Garbage Pail Kid
When Clara discovered crawling almost two months ago, she discovered more rooms to play in. And when she made the kitchen her new favorite play area, she made our garbage can her new favorite toy. In a word: yuck.
See, our new house garbage solution over the past five months has been embarrassingly “interim.” The cabinet under the sink is too small for even our tiny garbage pail, so it landed in a random corner. Completely out in the open and waiting for little hands to find their way to it. Sooooo… we moved it into the nearby laundry room (which Clara has yet to turn into her playground).
Not our proudest housekeeping moment, but then again this whole laundry room has been living in neglect ever since the new washer & dryer arrived months ago (note the mess of shoes in the foreground). So at least the garbage can fit right in with the whole not-good vibe.
But on a recent trip to HomeGoods we chose to upgrade our trash situation, courtesy of this larger enclosed can.
I’ve always been a bit wary of the durability of these flip-toppin’ foot-pedallin’ garbage cans, and I was even more so when I saw the price tag. It took just about everything in me to pay $60 for it, so thank goodness it wasn’t still priced at over $100 (Sherry googled around for OXO reviews and said they were a great brand that sold many over-a-hundred-dolla cans, so the $60 deal was in fact legit). Maybe I’m just not up to speed on the garbage containment industry, but when did these things get so darn expensive? Did they start making waffles and changing diapers too and I just missed the memo?
Then again my sister does own (and love) an $100+ SimpleHuman trash can that calls for custom bags. So at nearly half that and without a need for custom bags we decided this guy was the can for the job. Har har. See what I did there? I replaced man with can. Oh the hilarity.
In the end, sixty beans is well worth this scene: Clara being able to play without us having to worry about little fingers fishing out an old teabag or clumps of lint. Instead, she can focus on practicing her gang signs (apparently she’s sending big ups to her homies on the west side).
And once we give the kitchen a much needed overhaul with sleeker appliances and more updated looking cabinets it should fit right in. Plus Clara doesn’t seem to have any affinity for the can’s step-lever on the bottom (something we initially worried about) so it’s nice to know that she’s kind of over the idea of playing with the trash now that it’s tucked out of sight.
Our new can also earned bonus points from me for this little feature – which we didn’t even notice when buying it: a bag lock that helps keep any old grocery store garbage bag taut around the can. It actually seems to work too (there’s a bag in it in the pic above and we love that it doesn’t flop out and look messy – or collapse into the depths of the can when we toss things in).
And not only does it look neat and keep our baby out of trouble. It might help her learn something too thanks to its magnetized sides which are compatible with Clara’s magnetic letters (which are a fun Etsy purchase – more info here). She discovered that herself – isn’t she smart?
As for me, I’m just happy not to have to do laundry next to an open garbage bag. Moving it out of this room even inspired us to tidy up our shoe mess with a basket that we already had around.
Not a big improvement, but at least it’s a step in the right direction, right? Booyah. Pun wholeheartedly intended.
Psst- We weren’t paid or perked for this post, we just dig our new trash containment device.
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Ha! I bought a similar step can, but it was to keep my dog from getting into the trash! I’m just grateful my kids were never interested in the garbage can (but don’t get me started on the litterbox…).
I LOVE that the trashcan is white!! I have only seen that style in stainless – very fun in white. My little man (who will be two this month) loves playing with the trash, and figured out the foot pedal pretty quickly once he was walking, but you just teach them it’s a no-no and remind them when they test their limits and play with it anyway, just like a million other things they get into as their mobility increases.
ugh, why do babies have to go RIGHT for the trash can? between the trash, and the toilet paper (!!!!) I was always chasing our little one away from things. We finally had to take the toilet paper off the hanger, and put it up high where he couldn’t reach it…otherwise he’d empty the whole roll as quickly as possible!
I have a simply human trash can that does not require special bags, and it is awesome. Regular-old store brand bags work fine. However, I did have an issue with the foot-pedal breaking in half, which caused the lid to not open, and for me to be sad for many months. And I wasn’t about to go drop another $80 on a trash can. Finally, I decided to look on their website for a replacement part; turns out that they will send you the replacement part FOR FREE!! I was way happy. (And also a little bummed that it took me almost 4 months to figure all this out.)
I didn’t read through all the comments so this may have been mentioned already. We have a flip top trash can and a daughter just a few weeks younger than Clara and she loves the pedal on the bottom. However, she was able to get her fingers pinched in the back of the pedal while pushing it one day. Love your blog-it makes me jealous some days and gives me ideas on others.
Thanks for the warning! We’ll have to look out for that. So far even with the magnets on the can she has no interest in it (but loves the fridge with the rest of her magnets since it’s a bigger surface area).
xo,
s
Hey Sherry if you look at Clara’s gang sign from her perspective it’s actually an E for East Siiiiiiiide!!!!!!!!! Being a Jersey girl myself I could never allow a W ( though I married a Los Angelino)!
