Tag: junk removal NoVA MD DC

get-rid-of-sentimental-clutter

How Do I Get Rid of Sentimental Clutter?

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

Feeling sentimental about objects is real. There are many emotions surrounding them because they often hold personal memories and meaningful connections to people, places and events. When you try to let go of these items, you may feel an intense sense of loss, guilt or even grief—you are essentially releasing a part of your history. Unfortunately, without being able to cull items from your home, they can accumulate and create a cluttered situation. But with so much involved, how do you get rid of this sentimental clutter?

What is Sentimental Clutter?

Sentimental clutter refers to items that hold a special meaning or emotional connection. An item becomes sentimental when related to personal memories, experiences or significant events in your life. They bring back positive memories that makes them difficult to part with, even if they no longer serve a practical purpose in your life.

Over time, the accumulation of sentimental clutter can lead to disorganized and overwhelming living areas, making it difficult to find storage for them or navigate around them, and taking up valuable space. Your environment is no longer relaxing.

Some examples can include:

  • Childhood toys or games
  • Family heirlooms
  • Pictures and photo albums
  • Letters, cards and notes from loved ones
  • Mementos from travel and vacations
  • Arts and crafts made by children
  • Wedding and engagement rings
  • Clothing and accessories from special events
  • Awards and certificates

What Should I Keep?

The decision on what to keep depends on your personal preferences and the item’s emotional significance. Here are some guidelines on what to keep:

  • Items that bring you joy and have a strong emotional connection
  • Items with practical value like jewelry you wear regularly
  • Items with sentimental value to others such a gift from a loved one
  • Items with historical significance like old family photographs or letters that may be of interest to future generations

How to Remember Sentimental Items

It’s not necessarily the item itself, but the memories you want to preserve. To remember sentimental items you don’t want to keep, and hold on to them in different ways, try these ideas:

  • Take photographs before disposing of the items
  • Write a journal entry of your memories and associated thoughts, and make the journal the keepsake
  • Create a memory box for small items
  • Keep a digital record with scans or important documents or digital photographs
  • Share you stories with loved ones to keep the legacy alive
  • Repurpose items by turning them into something new, like making a quilt from old clothes or a piece of jewelry from broken pieces.

How Do I Get Rid of Sentimental Clutter?

What’s important is to evaluate the sentimental value of each item, and only keep those that hold real significance and bring joy. To help eliminate items, try these steps:

  • Separate items into categories such as sentimental value, practical value and emotional value.
  • Ask yourself if the item still holds sentimental value and brings joy to your life. If not, let it go.
  • Choose a course of action. Decide what you will do with each item: keep it, donate it, or toss it. Create bins for each category and place each item in its appropriate bin.
  • Store or display. For items you decide to keep, create dedicated storage or display areas to preserve them property and protect them from damage
  • Let go. Once you’ve made your decision to donate or toss, take action to let them go.

Related: 13 Tips on How to Get Rid of Sentimental Clutter Without Feeling Guilty

A Junk Removal Company like 123JUNK Can Help You Release Sentimental Clutter

A junk removal company like 123JUNK provides a convenient and efficient solution for disposing of items you no longer need or want. Their services include:

  • Pick up/removal. Your junk removal company will come to your home and remove the items, saving you the time and energy of having to dispose of them yourself.
  • Respectful handling. At 123JUNK, we train our team members on courtesy and respect. They understand that getting rid of sentimental clutter is stressful, and that there are a lot of emotions involved. They know how to handle your objects carefully and respectfully to reduce the stress and emotional burden of letting them go.
  • Junk removal companies like 123JUNK also have a donation component, where perfectly-good items are delivered to local charity partners to be repurposed back into the community, or used to raise funds for charitable causes.
  • Based on an items suitability and usability, some items may be better off being recycled than donated or taken to the local landfill.
  • Peace of mind. Your junk removal service takes care of the entire process to ensure that your sentimental clutter is disposed of properly and ethically.

What’s most important is to be kind to yourself. Understand that handling sentimental items is emotional, but not disabling. Give yourself permission to let go of items that no longer serve a purpose in your life, and don’t feel guilty.

