Category: Furniture Removal

Whether you live in a big house or a compact condo, there are probably items you no longer need or can use. So why are they still cluttering up your home? By clearing them out, you open up space in your life for other good things to enter. Here are 11 things you need to throw out right now.

Broken Items

If an item has been broken or damaged and you think that you will fix it one day, you probably won’t—like that chipped platter or table with a splintered leg. It will sit there taking up space and reminding you that you haven’t yet completed that task. Clear it out.

Mismatched Items

Be honest. Do you have a box with single socks without a mate? Or bowl lids without a bowl? Give these items a time limit and after several days or weeks without a match, toss them.

I-May-Need-This Items

Believe it or not, you may have hundreds of items around your house that you “might need someday” but haven’t touched in 20 years. If you think you will need an item within the next 6 months, keep it. Otherwise, out they go. If you do need it, it is easily bought.

Duplicate Items

Looking through your kitchen drawers, do you have six wooden spoons and four wire whisks. How many do you really need? Sift through your belongings to uncover duplicates and donate them to a local charity where people who have none can use them.

Items that Don’t Fit

Face it. You’ve been holding onto those Size 8 pants for years now, believing you will one day be able to fit into them again. Chances are, your body has changed. And so have the styles. Donate the clothes that are too small (or too big) and open the doors for getting new items when you reach your fitness goals. It will give you an incentive!

Items You Never Use, Or Never Will

How often have you taken home a freebie and tossed it into a drawer? How many pairs of shoes do you own that haven’t seen the light of day in years? How about stacks of books you haven’t gotten around to reading? These items are just taking up space—physically, visually and mentally. It’s time to recycle them to a better home!

Expired Items

You’d be surprised how many herbs, spices, medications, and other items with an expiration date are WAY past their prime. Some of these can become dangerous if ingested. Take an afternoon to sort out the past-due items and throw them out. Dispose of medications and drugs in the proper way. Don’t flush them down the toilet or put them into the trash can.

Craft Items from a Long-Abandoned Hobby

Does your spare room closet hold boxes of sewing materials, yarn, or scrapbooking supplies? When is the last time you crafted with them? If that hobby has gone by the wayside, so should the craft supplies.

Items from Another Life

Are you still storing items from childhood, a previous marriage, or your single life? Has your pet passed away, yet you still have its feeding dishes and bed? Are you now retired and no longer need a set of work clothes? It’s time to toss to make room in your life for the items that reflect your life right now.

Trash Items

If you’re like most people, you have piles of papers or receipts you’ve been meaning to shred, or junk mail or old newspapers and magazine you’ve intended to go through. Empty your wastebaskets and your space by throwing these items into the recycling bin or trash container.

Live Better With Less

Research shows that clutter is linked to higher levels of stress, and can even lead to overeating and weight gain. With less clutter, your home with be healthier and more beautiful. And you will have more time since you aren’t burdened by the emotional or physical labor of taking care of these items. Make it a habit to only purchase what you need at the moment and you’ll free up finances as well.

Throw Out Items the Easy Way with 123JUNK

Want an easy way to get rid of these must-toss items? If you’re in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington, DC, contact 123JUNK. Not only will be pick up and dispose of your castoffs, we’ll donate what can be reused and recycle things like metal and paper. It’s part of our 1-2-3 Process of Donate-Recycle-Dispose. It’s a win-win! You get to clear out your home and we get to help others like our charity partners succeed. We’ll even provide you with a receipt for your donations so you can claim the donation on your tax return!

Contact 123JUNK today to schedule your junk removal.

Everyone has stuff. And between home offices, kids, hobbies and collections of favorite items, you know how stuff can build up. Is it normal or is it hoarding? What is the difference? Here are some of the telltale signs your loved one may be suffering from hoarding that may help you differentiate.

Accumulation of Clutter

One of the first signs of a hoarding disorder is a gradual buildup of clutter in living spaces of items for which there is no immediate need or space. Your loved one might think, “I could use this someday,” or “It’s on sale, so I had better grab several of them.”

