because they can’t afford to just throw away heaps of what they have produced.
6. Support smaller stores or non-chains.
7. Borrow or barter. – Instead of buying something that you may only use once or twice, think about
who you know that already has one.
Sometimes we think our good is not good enough. We forget that our life is enough. That our rutted,
long road is enough – that each day is enough. That our calling, our story, our singleness, our children,
our body, our friends, our health – all of this is more than enough.
We don’t build our life by being better than someone else; we build our life by being better than we
used to be.
By the way if anyone has any skis, snowboards or ski boots they don’t need, I don’t have enough.
I loved your story!
Tonia
Love it J xo Cynthia
You are one funny lady Karyn. Love your blog. And trust me, I’m a professional purger/unsubscriber!
You did my house right before I sold. Now I’m travelling the world homeless. LOVE IT.
the queen of the reuse, ruling monarch of the dumpster divers!
I hope things are going well.Love your e-mails! Lowell
Hi Karyn,
Love this article. Iris