I absolutely HATE going to the big trash outside. I think it'd a demand avoidance thing. There's two paths. One is through a gate that is hard to open. I've added hardware and have done everything I can in budget to make the gate easier to open. The gate & I do not get along. The second path is through a muddy yard (rains here 9mo out of the year) and through the space where the dogs poo a lot. This is gross. I avoid taking out the litter trash until it becomes a bigger and bigger issue. /2

I agree the big trash seems to be the real problem, you’re avoiding that which makes you avoid the whole chore. Can you put stepping stones or something down in the muddy path to make it less gross? That’s the one thing that comes to my mind. Our path to big trash cans is also muddy and the previous owner left some stones and they help a ton!

In the past I have gotten pallets and made walkways through a muddy yard. That way the mud/poop is not walked in. Or is it possible to move garbage can next to gate and do a shoot similar to a previous suggestion?

Try swapping for a smaller trash can upstairs so that the bag isn’t as heavy. Bonus points if you can use a bucket with a handle instead. I use cat litter that clumps really well and doesn’t stay smelly when I scoop out the clumps and poops. That way, I don’t have to refresh the whole litter so often. I ~try~ to use smaller dog poop bags or lunch bags to clean more frequently. (But I honestly suck at this and usually end up doing a larger clean less often) Then I carry down a few bags at a time

I'm not sure if you have compost collection where you live, but we use little compost bags and then put it in a compost bin right outside the back door. After that is full we put it in the large bin that gets picked up. Our dog waste can go in it too. So once we use the compost bags to clean up the dog waste they all go in the little bucket until it's full. I also hate trekking across my yard so that is my close by solution.

Regular, reason or reward: It’s good to pick a particular day of the week to do it so it’s going out regularly and doesn’t get heavy. I find it easiest to bring out the trash when I have another reason to go outside like walking the dog, or going to the store. If I don’t have a reason, I’ll give myself a reward like going to get an iced coffee down the road.

I’m going to think wider. Can you pay a neighbour kid to do this job and pick up the dog poo while there? Otherwise, getting husband to clean up the dog poo and laying a path seems the easiest solution.

Cat box in bathroom, flush it down the toilet.

My absolutely bonkers solution would probably be to completely re-landscape the poopy yard, with a good path and beatiful plants so I like being out there. Then still sometimes neglect the cat litter task because. Well, yuck.