Did you just get a call that company is dropping by in ten minutes? Did your spouse just text you to say they are bringing home the boss? Yikes! The house is a mess!

This is not the time to panic…this is the time to get busy with these ten-minute “fake cleaning” tips that will at least make your home presentable to last-minute guests.

• Sweep the entranceway

  Make a good first impression by giving the inside and outside entryway a quick once-over. Hang coats and hats and close closet doors. Straighten mats and rugs.

• Load the dishwasher

  Throw all the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. You can always go back later and sort them out. At least get them off the counters and out of the sink. You can also hide larger items like pots and pans in the oven. Just don’t forget to take them out before you use the oven again.

• Grab the laundry basket

  Your laundry basket makes a great catch-all for anything that’s lying around. Fill it with books, magazines, toys, clothes, and tuck it away out of sight.

• Clear off surfaces

  Make a clean sweep of surfaces on the tables, chairs, coffee table, side tables, and counters. Use the laundry basket tip or tuck items into cabinets for the time being. Do a quick wipe-down of surfaces to remove dust and grime. A little lemon Pledge will also add a fresh scent to the home.

• Wipe down the bathrooms

  Grab the sponge and wipe down sink areas in the bathrooms. Stash countertop items in drawers or cabinets. Hang a fresh hand towel, and re-hang bath towels that may have fallen onto the floor. Ensure that the toilet is spotless as well. Pull the shower curtain closed.

• Use throws

  Use decorative throws to cover stains and spots on chairs and couches.

• Vacuum
  

  If you have time, run the vacuum cleaner in the public rooms, but only worry about the visible parts. You can clean under the chairs later. Run a Swiffer mop across the kitchen and bathroom floors.

• Get the family involved
  

  Declare a “state of emergency” in the household and give each member a task of their own to complete. Set a timer to make the game more fun.

• Make the beds
  

  Straighten the linens if bedrooms are in sight, or kids will be playing in the bedrooms. The master bedroom is a great place to toss anything—visitors rarely go in there.

• Spray Febreze
  

  Get rid of stale cooking odors and pet or athletic smells with a quick spray of Febreze air freshener. But don’t overdo it. You don’t want your home smelling like a garden after all. You can also light a candle or two to help freshen the air.

• Don’t forget about you!
  

  Remember to leave a minute or two to freshen yourself up as well. Comb your hair, wipe your face or retouch your makeup, and put on a clean outfit.

Any home can be flash-cleaned in with these ten-minute cleanup tips.

Do You Have Too Much Stuff? Call 123JUNK for Junk Removal Service.

Are you struggling with a messy house? The problem may be that you have too much clutter. There’s a simple solution—123JUNK. We’ll be glad to help you declutter your home, and will take away anything that’s in the way—well almost anything. You might want to keep the kids and the dog. Just kidding.

But seriously, we make it our business to help families have better lives by reducing their clutter load with our junk removal service. With less clutter you will be able to function better in your home and clean-up will be a breeze. Make it a challenge to see how much each member of the family can do away with. And think about items you can donate that can help someone else who doesn’t have much.

You don’t need to sort your items, just make one pile and point us to it. 123JUNK will take it all. We will sort your load and remove anything that can be repurposed or recycled, and only then take the remained to the local landfill. If you live in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington, D.C., contact 123JUNK today to schedule your junk removal pickup.

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.

Nobody wants to move during the holiday season. You’d probably prefer to be decorating your home and enjoying some close family time rather than worrying about packing and relocating. But sometimes it’s necessary. If you need to move over the holidays, here are some helpful tips to ensure you have a merry move.

Plan Early

Even though the holidays aren’t the busiest moving season, moving companies get booked up in advance. As soon as you know your move date, place your reservation with your moving company of choice. Look at holiday traffic patterns and try to avoid moving during peak travel days around the holidays.

Put Aside Money

Budgets can be stretched already with holiday spending. Once you know you’re going to move over the holidays, start setting aside money for things like the moving costs, utility hookups and other expenses associated with moving.

Pack Smart

Since you’ll be arriving at your new home in the midst of the holidays, clearly mark boxes filled with presents and holiday décor to open first. Then deck the halls! That will bring some of the holiday spirit into your new house and help you to feel more at home with your treasured ornaments and decorations around you. There will be some sadness in not celebrating your usual traditions in your former home. To help relieve the pressure of a holiday move, don’t feel as if you have to go all out on your holiday decorating or celebrations this year. Instead, talk about your favorite traditions and try to establish some new ones.

