Thank you to everyone for your suggestions -- talked to my sis this afternoon and after a very long stressful weekend her landlord finally returned her calls this morning. He has agreed to rip up the lease and is letting her use the security deposit (2 months rent) for May and June rent (she's already paid April rent). She said he seemed embarrassed and apologetic, I told her to get the whole agreement in writing so he can't come back and sue her or evict her for not paying rent. She will still have the expense of another move and utility hook ups etc, plus the hassle of moving again, but it's not as disastrous as it could have been. I guess I never thought about the fall out of this whole housing mess affecting renters, but according to what I'm reading online, it's very common now.

We needed new siding on our house after a hail storm. Insurance paid for it and when the crew showed up to strip our old siding we asked if we could recycle it and they said yes. We put a trailer in the yard and they even put the siding in it. We also took down an old above ground pool (which was paid in the same claim) and even though we had to strip it of the screws (a days work) the pool alone brought in almost $400.00! I sold the ladder-style steps seperately on Craigslist; many people responded just because they wanted steps to put at the end of their docks. I took a picture of the chemicals I had remaining (about six miscellaneous buckets) and sold them also on craigslist for $20. More room for me in the garage and no need to take them to the hazardous waste site! Someone else with a pool was happy to get bargain chemicals. We get an additional .03 cents per pound for scrap aluminum by bringing in a coupon that is found on the back of local grocery store receipts. I have always recycled household paper, plastic, cardboard, glass, etc. for free. I also re-use bags and grocery cartons to help the environment. I just put the empty containers in my trunk for the next use, it is just a good habit to get in to.

Posted by barb_from_pa: "What happens to all the cars getting traded in?" The cars that get traded in for this program must be destoyed and not resold. That is the LAW. The dealers are required to freeze the engines, making all the parts unsalvagable. The whole thing ends up in a landfill. What a waste. It is ALWAYS cheaper to repair a car than to buy a new one. Before if a car traded in, was so old it could not be sold economically on an auto lot, it could be salvaged for parts. Not with this program. Now smart people who decide to keep their car and do minor repairs over the years of owership won't be able to find used parts easily. I don't see the advantage to this program. A person only has to buy a car that get 2mpg more than the one they are trading in. Older cars are not necessarily "clunkers" either. My parents have a 1990 auto and it is in pristine condition. They hardly ever drive since they are retired. Why would they junk it for a new car? This program in the newspapers made it sound like it was a government mandate to turn in your old car. Elderly people can be hoodwinked or just not understand things properly. My elderly parents thought they HAD TO turn in their old auto. They just got over having to trash their perfectly good working TV because it would no longer work with the new digital OTA transmissions. The government gave them a coupon :whoopee: so they could save 40 bucks when they dug into their retirement savings for a brand new TV. They did not understand why they had to buy it and why the goverment was taking away their TV reception and why their good TV had to go to a landfill. I don't understand it either.

There is a true "swing-out " that I have seen but the picture above is not it. It is a case of the can being attached to the door and so it comes out of the cabinet when the door opens. I can't think where I saw this, maybe Ikea? The downside IMO is that you can only have one container coming out -- in a pullout (if you choose) you can have 2 containers in the pullout. The thing that I do like about the 2nd picture is there is a built in lid that doubles as a shelf above the bins. That Rev-a-shelf unit is pricey, though!