World-renowned organizational expert Marie Kondo is now appearing on an original Netflix series of inspiring home makeovers titled Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

Released on January 1, 2019, the eight new shows in Season 1 run between 35 and 50 minutes each and show Marie Kondo helping American families get rid of clutter to reorganize their lives through her now-famous KonMari Method. The show demonstrates the positive impact the act of tidying up can have on a family’s happiness when they keep only objects that inspire joy.

The 8 Netflix episodes are titled:

• Tidying with Toddlers
• Empty Nesters
• The Downsizers
• Sparking Joy after a Loss
• From Students to Improvements
• Breaking Free from a Mountain of Stuff
• Making Room for Baby
• When Two (Messes) Become One

Marie Kondo: Best-Selling Author

Marie Kondo became known following the release of her #1 New York Times best-selling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” released in 2014. In it, she demonstrates the KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing and storing items you own.

The book’s overview promises, “If you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results.”

There are six rules to Kondo’s KonMari Method:

1. Commit
2. Imagine the ideal life you wish to live
3. Ask yourself, “Does it spark joy?”
4. Discard
5. Tidy by category
6. Follow the order above

Marie Kondo is also the author of “Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up”. This book features an illustrated guide to the KonMari Method, with step-by-step folding illustrations and drawings of organized drawers and closets.

In 2017, Marie Kondo released her third book: “The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story.” This is a graphic novel that tells a quirky story of Chiaki, a young woman in Tokyo who transforms her home, work and love life using Kondo’s advice and inspiration. Through a series of entertaining and insightful lessons, Kondo helps Chiaki get her home and life in order. Illustrations by award-winning manga artist Yuko Uramoto.

What To Do With All That Discarded Clutter…Call 123JUNK.

Marie Kondo’s method of simplifying and organizing calls for you to dump everything into one pile, then sort it according to whether it “sparks joy” in your life or not. If it doesn’t, it goes into the discard pile. The items that do spark joy are organized in the KonMari Method in your drawers, closets and life.

People who do the KonMari Method generally end up with a large pile of stuff that they wonder why they were keeping in the first place! But not to worry, because 123JUNK is nearby to take that discard pile off your hands. We are the next logical step in the organizing process!

You don’t need to sort items in your discard pile. And you don’t need to make just one pile. All you need to do is point the professional, uniformed team members from 123JUNK to the piles you want to disappear. And poof, they’re gone!

We’ll do the job of sorting through your items ourselves and donate household goods and furniture to our local charity partners (and send you a receipt for your donation). We’ll also recycle items to the area recycling center. You’ll not only be helping your own state of life by tidying up, you’ll be helping other families and the environment through our green initiatives.

When you’re ready to tidy up and clean out, and are located in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington, D.C., call 123JUNK. We’ll give you our all-inclusive pricing and schedule a convenient time for pickup. Contact us today.

It’s an exciting day when you’ve decided to get new carpeting! It will give your home or office a fresh makeover! The only thing standing in your way is the removal of your old carpeting. Here are some tricks of the trade to try when removing old carpeting.

How to Remove Old Carpeting

Step 1: Pull it Back

Begin by protecting your hands with heavy work gloves. Starting in one corner, begin to cut the carpeting with a utility knife. If it is difficult, use your pliers to pull up a corner of the carpet and the tack strip holding it down. Continue to pull the carpet towards you, rolling it up as you go.

Step 2: Cut it into Strips

Removing large pieces of old carpet will be easier if you cut it after you’ve rolled up or folded up about 3-4 feet of carpeting. Cut the length with your utility knife where it’s folded over. These smaller pieces will be easier to handle and lighter when you remove them.

Step 3: Work Carefully

Carefully maneuver areas where old carpeting connects with other flooring types, like wood or vinyl. Try not to damage any connecting transitions.

Step 4: Remove Padding

If there is padding below the carpet, remove that as well. It may be loose or stapled into place. Using your pliers, carefully remove all staples as you go. If the carpet padding is glued to the foundation base, such as is often done with concrete floors, use a scraper to remove as much as you can.

Step 5: Call 123JUNK

Your trash collector will not haul away old carpeting or padding, so you won’t be able to toss it into garbage bin. Instead, call 123JUNK to take away your old carpeting.

