Emptying the Half Empty Trash

My wife and I have the discussion below fairly often (almost weekly)  and the last time it came up I told her, “I am going to blog about this and see what others think.”

On trash day my wife will often ask me if I took down the upstairs trash.  I usually say, “Does it need to be taken out?” She will then respond, “It’s trash day.”  This spawns a discussion about why the fact that it is trash day means the trash, which otherwise would not need to be taken out, all of a sudden needs emptying.

My argument is that the trash is not full and does not need emptying so why does the fact that it is trash day have any impact on the previously mentioned fact?  The two tasks, while both involving trash, don’t have any relationship to one another.  When a trash barrel inside the house fills up (or contains something that will smell, or has some other reason it “needs” emptying) it is then taken outside to a large trash container.  This happens every day, independent of trash day.  The second part involves trash day.  On that day the outside container is moved to the curb for trash pickup.  Any trash that has made it downstairs as a result of the first task is taken out.  However the fact that it is trash day does not change the priority or “need” of other trash containers to be emptied.  The same goes for recycling.

Now, I see the flaw in my argument that it is short sighted.  That the fact that it is trash day provides an opportunity to start fresh, with a house full of empty trash containers, and by emptying all those containers provides “assurance” that we won’t run out of space for trash over the next week.  However, this doesn’t often happen.  In my mind accepting “it’s trash day” as a valid and logical argument for emptying half empty barrels doesn’t make sense.

This is much like “limited time” offers in stores.  If you see item A in a store and it is priced at $50 but its value is only $40, you’ll pass it by.  Now, if you see item a in the store and it is priced as $50 but it only avaiable for a “limited time” or has “limited quanties”, guess what, its value is still only $40 and you should pass it by.  These are “tricks” to make you believe that the opportunity to buy something has additional value.  Just as “it’s trash day” is a trick to make you believe your opportunity to take the trash to the curb makes it more urgent that all the trash be emptied.

Still, I love my wife, and if there is one thing I have learned, it is “pick your battles”.  So I’ll take out the upstairs trash and save my opinion for the “you need two motorcycles because cruisers and sport bikes are two completely different rides” discussion.  Just as a preview my argument on that one goes something like, “well, you don’t just have one pair of shoes or one purse, do you?”