That’s true!!!! She’s my little Jersey girl after all!
xo,
s
ahh – trash pickers. Our trash picker happens to be our dog and this sounds like the sort of thing we should switch to.
and the gang signs- hysterical.
Clara practicing gang signs made my DAY! Totally lawled and roffled there :) And oh! the new garbage bin looks awesome :D xx
So funny the Clara comment/picture. West Side! haha. You crack me up.
BAH! Nate was at HomeGoods today! I wish I could shop there online because I do, after all, live in the shopping armpit of Oklahoma. I’ll have to Google it and see if there is one in OKC. Since we have Gretchen the GPS now I can get to HomeGoods supahfast!
Love the photo of your new pretty can with YUCK in Clara’s letters on it. Are those home made letters?
They’re actually from Etsy (we linked to a story with more info about them in the post for ya). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Having had a step can with babies, I’ll tell you it’s worth it. Clara might learn to flip the lid with the step, but she’ll either be sitting when she does that, or standing up, holding on to the lid, which will keep it closed! When she can coordinate the stepping without holding on, she will be old enough to think garbage is disgusting.
How smart she is to be able to spell YUCK already!
Do you guys still compost like at the last young house? Because tea bags and lint are totally compostable!
We do! I don’t know why I always forget about things like that though. Fruit and veggies are just so much easier to remember. But I’ll have to put up a sticky note that says “tea and lint = compost!” Thanks for the reminder!
xo,
s
Garbage Pail kids! You brought back so many memories…how totally weird and morbid were those cards??
So weird! And we just learned there was one named Off-Color Clara! So gross and awesome all at the same time.
xo,
s
I have a garbage can like this, but not this one, it is probably another company. I don’t know I have had it forever. Anyway, little neighbor who was over one time broke it by holding the lid down and jumping on the pedal. Be wary of little toddlers who aspire to be engineers. :)
We just did the same thing – but we went for the INSANELY expensive can. Our boy started playing in our trash – plus our new house doesn’t have a good hidden trash area. So we needed something prettier for recycling than a paper grocery bag. We did the two bin simple human can and love it (but just use regular trash bags and they work just fine). One for recycling and one for garbage. I figured after 8 months of talking about buying it, it was worth the price tag. Plus, we had a 20% off coupon.
I think you meant to say that you replaced ‘man with can’ not replaced ‘can with man’ i might be totally incorrect but I just wanted to pass it along.
You’re right! All fixed.
xo,
s
I didn’t read all the comments, so I don’t know if anyone already mentioned this…. but…. we have a similar trash can and thought it would be our garbage savior with having two girls (3 and 1). It is wonderful with one draw back, and I would encourage you to check yours out for this. My girls quickly learned to push the lever down with their hands to open the lid, but would get their fingers pinched and stuck when they released. Just something to check out for :)
Thanks Katy! So far we don’t have any issues with that- but of course that could change so we’ll keep an eye out!
xo,
s
The real question is… did you remove the price sticker entirely or just the front sticker (notably the easiest of all stickers to remove) before using it? ;)
The front sticker was one of those awesome easy peel decal ones so off it came! As for the scan sticker, it was on the bottom of the can, and it’s still there. Haha.
xo,
s
Kind of a random question, but not really, since the laundry room was mentioned. What kind of laundry detergent do you use for Clara’s clothes? Did you use a different one when she was a newborn?
We have always used Charlie’s soap or Seventh Generation detergent (no softener). Love it!
xo,
s
When we got our first dog, we had to upgrade to fancy trash can with a lid she couldn’t sniff open (her head is right at trash can height). Even though she was just sniffing, not digging through the trash, she kept knocking the lid off. We ended up with one of those expensive simple human cans (it was hard to stomach the price!), but it’s been so worth it. It’s one that you’re supposed to use the fancy, special bags with, but we’ve used regular trash bags in it for years. :)
This is too cute for words. (And so smart!) I adored this post so much that I added it to my Friday Fab Posts roundup. (I’m all about the link love.) Here’s a link if you want to check it out. http://manwifeanddog.com/2011/05/06/fab-posts-friday-a-hot-dress-giveaway-drink-recipes-and-horoscopes-home-tours-and-much-more/
Aw thanks so much for the link love!
