I had the same problem, except that it's my own mess I had to clean up. After i closed my business, I was faced with a yard full of "stuff" that had been accumulating over 16 years. There were a lot of old bbq grills we took in on trade and kept around to strip for parts; some cars and parts that were left over from some projects; a couple of small storage sheds we had thrown together at one time or another; and a bunch of drywall scraps and other debris we took out of the building as we remodeled it. It wasn't an eyesore, and I didn't have to go far to gather it up, because it was all in a fenced, 1/4 acre yard behind the store building. But, golleee, how "stuff" can accumulate over the years when it's out of sight and you're busy running a business, and say, "I'll get time to clean it up, someday, Real Soon Now." From their own descriptions, I'd say TaylorTractorNut and Wrought'nHarve know the feeling.
I had a small, 2 cubic yard dumpster for the business that I paid about $80/month for, but I let that go a couple of years ago when I closed the business. A roll-off was about the same expense as the others mentioned, and it was just $$$ that would disappear. I knew I could use a dump trailer for my Okeechobee project, hauling brush and shell rock and such, so I bought one about 6 months ago for $1,800 off EBay. It holds about 5 cu. yds., and so far I've made about 8 trips to the landfill, every time it gets full. We just let it sit there, and toss trash and debris in it, until it gets full, then haul it away and dump it. Takes about 45 minutes for a round trip to the landfill, and that hydraulic dump sure makes it easy. The landfill charges by the ton, and each trip has cost me about $15 - 20, which is part of the dumpster fee if you go that way.
But, the part I like, is after it's all cleaned up and hauled away, on my time schedule, I still own the dump trailer. So, it's not like pi$$ing away the money on dumpster rental. Once I get all my construction work done at the new place, I'll keep it around and continue to use it as my personal dumpster, primarily to keep the country place from turning out like my commercial property. I guess I've got a bit of red neck string saver in me.