They Can’t Throw Things Away

Another sign is their difficulty in discarding items. People suffering from hoarding may keep the packaging from items purchased, pile up newspapers, thinking they’ll read them later, or salvage found items that they can potentially fix—but never do. These problems develop gradually over time, and are often hidden until the buildup becomes significant.

What are some of the other telltale signs that your loved one may have hoarding tendencies or be suffering from hoarding?

Certain Parts of the Home are Off Limits

People with hoarding disorder may try to limit access to rooms in their home to hide the problem. Look for closed doors or excuses why you can’t enter a room. Your loved one might prevent you from entering the house altogether and may become uncomfortable having any visitors at all.

Decluttering is Stalled or Stopped

Your loved one may start decluttering a room, then get waylaid and never complete the task. Sometimes there are just too many decisions to be made and even the smallest organizational task can be overwhelming. They soon stop trying and the clutter builds up even more.

They Can’t Find Things

Is your loved one constantly misplacing their keys, their purse, or other needed items? When there is too much clutter and no organizational system, these items can easily get lost. The person may often be late because they can’t find what they need in order to get out the door.

They Don’t Want to Put Things Away

People with hoarding tendencies like to see their things, and may be resistant to putting them away in closets, cabinets or boxes. Their items are likely stacked everywhere, and cover most horizontal surfaces. If you try to help organize or put things away, or even move items in order to sit in a chair, you may be scolded. Your loved one does not like to have his or her things touched.

Storage Areas are Overflowing

Take a quick look at the closets and garage. Likely, they are filled to the brim. And often, your loved one may have one or more storage facilities outside of the home, like a shed, outbuilding or a paid storage unit.

They Continue to Buy

Your loved one may be in debt, even without your knowing it, because of their compulsive need to buy. They’ll have good reasons why they needed to make a purchase, like a need to buy gifts for upcoming birthday or holiday celebration. But look outside of these gift purchases. Are the pantry and refrigerator overflowing with out-of-date foods? Are there stacks of unread books? Or unopened packages? Debt can also accumulate from the fees paid to outside storage facilities.

Related: The ICD Clutter-Hoarding Scale

What is Hoarding?

“Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them,” reports the Mayo Clinic. “A person with hoarding disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of the items and excessive accumulation of items, regardless of actual value, occurs.”

Cases may range from mild to severe, and can have from little to huge impact on someone’s life, or even affect day-to-day functioning. If you suspect that your loved one may be a hoarder, there may not be much you can do personally. Since hoarding disorder may stem from a mental or physiological condition, it could be time to get a trained behavioral or medical professional involved.

Let 123JUNK Help With Junk Removal

When it’s time to clear out a home or donate items, 123JUNK can help. We understand the difficulties you can have with loved ones suffering from a hoarding disorder and truly care about assisting you. Give us a call and let’s talk about how we can help create a healthy and happy home environment for your loved one. To schedule your junk removal or cleanout services in Maryland, Washington, DC or Northern Virginia, contact 123JUNK at 1-800-364-5778.

 

–photo from The Mayo Clinic

When 123JUNK schedules a junk removal pickup with a homeowner or business client, we prefer that the client is going to be on site when we arrive. However, “Do I need to be there for my junk removal” is one of the questions we sometimes get from prospective clients. Let’s look at why you need to be present.

Here are some reasons why you need to be there for your junk removal:

To Enable Interior Access

When you have junk, furniture or household goods that need to be removed from inside your home, garage or yard, our team members will require access. Someone needs to be there to let them in and walk them to the areas where our team will get to work. We’ll also need to see the floors, stairs, walls and any property we’ll need to work around so we can protect them during your junk removal.

To Identify Items for Removal

You know exactly which items need to be hauled, and you may have already gathered them into a pile. But if you have furniture, appliances or other large items, they cannot be piled. To ensure we take the correct items—and get everything you want removed, we ask that you be there to help to point them out to our team.

To Make Sure We Can Take It

There are certain items, like chemicals or hazardous waste, that are prohibited by law for 123JUNK to haul. And sometimes our clients have questions on whether we can take an item or not. You need to be there to show us the items, and it’s OK if you ask if we can haul or recycle things you’re not sure about. We do ask that you not put questionable items into boxes where they cannot be identified by sight. You can also check our FAQs for a listing of items we can and cannot take.