Can Old Carpeting Be Recycled?

Carpets are filled with fibers and chemicals that don’t allow them to break down in landfills. Fortunately, some carpet can be recycled and broken down into its raw materials that can be used to make new carpet. There’s even an organization dedicated to recycling old carpet: the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). Since its inception in 2002, it has recycled more than 3.6 billion pounds of carpet, keeping it out of our landfills. In our area, DC Foam Recycle Center helps.

Let 123JUNK Remove Your Old Carpeting

123JUNK is used to big jobs like hauling away a household’s or office’s old carpeting. If there are elements that can be recycled, we deliver directly to the recycling centers in our area as part of our green initiatives. If it is not salvageable in any way, we’ll take it to the dump for you.

You don’t have to worry about straining your back lifting heavy yards of old carpet, or incurring injuries from tacks or nails. Once you’ve pulled the carpet up, you can hire us to do the heavy work of carpet removal for you. You’ll also enjoy 123JUNK’s all-inclusive pricing and easy scheduling process. Just one phone and we’re on our way.

When you need to remove old carpeting yourself, try these tricks. And then contact 123JUNK to haul it all away. We serve homeowners and businesses throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Every January, many of us make New Year’s Resolutions. We may want to lose weight or go to the gym more. Or we may pledge to be more organized in the New Year. Here are some New Year’s Resolutions to organize your life. 

New Year’s Resolutions for an Organized Life

#1. Create Homes

Each object you own should have a “home.” If it doesn’t already, create homes for everything. Hang a hook near the front door for your keys and purchase a toy box where all the playthings can be stored. Be sure to return each item to its home after use. In the office, create files instead of piles.

#2. Touch it Once

One of the best ways to remain clutter-free is to place an item where it is supposed to go after you pick it up. Do not lay it down and think you’ll get to it later. Immediately return it to its home or take it to the next action in the chain. Hang the clothes in the closet after you take them off, put the newspaper into the recycling bin after you’ve read it, or sort the mail into a “bills to pay” basket or “trash” bin as it comes into the door.

#3. Organize By Kind

Sort items into categories and create storage areas for like items. Hang hooks in the garage for sports equipment, purchase bins to gather baking tools together, or install shelving for arts and crafts. Hang clothing by season and style: put short-sleeved items together and long-sleeved items together, for example, so you can easily grab the style you need without having to search the entire closet.

#4. Purge Regularly

Make a New Year’s Resolution to plan a purge at least twice a year to get rid of items you don’t like or don’t use. Change out your clothes by season and use that time to cull out items you no longer wear. Go through the kitchen drawers and donate gadgets you never use. Going through items on a regular basis will allow you to deep clean the area and re-organize things that have gotten out of order.

#5. Develop Good Habits

Organizing your home once will not ensure that it functions as you would like it to. Create good habits of putting items away into their dedicated spaces after you use them, and if you bring a new item into the house, see if you can get rid of one in return.

#6. Enlist Help

Why not get the entire family on board with your New Year’s Resolutions for an organized life. Clearly label areas where items should go and hold each member accountable for putting items away where they belong. Assign areas of responsibility, like their own rooms or play areas.

#7 Call 123JUNK

When you’ve accumulated a pile of items you would like to get rid of, contact 123JUNK. We can schedule one pickup to take it all away—you don’t need to sort items yourself. We’ll do that for you. After we’ve picked up each load from our clients, we sort through it to find items we can deliver to one of our charity partners. They can place these items into their retail stores to raise money for their missions or, in return, donate them to families who need assistance. We’ll send you a receipt for your donation that you can use against your yearly tax burden.

123JUNK also sorts out anything that can be recycled, like old electronics and deliver these items to the local recycling center. It is our initiative to “go green” as much as possible. It’s our little bit we can do to help our local communities and the environment as a whole.

You don’t have to worry about donating, recycling or taking loads of items to the dump. With one phone call to 123JUNK, it can all be done quickly and easily. If you’re located in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington, D.C. and want to keep your New Year’s Resolutions for an organized life, call 123JUNK to schedule your junk hauling.