Guess I should not take my husband, who never complains about T.U.B. F.I.R.E., for granted.

[Indigo Blue]

Because I am so guilty of this. And he just breaks the boxes down without complaint. In fact, I’ve never even thought much about it, until now. I feel a bit guilty and sheepish. 🐑🐑

[KSera]

Oh my goodness, that made me laugh so much. The 1:55 mark, that's my dh 🤣🤣🤣. I laughed so hard. The pandemic has made this so bad here.

Edited February 16, 2023 by KSera

[Arcadia]

Before watching the video I was thinking of the 2017 Tubbs Fire (https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2017/10/8/tubbs-fire-central-lnu-complex/). I used to do logistics so am used to breaking down boxes of all sizes. A penknife/blade/cutter is useful for cutting through all the tape.

If you go pass the backdoor of some supermarkets, you could see pallets of flattened cardboard boxes at the area where the staff unpack deliveries.

[Pawz4me]

We're pretty much equals in the box breaking down chore here.

We have an engineer neighbor. He breaks his boxes down and then ties them up with string in neat little stacks. That's definitely overachieving. 😉 

[Katy]

My DH collects a pile of boxes and drives them to the recycling center because we’re not supposed to put them in the recycling bin here. Or ANY plastic except drinking bottles 

At our last house our HOA had community dumpsters every 6-12 homes and I’m the one who would break down the cardboard & dragging it out to the dumpster so I don’t feel bad about DH doing it now

[Arcadia]

59 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

 

We have an engineer neighbor. He breaks his boxes down and then ties them up with string in neat little stacks. That's definitely overachieving. 😉 

That’s a work requirement. So it is probably an occupational hazard for him.

[Arcadia]

Costco and many other supermarkets here would let you take the empty boxes to put your groceries in. Save the staff from having to flatten the boxes, tying them up and bringing them to the dumpsters. 

[ktgrok]

oh my word. Yeah, this is an issue here. That was pretty much right on the nose. Like....never has a video better encapsulated my marriage. 

[happi duck]

Dh said "oh, so true"!

I think if they make it some sort of TUB FIRE cycling event he'd be there 😂

[Lucy the Valiant]

Hahaha! This is awesome. 

We just burn them.

[vonfirmath]

In our house, teen boy is the solution.  The boxes are stacked up next to the recycling can and our son is tasked with breaking them down before recycling day.

 

[popmom]

Oh. My. Goodness. I will have to show dh.

I am terrible. And the upcoming wedding has drastically, drastically increased the symptoms of T.U.B. F.I.R.E. around here. 

At least she takes them all the way to the big blue bin. For me that would involve a flight of stairs to the basement, going outside, possibly through a gate into the backyard... I can't be expected to go to all that trouble! (Mind you I have no problem going down to ((retrieve)) those deliveries when I get that notification.) 😘

I just toss the boxes to the foot of the basement stairs. We have a system. Okay...(((I))) have a system. Whoever happens to go into the basement is supposed to pick up what ever boxes that have collected at the foot of the stairs and toss them into an intermediary bin in the garage. Then on garbage day, dh takes all that has piled up in the garage to the actual big blue bin outside. 💀

Edited February 16, 2023 by popmom

[popmom]

4 hours ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

Hahaha! This is awesome. 

We just burn them.

I love this so much. 

[Teaching3bears]

I use my boxes to hold my paper recycling but this video is just plain funny!

[catz]

This is hysterical.   But I am the one breaking down all the boxes here.   They tend to just get thrown on the back porch by everyone else.I do occasional snarky demos of box breakdowns for everyone else periodically but yet, nothing changes.  😂🙄

[Amy in NH]

Lucky him who does no household inventory, shopping, unpacking and storage of all the stuff that comes in those boxes!  At our house, boxes go next to the recycling, and are frequently repurposed.  DH breaks them down just before taking all of the recycling to the transfer center - an entire truck-ful of recycling every 4-6 weeks.  He probably enjoys this neverending chore as much as I enjoy the neverending laundry.

