The junk removal process can be overwhelming, especially when you’re faced with piles upon piles of items that have accumulated over the years. It’s often difficult to discern what can be donated, recycled, or repurposed versus what is pure junk that needs to be thrown away.
Having a system to evaluate each item will make the junk removal process much easier and more efficient, especially if you’ve ordered junk removal services for a set time and date.
Define Your Goal
Before diving into sorting, take a moment to define your goal for the junk removal. Are you trying to create more space? Get rid of clutter? Donate or recycle as much as possible.
Understanding the motivation will help guide your junk removal efforts. If your goal is simply to lighten your load, then more items can likely be discarded as junk. However, if you want to be as waste-conscious as possible, you’ll need to thoroughly evaluate each possession’s reuse or recyclability.
Categorize by Rooms
Whether you’re doing residential or commercial junk removal, go through your property room by room.
Sorting by location will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed by the entire house at once. Start with problem areas like the garage, attic, or basement where junk accumulates. As you evaluate each room, make four piles: trash, donate/sell, recycle, and keep.
Be Ruthless! Get Rid of Your Junk!
When deciding what is junk, you need to be ruthless. Anything broken beyond repair is obvious junk. But you’ll need to take it further and really question if items are useful or sparking joy, to quote Marie Kondo.
If it’s been untouched in a box for years, it’s junk. If it’s missing pieces or has parts that are worn out, it’s junk. If you have multiples of the same item, are all extras really needed? Ask these tough questions to create a cleaner answer in the long term.
Check Expiration Dates
Don’t just glance at that bottle of shampoo you haven’t used in a year and assume it’s still good. Check expiration dates on food, beauty products, medications, and other consumables. Pantry and hygiene items can quickly add up to a big mess.
If it’s past the expiration date, then into the trash it goes. Expired items can be hazardous, so it’s important to check diligently.
Evaluate Sentimental Items
This can be the most challenging category when removing junk. We often cling to items due to memories or emotions attached to them. But at some point, you must assess if you really need to keep every drawing your kid did in preschool or greeting card ever received.
Set limits for how many sentimental items you’ll keep, and carefully curate the most meaningful ones. Take photos of some for posterity, then recycle or donate the originals.
Don’t Forget the Garage
The garage tends to collect a lot of junk, like old paint cans, broken tools, and ragged furniture. If it’s broken, it’s junk. If you haven’t used it in years because a new version replaced it, it’s junk. If it’s covered in dust and cobwebs, it’s likely junk. Box up, label items you want to keep, then mark the rest as junk. Even materials like paint that can be deemed hazardous count as junk we can remove at East Texas Junk Removal.
Enlist Help from a Junk Removal Service
What we can accumulate over the years is amazing without even realizing it. Having a neutral third party like an organizational expert or junk removal service look over your spaces can help identify overlooked junk. Their fresh perspective can ensure you aren’t clinging onto items that should really be tossed out.
Make Quick Decisions
Junk removal calls for decisiveness. Lingering over items while analyzing their usefulness will slow down the process tremendously. Keep your goal in mind, and when faced with a questionable item, make a quick judgment call and move on.
If it gives you joy or serves a purpose, it stays. If not, into the discard pile, it goes. You’ll be able to power through much faster using this decisive approach.
Cull Your Junk Today, With East Texas Junk Removal
With the right mindset and system, you can effectively identify and eliminate the junk during the removal process. However, working with a professional junk removal team like East Texas Junk Removal can make removing waste a relief, not a checklist of chores.
We are a team of professional junk removers that can help you clear out your office, home, or hoarded storage space.
Contact us today to learn more about our services or get your waste removal needs on our schedule.