123JUNK: The First Choice for Junk Removal in NoVa, MD and DC

If your home is located in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington DC, contact 123JUNK. You’ll love the fact that you talk with a live person when you call, and that all our team members are trained to be courteous and respectful. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

When you call, learn about our 1-2-3 process of Donate-Recycle-Dispose, and our flat fee, all-inclusive pricing. Call us today at 1-800-364-5778 to schedule your junk removal pickup.

clutter-stress-on-kids

Why the Stress of Clutter is Bad for Kids

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

“Mom—where is my homework? I can’t find it.” “Don’t come down until you clean up your room.” Sound familiar? These are just two of the commonly-heard results of too much clutter in a home. As Americans, we have an abundance of stuff, and sadly, the stress of clutter can be bad for kids.

A team of researchers at UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) explored Los Angeles families and the following is what they discovered. “Walk into any dual-income, middle-class home in the U.S. and you will come face to face with an awesome array of stuff—toys, trinkets, family photos, furniture, games, DVDs, TVs, digital devices of all kinds, souvenirs, flags, food and more. We put our stuff anywhere in the house, everywhere there’s room, or even if there’s no room. We park the car on the street so we can store our stuff in the garage, and pile the dirty laundry in the shower because there’s nowhere else to store it, and no time to wash it.” Their conclusion: we are a “clutter culture.”

The problem is that clutter creates stress. “It’s difficult to find time to sort, organize and manage these possessions. Thus, our excess becomes a visible sign of unaccomplished work that constantly challenges our deeply ingrained notions of tidy homes and elicits substantial stress,” said Anthony Graesch, PhD., co-author of Life at Home, a book based on this study.

How Does the Stress of Clutter Affect Kids?

Graesch surmises that “Dual-income parents get to spend so very little time with their children on the average weekday, usually four or fewer waking hours. This becomes a source of guilt for many parents, and buying their children toys, clothes and other possessions is a way to achieve temporary happiness during this limited time span.”

This clutter has an adverse effect on kids. According to Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D., they experience:

  • Excessive stimuli, causing the senses to work overtime on things that aren’t important
  • Distraction from what the focus should be on
  • Difficulty in both physical and mental relaxation
  • Inhibition of creativity and productivity with the lack of open spaces that enable thinking, brainstorming and problem solving
  • Frustration due to lost items
  • Anxiety from never getting everything done

Another study reports that kids in disorganized homes have more trouble regulating their emotions, and that they can feel overwhelmed by a mountain of playthings and the constant nagging to put them away.

How to Reduce the Stress of Clutter

Dr. Carter offers 8 tips to reducing the stress of clutter:

  1. Don’t tackle the job alone. Get the whole family involved. Start with one room and make each person responsible for a section.
  2. Create designated spaces for frequently-used items. Make them closed spaces like drawers and cabinets.
  3. If you don’t use, want or need it, get rid of it. Toss it, recycle it or donate it. If you use it rarely, store it.
  4. When you take something out of its designated space, put it back immediately after use.
  5. Create a pending folder to clear your workspace.
  6. Don’t let papers pile up. Go through them and toss what you don’t need.
  7. De-clutter before you leave a space.
  8. Make it fun.

Let 123JUNK Help Reduce the Amount of Clutter and Stress on Kids

123JUNK has some advice too—let us haul away your unused, unwanted and unneeded items. As Dr. Carter advises, start in one room and make piles. You don’t even need to sort them for donation, recycling or trash. We’ll do that when we pick them up; it’s part of our service and our 1-2-3 Process of Donate-Recycle-Dispose designed to help the environment. Just make the piles and point our team members to them when they arrive. It’s as simple as that.

With less stuff, you have more room to breathe, relax and enjoy life without the stress of having to clean, organize, manage and worry about the clutter. Your kids will thank you too.

We serve families throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC. To speak to a live representative and schedule your 123JUNK clutter removal, contact us at 1-800-364-5778.

three boxes lined up next to each other

11 Items to Throw Out Right Now

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

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.

several men moving a large lawn mower onto their moving truck

Help! I have BIG Things to Get Rid Of!

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

We can’t tell you how often we hear this call for help! People have a lot of really big things inside or outside their homes (or offices) that they just don’t know how to get rid of. Luckily, they know enough to call 123JUNK.

Big Furniture

Today’s sofas are bigger and heavier than ever, making them more difficult to move or remove. They can be up to two or three times the size of a regular-sized piece of the same furniture. The bigger pieces can include sectional sofas, sleep sofas, oversized couches, big lounge chairs, stadium seating, chaises, recliners, and leather couches. In other rooms, you might have an oversized dining room table, hutch, or bookcases or other furniture that you’d like to donate in order to make room for the new furniture.

Big Bedroom Furniture

Massive bedframes and dressers have to have someplace to go when you’re redecorating or downsizing. Big bedroom furniture is no problem for our team at 123JUNK.