[Indigo Blue]

41 minutes ago, Amy in NH said:

Lucky him who does no household inventory, shopping, unpacking and storage of all the stuff that comes in those boxes!  At our house, boxes go next to the recycling, and are frequently repurposed.  DH breaks them down just before taking all of the recycling to the transfer center - an entire truck-ful of recycling every 4-6 weeks.  He probably enjoys this neverending chore as much as I enjoy the neverending laundry.

Ha! Now I feel much better!

[SKL]

Well I don't have a husband, and I am the resident box breaker downer.  SO MANY BOXES.

I used to look forward to garbage day each week, because I would apply my innate engineering abilities to nest all the week's boxes (or sometimes multiple weeks, depending on factors) into the fewest stacks.  What a thrill going from 30 boxes to 2 or 3 before carrying them to the lawn!  But I started getting nasty-grams from the garbage collectors.  "Please break down your boxes!"

And talking about over-achievers ... why do some people feel a need to tape a box 3x as much as necessary?  Kuz I never remember to take a box cutter outside with me, so I end up doing all that tape ripping by hand.  Boys and girls, please don't use more box tape than necessary, unless you are gonna break down that box yourself.

But I'm sure there is something good about breaking down boxes.  Like it must be great for finger strength and flexibility.  Or chi.  Or something.

And now you know why Wednesday (garbage day) is my favorite day of the week.

[vonfirmath]

3 hours ago, SKL said:

Well I don't have a husband, and I am the resident box breaker downer.  SO MANY BOXES.

I used to look forward to garbage day each week, because I would apply my innate engineering abilities to nest all the week's boxes (or sometimes multiple weeks, depending on factors) into the fewest stacks.  What a thrill going from 30 boxes to 2 or 3 before carrying them to the lawn!  But I started getting nasty-grams from the garbage collectors.  "Please break down your boxes!"

And talking about over-achievers ... why do some people feel a need to tape a box 3x as much as necessary?  Kuz I never remember to take a box cutter outside with me, so I end up doing all that tape ripping by hand.  Boys and girls, please don't use more box tape than necessary, unless you are gonna break down that box yourself.

But I'm sure there is something good about breaking down boxes.  Like it must be great for finger strength and flexibility.  Or chi.  Or something.

And now you know why Wednesday (garbage day) is my favorite day of the week.

All that box tape IS necessary. You don't want a risk of the contents coming out in shipping. Even if there is a storm, etc.

 

[Hilltopmom]

OMG!! 😂 

[Arcadia]

6 hours ago, SKL said:

 

And talking about over-achievers ... why do some people feel a need to tape a box 3x as much as necessary?  Kuz I never remember to take a box cutter outside with me, so I end up doing all that tape ripping by hand. 

We have had damaged parcels from USPS. The tape helped keep the contents from being damaged. My teens find ripping tape fun and we rarely have boxes. They help ripped the tape and flattened the boxes at where they do volunteer work.

[kbutton]

On 2/15/2023 at 9:34 PM, Arcadia said:

Costco and many other supermarkets here would let you take the empty boxes to put your groceries in. Save the staff from having to flatten the boxes, tying them up and bringing them to the dumpsters. 

I wish we had more of that here. It's so much nicer than a million bags. 

On 2/16/2023 at 2:35 AM, popmom said:

We have a system. Okay...(((I))) have a system. 

Lol!!! Yeah, sounds like our system for getting all.the.things to the basement. 

Luckily, our recycling bin is very accessible. Unluckily, the door swings an inconvenient way into a narrow hallway, creating a disincentive for all but the most motivated recyclers to want to put anything in it. 

[chiguirre]

In my house I am the TUB FIRE sufferer. I stick all the boxes inside each other (stomping them if necessary) to put out at the curb on recycling day. But what really, really gets my goat is when someone who I am politely not naming (Geezle, it's Geezle) stuffs a 12 pack box in the pantry recycling bin without crushing it first. Seriously, you filled up the entire bin with one stupid box the day after recycling?!!!??? I have been known to use the MILITARY method but it hasn't cured him yet.