Preparing for an Estate Sale Junk Clean Out in Minnesota – Everything You Need to Know

There are many reasons you might wind up with an estate that needs cleanup. Maybe the most common cause is the death of a family member, friend, or loved one. When this happens, you have to process your emotions and grieve. However, you also have to figure out what happens to the house and all of the earthly possessions inside of it. You may also need to clean out an estate because of a foreclosure or an eviction. No matter why you need to tidy up the home, you have a big job ahead of you—an estate sale clean out. An estate sale clean out is when you remove all the junk inside the house so the property can be sold. The question is, how does this clean out process work? What happens to all the stuff in the house? How much work can you expect to do, and what do you need to know before you take on this challenging task?

Junk Masters is here to teach you how to make your estate sale clean out in Minnesota a resounding success. We are Saint Paul’s go-to estate sale junk removal experts! We’ve learned a lot about preparing estates for sale over the years. Now, we’re ready to share that knowledge with you. So without further ado, let’s begin!

Sorting Through and Removing Belongings

It goes without saying that an estate usually has lots of items stored within it. Each and every room has stuff that you need to remove, and it’s up to you to remove it. The best way to begin is to choose a place where you can start gathering all these items at. Near the front door might be a good spot, or maybe the garage or the front porch would be a suitable place. In either case, once you’ve picked a spot to bring all the items to, start hauling them over. Go from room to room, rounding up all the things that need to go. In the kitchen, there are pots, pans, plates, and wall decorations. In the living room, there are books, magazines, and potted plants. Don’t forget the countless boxes and bins of stored items in the basement, attic, or garage.

While removing the junk from each room, you will encounter items that you can’t move on your own. It’s a good bet that you will find all kinds of furniture, such as the bed, the dining room table, and the living room sofa. Of course, there will also be old appliances that might need to go, such as an ice chest, a busted washing machine, or a broken refrigerator. When removing items such as these, don’t be afraid to ask for help from a friend. Handling heavy objects on your own can be a serious risk of personal strain or injury. That’s the last thing you want when doing estate sale clean up.

Once you have emptied out all the rooms, you may want to sweep up behind yourself. That way, the estate’s floors won’t be covered in dust. Now that everything in the house is in one place, take some time to sort them into categories. Find the things you want to keep first and foremost. Then, you’ll be left with the things you can get rid of, which you can organize into groups such as decorations, kitchenware, clothing, toys, knickknacks, recyclables, and garbage.

Parting Ways with Belongings

At this point, you have moved all the estate’s items into one place and sorted them into categories. So what happens now? Simply put, it’s time to get rid of anything you didn’t want to keep for your own personal use. There are three outcomes for these items: reuse, recycling, and disposal. Let’s take an in-depth look at all these options so you can determine what’s best for each item you are trying to get rid of.

Reuse

If any items are still in good condition, then there’s a good chance someone else can use them, even if you don’t want to. All you have to do is get these items into the hands of those who might be interested. How? You could always have a classic yard sale or garage sale to peddle off these belongings. You’ll even make some extra money in the process, which is always a helpful thing to have.

If you don’t want to bother with a yard sale, or you have items left over from a yard sale, now is the time to donate them to a local charity organization. While you won’t make any money this way, you will be supporting a good cause, and you can even receive a tax write-off for your trouble, too. There are several options for donating lightly used possessions in the Twin Cities area. For example, consider our local Bridging, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, or maybe one of our many Goodwill locations.

Recycle

Items that are too worn for reuse aren’t worth donating. However, if you are an environmentally friendly individual, you probably would like to recycle as many of these items as you can. If you sorted through the estate’s things for recyclables ahead of time, then it won’t be a problem to load them into a vehicle and take them to a nearby recycling center. The city of Minneapolis provides many recycling drop-off sites for your convenience, and for larger items like appliances, there are large-scale recycling facilities such as Certified Recycling that can get the job done. With recycling options, you can feel good knowing you’re reducing landfill waste.

Disposal

You will have to throw out whatever can’t be donated or recycled. While it’s unfortunate that some things have to wind up in the landfill, that’s just a part of how our world works. So load that leftover junk into your vehicle and head over to one of our local disposal sites. While a clothespin on your nose is optional, dumping fees are often necessary, so be sure to bring some form of payment.

Cleaning out an estate is often a personal affair. Ultimately, it’s up to you how to handle the clean out process. For those who value their time, professional services may be the best way to go about things. For those who value their money more, then do-it-yourself junk removal is an appealing option. Weigh your priorities and take the route best suited for you. We hope your estate sale clean out goes over smoothly so you can get this big responsibility off your back soon!