Purge

Moving over the holidays is a great time to purge the items you no longer need, use or want. Consider donating these items to a local charity to recycle them back into families who need them. Get a receipt for anything you donate and deduct that donation on your taxes next year. Contact 123JUNK to pick up donated as well as disposed-of items.

Prepare for Weather

One thing you can’t control is the weather-especially if you are moving over the holidays into a colder climate. Keep items like boots, hats, gloves and snow shovels on hand just in case you need them. When you arrive at your destination, be sure to clear walkways and stairways if snow or ice are present. You don’t want your family members or the movers to have an accident while moving. Make sure the heat and electricity are turned on in your new home prior to your arrival.

Party

Once you’ve arrived at your new home, don’t forget to enjoy the holidays. Plan a little “moving in” party for the family to celebrate the new home. You’ll be creating plenty of new traditions and new memories in your new house, so why not start right away?

123JUNK Helps with Moves Over the Holidays

Our goal at 123JUNK is to make your move easier—no matter what time of the year. We make it so easy that you don’t even have to sort items you’re looking to get rid of. Just make one pile and point us to it. Our junk removal specialists will take everything at once and sort it for you, dividing out items to deliver to our charity partners, items to take to the recycling center, and those to drop at the local landfill. Then we’ll provide you with a receipt for donated goods and furnishings that you can use on next year’s tax deductions.

When you’re moving over the holidays, contact 123JUNK.

We have to laugh when people automatically assume that 123JUNK is a national company—or a franchise of a national company. We are not! We are locally-founded and owned company serving business and home owners throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

We like to think that this “reputation” of being a national company comes from our commitment to professionalism that can be found in every aspect, every niche and every corner of our business. Here are just some of the ways 123JUNK serves clients like a national company:

Commitment to our Core Values

123JUNK established 40 Core Values, the company culture by which we do business. Each and every potential employee is familiarized with these Core Values and asked if they can commit to them. If they cannot, they are not hired. These Core Values are so important to our company that they are “etched in stone” (well, plastic), and mounted on our office walls and reviewed regularly in our staff meetings. They include items like “making sure the client is satisfied,” “being accountable,” “helping our neighbors,” “setting standards,” and “serving as an example.”

Clear Career Path

123JUNK put into place a clear career path for anyone wishing to join our team. Although we have a rigorous hiring process and we require each new team member to start on the trucks in order to learn the business from the ground up, interested and qualified individuals can move up quickly through the ranks. We like to put people into jobs they are both interested in and good at because then we get happy employees who can reflect that satisfaction to our clients.

Job Well Done

We take great pride in our business and require our team to maintain a clean uniform, a clean office (paperless!) and clean trucks. We think a shiny truck shows the quality of work we will do at your home or office. When we do a job for you, we take careful measures to ensure that no damage is done to your property while removing junk. We line the floors and protect walls and corners, for example, and broom sweep the space when we’re done.

Hyper-Local Commitment

One thing that is very important to us is giving back to our own community. We are focused on supporting our local charity partners by donating items from our pickups to both recycle them back into the community to families who can use them, and helping to raise funds for those charities through the sales of those items. We also focus our attention on local events, participating in local parades and recycling events, and using one of our trucks for the Kid’s Pull at the annual Dulles Plane Pull to support Special Olympics, for example.

Careful Growth

Like a national company, 123JUNK wants to grow. But we are careful not to grow too fast. We think it is more important to ensure top quality junk hauling and junk removal services first. We opened our second location in Gaithersburg, Maryland in January 2017 only when customer demand required it, and that allows us to even better serve our clients in Maryland, with more local service and quicker response times.

Founding of Local Junk Hauling Company 123JUNK

123JUNK was founded  by a then-23-year-old Collin Wheeler just over 10 years ago after realizing, as a sales rep for a moving company, that people did not want to pay to move items they no longer wanted to keep. He thought he could offer a stress-free way to help people and used his meager savings to buy an old, beat-up dump truck. He hired his brother and his teen-age friends to work on the trucks and the business was born.

In 2018, 123JUNK celebrated our 10^th anniversary as a local junk hauling company, thanks to the strong team, collaborative partners, and solid client relationships we’ve built throughout the years. We look forward to our future growth and service to residents of Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington D.C.

If you need junk hauling, junk removal, cleanout or labor-only services, contact your LOCAL junk removal company: 123JUNK.