A card from Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Garbage
Really, how much darn trash can one family create? Staggering. To CPE this card means, at minimum, you take out the trash before the garbage truck turns the corner of your block (which day is it again?). Whoever holds this card is responsible for anticipating when trash bags are running low, and a word to the wise: Don’t you dare sit back down on the couch until you put a new bag back in the trash can!
Holding this card means owning all three
Conception
Things will be thrown away, meaning you will have garbage
Planning
All Non-Apartment Dwellers:
- Applying to the city/municipality for garbage bins
- Taking note of garbage day
Execution
- Placing/replacing bag in home trash can
- Removing full garbage bags
- Placing full garbage bags in trash shoot/outdoor bins
- Labeling bins
- Taking bins back out/in, driving to town dump/placing garbage in alley
- Checking bins for overflow trash/keeping bins clean
Suggested Minimum Standard of Care
Is trash out of your home before it overflows, and if applicable, did the cans go out before trash day?
A starting point. You and your partner agree the real standard together, and the holder meets it without reminders.
Holding it well
- It’s a Daily Grind: relentless and time-bound. Make sure each of you holds a fair share of these, ideally one from each suit.
- The holder owns all of it: noticing, planning and doing. No “just tell me what to do.”
- Agree the Minimum Standard of Care together, then let the holder meet it their way.
- Not working? Bring it to the weekly check-in and re-deal it. Don’t take it back mid-week.
Put this card on your table
Deal it, agree its standard, and see who holds what. Free.