xo,
s
A couple of things from a trashcan expert (did I really just call myself that?)… not sure if anyone else mentioned these but… Does your OXO can have any plastic parts for the mechanisms that make it move? You have to kinda look under and behind to see all the parts. I’ve been working for almost 4 years part time at a place that sells trashcans and was very suspicious of the $100+ ones at first, but then I started really looking at all of them. The more expensive ones have all metal pieces for the parts that move and the cheaper ones have plastic parts. It all comes down to whether or not you want to buy 1 can to last for (pretty much) ever or 1 every so often… you know when the plastic part finally warps or snaps. I love both OXO and SimpleHuman products and where I work, I sell both all.the.time. Great companies! Great products but they do make things at certain price points. So, in other words, look at the parts and if they are all metal then you truly got a good deal… if not, then you might have actually overpaid. Also, as a side note to the “has to use custom bags for the Simple Human.” That is simply not true. While they do make them in certain sizes to fit various cans… believe me when I say that any bag that is a similar size from the grocery store will do just fine. Of course, we also sell the expensive bags and although I love almost all products in the store I work, this is one thing that I mention could be found elsewhere. The customers that buy them tell me they like the way they feel. If they were talking about sheets, then I would understand, but these are trash bags we are speaking of… they hold… trash. Who cares how they feel?! Anyway, hope this helped somewhat:)
Yup, metal parts! Yipppie!!!!! As for John’s sister, she doesn’t have to use custom bags (and she knows that) but she does anyway. Just because she likes to. She prefers them since she thinks the others fit less snugly and hang out and look messy. And she has a swank modern house so she likes things super clean looking without white bag tops flopping out the side. I guess she thinks an expensive trash can should look nice and not all ganked up with a not-fitting bag (hers does look terrible with store bought ones, I don’t know why, but she’s right). Haha. But she uses Bed Bath & Beyond coupons to save money on them. Cause she’s cheap like us!
xo,
s
Clearly this is an advertisement disguised as a blog post.
Negatory. Check out this post. We’re serious about our no-swag policy. Since the day we published that post we’ve been turning down free stuff and never write sponsored posts (aka: post about something for money or other perks). We like keeping it real and blogging about what we love and what we pay for. Making our house a home means buying stuff, so there are posts about buying trash cans and tables and art – but it’s all paid for by us because we love it. No funny business. There’s actually a new blogging law that went into effect last year about full disclosure (all bloggers who get perked or paid for a post must announce it right in the post – usually up front or at the end). We got this can at our local HomeGoods, paid for it ourselves, and never have exchanged one email with OXO (the maker of the can) or HomeGoods (where we got it) about the post. For reals.
xo,
s
We have a stainless steel pedal trash can and I love it! Our kitchen is being redone in “stages” so when we have an island we will have a trash/recycling unit built in! I would rather hide the whole thing all together!
It truly is the simple changes that make me happy too! Just knowing that something is a bit more oganized, looks nicer or just feels better! Life is GOOD!
We also splurged a bit (thanks to a Bed, Bath, and Beyond 20% off coupon and some lamps we got as a wedding gift that we didn’t end up needing) and got a simple human trash can. It takes any old bag though, and has a “stay in place” spot and it’s seriously been the best purchase ever! We hated our old plastic trash can, and 3 years later, this one is still looking great! And keeping the dog nose out!
side note- a Homegoods JUST opened in our city. I’m SO excited to go check it out!!!
I would never have dreamed of spending over $20 for a trash can. But…after spending the weekend at my father’s and using his simplehuman step can. I was in love. I wanted one so bad. It was a little piece of heaven. “Look…no hands!” was coming out of mouth the whole weekend. And it’s quiet but so expensive right? The cheapest I could find it was $80 on black friday boo :(
Christmas time came and my family had just finished exchanging gifts when my dad came into the room carrying a large box and sat it down next to me. I tore the paper off to find my precious (the trashcan if you’re confused haha). I jumped up and down like a little kid for about 5 minutes and proceeded to hug my new trashcan. It was not my finest moment but it was the best gift ever!
I got a nice chuckle out of the whole Clara and her “homies on the west side” comment! In our current apartment we didn’t have any where for the trash bin so it is tucked away in a not-so-convienient closet in the hallway. The new house will have a pull out trash bin with a second bin for recyclables too
So sorry. I get so house excited when reading your posts that I always miss the links. You are too good to us when you post them. Thanks so much! Granddaughter Sophia Erin will love them…when she’s out of the chew on everything stage. Granddaughter Gloria Roses will pour sand all over them while pretending that the sand is some kind of sauce. Or frosting. Or Gravy. Or hot chocolate. I loves her imagination.
Haha, that’s so cute!
xo,
s
I’m just impressed with the sheer amount of puns. It’s trashically beautiful!
Hey! I have that exact same trashcan. I was kind of hesitant to drop 6o bones on a trashcan, but I’m glad I did. Now I don’t have to worry about my 2 yr. old granddaughter sorting through soggy coffeegrounds and such. It blends in so nicely with my kitchen that she basically ignores it. It’s pretty sweet! Don’t you just love HomeGoods?
Yes! So much! Glad to hear from someone with the exact same one.
xo,
s
Hahaha, I <3 that picture of Clara – she is such an expressive little girl!
These companies know that their garbage pails hold….garbage right? There are some things that I refuse to pay more than 30 bucks for. Indoor and outdoor garbage cans are one of them. It goes along the same reasoning I use that I refuse to pay more than a dollar for toilet paper. These companies know where the t.p. ends up right? :o)