Big Mattresses

One of the most difficult things to get rid of—believe it or not—is a mattress, especially if it isn’t the greatest condition. There are limitations and restrictions on how to dispose of it, despite the fact that it’s awkward to carry and load.

(See our related post: How to Dispose of a Mattress When You Can’t Remove it Yourself)

Big Appliances

Your old or unused refrigerator, freezer, washer, dryer, stove, oven, water heater, air conditioner, dishwasher or other big appliance may also have restrictions on disposal options due to chemical contaminants like Freon. Plus, they’re heavy!

Big Entertainment Items

Are you tired of playing pool, or has ping-pong gone out of fashion in your home? You’ve been wanting to use that space for a new purpose, but your large entertainment items are in the way. How about the piano that nobody ever plays any longer, that old big-screen TV, or stereo equipment that’s gathering dust. With a quick call to 123JUNK, you can quickly and easily move these items on to new homes.

Exercise Equipment

Do you want to replace that old treadmill with the latest and greatest health equipment? No problem, with 123JUNK. We’ll gladly remove any exercise equipment, including home gyms, barbell and weight sets, weight benches, squat racks, CrossFit setups, cardio equipment, elliptical machines, rowing machines, and more.

Outdoor Fun

What do you do with your big outdoor living things when they’re no longer fun? Call 123JUNK! We’ll send our professional junk hauling team out to remove your hot tub, above-ground pool, grills, outdoor kitchen, playground set, jungle gym, swings, trampoline, fire pit, lawn furniture, statuary and landscaping items.

Lawn Equipment

Downsizing or moving into a condo, or upgrading to newer models? Then you no longer need all that old lawn equipment. We’ll gladly take off your hands your lawn tractor, mower, trimmers, blowers, snow blower, edger, spreader, sprayer, trailer, ladder and put them to good use somewhere else. We’ll even remove the shed, fence and lawn debris!

Related: HGTV’s 6 Tips for Downsizing

Let 123JUNK Do the Heavy Lifting to Get Rid of Big Things Around Your House

Don’t break your back trying to carry out big things. And don’t guilt your friends or neighbors into spending an afternoon loading them onto their pickup. That’s what 123JUNK is here for. Our professional junk haulers are trained in safety protocols when lifting and hauling big things. We don’t want them—or you—to become injured from lifting a heavy object the wrong way.

Our team is also trained in how to protect your home and property when removing big items. We’ll lay down floor covers, protect corners and doorways—whatever we have to do to ensure a clean and efficient removal.

After almost 15 years in business, we’d like to say we’ve seen it all. Yet we’re still surprised when someone contacts us to haul away a big item we haven’t handled before—like a motorcycle from a basement!

If you have big things to get rid of in Maryland, Washington DC or Northern Virginia, give 123JUNK a call at 1-800-364-5778.

landfill-global-warming

Landfills Contribute to Global Warming

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

There are more than 1,250 landfills in the United States, primarily located in the Southern and Western states. And although the number of landfills has decreased significantly since the 1990s, landfills still contribute to global warming more that we would like.

“Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 14.5 percent of these emissions in 2020,
reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “The methane emissions from landfills in 2020 were approximately equivalent to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from about 20.3 million passenger vehicles driven for one year, or the carbon dioxide emissions from nearly 11.9 million homes’ energy use for one year.”

Landfill Greenhouse Gases Lead to Global Warming

Greenhouse gases are perhaps the biggest environment threat posed by landfills and huge contributors to global warming and climate change. In the U.S., landfills are the 3rd largest source of methane emissions.

The methane gas that landfills produce is about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and a threat to our climate. Their odors can permeate neighborhoods and the gases can produce birth defects, respiratory diseases, headaches, sleeping difficulties and irritation of the eyes, throat and nose for those living near landfills. Methane is also highly flammable and combustible, and can lead to landfill fires that destroy neighboring habitats and pollute the air.

Other Effects of Landfills

More than 254 million tons of waste are tossed into landfills each year. That’s about 4.4 pounds of trash per day per person. When trash is buried in a landfill, it is extremely slow to break down. In addition, pests are attracted, runoff poisons our soil and groundwater, and the land is destroyed for any future purpose. The effects can last for years—and generations.

Electronic waste is added can contain a long list of hazardous toxins including mercury, acids, lead, PVC and cadmium. Other dangerous toxins can come from fertilizers, expired products and pharmaceutical waste.

