Moving? Here are 10 Easy Ways To Get Rid of Junk

Whether you’re selling your home or changing apartments, moving can be both exciting and exhausting. More often than not, you will have some extra junk that you don’t want to take along. Below is a comprehensive list detailing all of your options for getting rid of that unwanted junk by selling it, donating it, or throwing it away in an environmentally conscious way. Estate sale Garage sale Sell on eBay Sell on Craiglist, Facebook Market Place, or Offerup Donate to local church or community center Donate to the Salvation Army Give to friends or family Garbage collection Throw in the dumpster Call for junk removal Sell it! Table of Contents 1. Estate sale 2. Garage sale 3. Sell on eBay 4. Sell on Craiglist, Facebook Market Place, or Offerup 5. Donate to local church or community center 6. Salvation Army 7. Give to friends or family 8. Garbage collection 9. Rent a dumpster 10. Junk Removal 1. Estate sale Maroon chair for couch removal –If you have a significant amount of valuable items you will not be taking with you, an estate sale is a full-service option. While the estate sale company will take a portion of the revenue, they will manage the whole process, making it much less labor-intensive than some other options. We work with partners like Paxem to help dispose of unwanted items in an environmentally conscious way. 2. Garage sale —If you would like to attempt selling your items yourself, a garage sale is a good option. It’s especially a great option if you do not want to have to worry about delivery or shipping of items. Advertise at least a week in advance and all the way up to the day itself. Make sure to price your items to sell and be willing to accept lower price offers from shoppers. You should be able to reduce your accumulated junk significantly. A key thing to remember is you’re selling to declutter and downsize, and limiting and/or offsetting the cost of junk removal rather than making a profit or a ton of money. 3. Sell on eBay —If you have given yourself enough time before your moving date, use eBay to sell as many of the higher value shippable items as you can. Since you can ship items sold on eBay, it may help you find buyers that are interested in items that may be hard for them to find locally. Remember, your goal is to reduce your junk, not to make a business out of it; so fairly price your items to get the bidding started and interest from potential buyers, the areas you’re willing to ship to, and set your minimums to sell on the first try. Adding free shipping as an option is a great way to get interested sellers on platforms like eBay. 4. Sell on Craiglist, Facebook Market Place, or Offerup –This is your best option for furniture and other difficult-to-ship items that you may be able to make a few bucks on. Just use common sense and be careful when working with craigslist and other platforms only meeting with safety in mind. While it is a great tool to bring people together, it is unregulated and unsupervised leaving you on your own to screen potential buyers. Donate It! 5. Donate to local church or community center –Call your local church or community center and ask if they have programs to donate old furniture or clothing. Churches, community centers, homeless shelters, animal shelters and many other organizations would appreciate your items. Items that are donated in this way can also be used as a tax deduction. Make sure to keep records for the items you’ve donated and their value. Man holding donated items for junk removal 6. Salvation Army –This is a good option because they will actually send a truck out to your home to pick up your items. They are a good organization that does great things for people in need. Having said that, be sure to schedule them far in advance and have a backup plan in place such as the ones described below. Salvation Army can be unreliable at times and is fairly picky about what they will and will not take. 7. Give to friends or family –Don’t forget to ask all of your friends and family to take whatever they want! You might be surprised to find out cousin Bill does, in fact, want your coffee table from the ’80s! Junk It! 8. Garbage collection –Inevitably, after selling and/or donating your things, you are still going to have some junk left. If it’s a small amount, you can be rid of it immediately. As long as your municipality will accept it, just put it out in your garbage and you’re finished! Make sure to recycle items that can be recycled. Depending on your location, you may be able to put scrap metal out for recycling as well. 9. Rent a dumpster –Most of us, however, have stuff that just won’t fit into any of the above categories. For this remaining junk, one option is to rent a dumpster and recruit some friends or family to help you load it. You will have to do some estimating to ensure you get the appropriate size dumpster for your stuff. If the dumpster you order is too big, you will be paying for wasted space. If it is too small, you will have to order a second one which will be even more costly. By the time you factor in your time, your labor, and dumpster/permits cost you may be able to have a junk removal company help out for cheaper and Way faster ( we can load and haul the equivalent of a full dumpster in about an hour or so!) 10. Junk Removal –Another option is to hire a junk removal company. Junk removal companies provide both the labor and trucks to remove the items from your house for you. Typically if you have a small amount of stuff left, this is less expensive than a dumpster. If you have a significant amount of stuff left, it may cost a little more. Since these companies will be sending workers into your home, do a little research to be sure they are reputable and insured. Hope this helps and good luck with your move!