Over the holidays I channeled my inner David Suzuki and decided I needed to deal with some of the bigger trash issues in my house. I am a pack rat when it comes to High Tech devices and keep thinking that I will find a good use for things, so I collect them, much to the chagrin of my wife and to the dropping storage capacity of my house.
I had a computer monitor (CRT) from my Church that I had taken thinking I could find a good use for it, but I finally broke down and admitted that it was never going to really get used (it was only 15″ in size), so I took it to a local store that recycles equipment.
As soon as I got there I knew this was not going to be as simple as I’d hoped, as the chap I spoke to said he couldn’t resell the monitor because it was just too small and nobody wanted a small CRT monitor these days (I agreed with him in that area). He said he would take it to recycle it (i.e. take it apart and ensure the 4 lbs. of lead in the monitor and the various other toxic chemicals in it don’t end up in a land site) but it was going to cost me $1.50 per kilo.
The whole thing ended up costing me about $20.00 which I think I am willing to pay for now, but now I am wondering what the heck am I going to do with my monstrous 32″ CRT Television when I want to get rid of it? I suspect that is going to cost well over $100 to dispose of -and- I have to get it to wherever to then pay to dispose of it.
The cheap part of me is whining about how much I spent on it, but the Suzukian side of me is smiling, so I guess it is a wash for my conscience for now. I also still have a basement full of old computers and many more old monitors as well, I suspect I am going to have to get rid of soon as well. This whole green thing is going to cost me.
Day 2 of No Spending at Work
I have challenged myself to not spend any money at work at all. I remember when I first started working I couldn’t afford to buy coffee and lunches, and now I am wondering just how much money I am blowing at work, so I have vowed to try to limit my spending to see whether this has a significant impact on my living costs and whether it is really as big a hardship (not having my Tim Horton’s at work) as I think it will be.
total tangent:
your ads are quite random today!
Quick Tax (makes sense), Playboy (??), Kids Toys (??)