Related: Land of Waste: American Landfills and Waste Production

How Can You Help Landfills NOT Contribute to Global Warming?

Our mission at 123JUNK has become even more important as our planet is seeing the increased impacts of global warming, where fires, floods, droughts rage through communities, putting lives and futures at risk.

Because we know that landfills contribute to global warming, through our 1-2-3 Process of Donate-Recycle-Dispose, we pledge to keep as much of the items we pick up from your homes and offices out of our area landfills as possible. We separate out the perfectly-good items, or items you want to donate, and deliver them to our hand-picked charitable partners, who provide them to families in need or sell them in their donation centers to raise money for their causes. You don’t need to separate out the items you’ve identified for removal. We’ll do it for you.

After we’ve determined which items we can donate, we’ll divide out recyclable items like bundles of newspapers, books, wood, aluminum, plastics and electronics and deliver those items to the appropriate local recycling centers where their materials can be recycled into other products.

And only when we have exhausted all ways to repurpose your items do we deliver the remainder to the landfills.

Choose 123JUNK for Environmentally-Conscious Junk Removal in NoVA, MD and DC

You can do your bit to help negate global warming by contacting 123JUNK for your home or office junk removal. Donate furniture and household goods. Recycle electronics. And let us help keep landfills from contributing to global warming and climate changes.

Contact 123JUNK today at 1-800-364-5778 to learn more about our donation pickup and delivery services, or to schedule your pick in Northern VA, Washington DC, or Maryland.

Professional property cleanout services in Chantilly VA

Do I Need to Be There for My Junk Removal?

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

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.

four men posing in front of company moving truck

What to Do With Your Unwanted Household Items

Posted on | by Linda Barrett

If you’re like others, you have many items around your home that you just don’t need or use any more. Perhaps you’ve replaced the furniture with newer versions. Or maybe the kids have outgrown their clothes and toys. No matter what the reason, you’re ready to get rid of these items. But…they might be in too good a shape to throw away. That’s when you wonder what to do with your unwanted household items.

123JUNK has the perfect solution.

123JUNK offers a one-stop solution to clearing out your unwanted household items. We started our business and run it successfully with the philosophy of Donate-Recycle-Dispose.

Donate

If your unwanted items are in good or even great shape, or if you desire to donate items, 123JUNK can pick up these items and carry them to one of our local charity partners like A Wider Circle, Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, Passion for Community or the Montgomery County Humane Society. There, your items can be provided to a family in need, or sold in one of the retail outlets to raise money for charitable causes.

You will be provided with a receipt of your donation that you can use for a tax deduction.

Recycle

Sometimes an item isn’t in good enough shape to be repurposed back into the community, however, it may contain materials that can be recycled. It is our goal to keep as many items out of our area landfills as possible. We’ll divide out items like metals, electronics, some plastics, paper, cardboard, clothing, and other recyclables when we load our big red truck and deliver them directly to an area recycling center.

Dispose

Only after the Donate and Recycle options are depleted do we set aside the rest of the collection to deliver to area landfills.

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Talk to Our Representative

If you’re wondering what to do with your unwanted household items, give 123JUNK a call. We don’t use automated answering systems, so you’ll reach one of our client relationship representatives (“meet” them on our blog!). Feel free to ask questions about our processes, our charity partners, our fees, and even our values structure.

Enjoy Convenient Flat Fee Pricing

Speaking of fees, you’ll enjoy 123JUNK’s flat fee pricing. It doesn’t matter how heavy the load is or how long it takes us to load and deliver it. Our rates are set based on how much space the items take on our trucks. And we have some of the the largest trucks in the industry!

Included in your price quote are the fuel costs, labor charges, disposal fees, donation delivery costs, and full damage insurance. We can give an estimate over the phone. (10% discount for curbside pickups!)

Labor Only Services

Don’t forget about 123JUNK’s labor-only services. We’ll be glad to move items around your property while we’re hauling away your unwanted household items.

Wondering What to Do With Your Unwanted Household Items? Call 123JUNK.

If you’re in Northern Virginia, Maryland or Washington DC and are wondering what to do with your unwanted household items, contact 123JUNK. We’re proud of our 1-2-3 Donate-Recycle-Dispose process, and you will be too, knowing you’ve helped the environment and perhaps other families in your own community. Learn more about the 123JUNK story.

123JUNK is the first choice for junk hauling in your neighborhood. And the easiest solution to your junk removal needs. Call us at 1-800-364-5778 to schedule your next pickup.