Happy Halloween

We weren't going to be home for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, so we decided to put a bag of candy on our door with a sign that read, "Happy Halloween. Please take 1". Everyone that we told that story to had the same reaction, "Oh, that's candy is gone. And probably the bag too." We weren't so sure, but we also weren't confident. Living in the city, the chances that the candy would all go to the first or second person to show up at the door was pretty much a certainty. But how would our suburban town of Cranford fare? Well, we came back Friday night to find that our bag was still hanging on the door...and there was still candy! Thumbs up and good karma for you, kids of Cranford!

Garbage

Our garbage gets picked up every Monday and Thursday, so today is garbage day. Something I found out about moving to a house is that you have to PAY a company to come pick up your garbage. In New York, we were able to drop our trash down the compactor chute whenever we wanted. That garbage would be taken care of by the super or maintenance man and I never thought about it again. The New York Sanitation Department would pick it up. Here in Jersey, we had to find a list of trash companies and hire one.

Another inconvenience/cost -- we're allowed to put out two 32 gallon trash bins each day, which is a lot, but it can ONLY be kitchen and bath refuse. So, all that carpet and crap that I've ripped up is collecting in the garage (picture to come). Again, back in New York, you could just throw your over-sized crap in the basement, or whatever, and it's gone! Here, I have to pay extra for any non-kitchen/bath garbage pickup. I'm basically letting the trash pile up and then going to rent a 10 yard container to get rid of it ($$$). Finally, since I'm on a rant, Cranford picks up recycling every two weeks. You'd be surprised how many bottles, cans, newspapers, junk mail, etc. builds up in two weeks.

I guess that extra 3-4% New York City tax isn't a total scam.