Related: EPA–Household Hazardous Waste

To Ensure the Job is Complete

When you are there for your junk removal, we want you to make sure that we complete the job to your full satisfaction—that we’ve taken all of the items you want us to and swept the area where they were located to leave it tidy.

To Set Expectations About What Can Be Donated.

In order to provide a better service experience to our clients, it is best that we have a discussion about your items and our professional opinion about what our charity partners will be interested in accepting from your property.

Are There Times When I Don’t Need to Be There for My Junk Removal?

We truly prefer that you are on site when we arrive for your junk removal, and in 99.9% of the time, we’ll require it. It helps us to avoid confusion, offer you a smoother and more enjoyable transaction, and ensure that the job is done right and to your satisfaction.

On rare occasions, we have scheduled a curbside pickup where the client does not have to be there. Whether we can provide that service to your situation is something we determine on a case-by-case basis.

Schedule Your Junk Removal in DC, MD and No. VA with 123JUNK

When you schedule your junk removal with 123JUNK, we’ll walk you through what to expect and provide you with convenient, all-inclusive pricing up front. If you need junk removal from your home—or commercial or office spaces—in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington, DC, contact 123JUNK at 1-800-364-5778.

One of the trends that came out of the pandemic was in people wanting to remodel and refresh their living spaces. They likely were working and studying from home and spending a lot more time thinking about how to improve their surroundings. This led to a surge in remodeling for additions to provide extra space, or home offices for work and study, for example. And with a fresh, new space, people also wanted new furniture. Therefore, they began to ask, “How do I donate my old furniture and household items?”

The 123JUNK Donation Process & Philosophy

That’s where 123JUNK comes in. When we created our business, we wanted it to be more than just a junk hauling provider. We had a mission to protect and environment and to serve our local community. That’s why we developed our 1-2-3 Process of Donate-Recycle-Dispose.

Since one of our company’s Core Values is “Deep Community Ties,” we reached out to local charitable organizations like Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, A Wider Circle, the Montgomery County Humane Society, and Passion for Community, to name a few to see how we could donate furniture and household items to help their causes. We set up a system that works for everyone through our Northern Virginia, DC and Maryland service area.

You can learn more about some of our partners through the Partner Spotlights we feature on our 123JUNK blog. For example, read about Amy Javaid, interim president & CEO at A Wider Circle and its mission, and how your furniture donations can help them provide furnishings to those in need or assist in raising money for their causes.

Your Furniture Donation Helps You Too

When you donate your old furniture through our furniture removal and donation services, 123JUNK will provide you with a receipt and you can claim your donation as a tax deduction. Plus, you know that the furniture your family has enjoyed throughout the years will go to help another family in your own community rather than into the landfill. We also understand there is a certain sentimentality attached to your furniture and our team will treat your items with respect as we collect them and load them onto our big red truck.

Furniture Removal & Donation

Once you decide which furniture items you’d like to donate, just let our 123JUNK team members know where they are as they arrive to your home or office. We’ll remove them from the various rooms; there’s no need for you to gather them together. We take great effort to protect your floors, walls and other belongings as we remove furniture items. We don’t want scuffs or damage any more than you do!

When we load your furniture onto our truck, we have a process there too. We separate furniture and household donations from other hauls like recycling in order to deliver them in the best condition to our charitable partners.

How Can You Donate Your Old Furniture? Call 123JUNK.

There’s no need for you to load your old furniture into your own vehicle to haul it to one of the area’s donation centers. Or to bug your neighbors to help you drag out the sectional couch or massive office desk. Let 123JUNK do the heavy hauling for you.

123JUNK makes it easy to donate your old furniture, whether it’s home furniture or office furniture.  Simply contact us at 1-800-364-5778. You’ll reach one of our associates who can walk you through our process and schedule your pick-up date. For your convenience, we’ll contact you shortly before we arrive on that date to let you know we’re on the way.