If you polled your friends’ New Year’s resolutions, many of them would note items like, “get organized” or “live simpler.” The new year lets us overhaul the things that overwhelmed us in the past, whether that means eating less junk food or keeping less clutter. If you’re already putting off New Year’s organization, we’ve got you covered.

How to Keep New Year’s Resolutions

Your goals may seem insurmountable, but it’s possible to stick with them. Here are 3 tips for keeping New Year’s resolutions in 2016:

1. Do. Don’t avoid. Why do most people fail their resolutions within 6 months? They’re not making positive changes, they’re avoiding negative pitfalls. It’s much easier to eat healthy than it is to nix junk food. Don’t make “get organized” about avoiding messes. Implement actionable strategies to help you stick with the cleaner lifestyle.
2. Make a goal (and check it off). Don’t keep your resolution to yourself. Let your friends and family help you stay organized this year. Write down your goal for the year. Then break it down into mini-goals for each month, or even each week. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can surpass even your grandest expectations when you conquer them bit by bit.
3. Try again! Mess up? Don’t give up! Start over. It’s easier to get into good habits if you stick with them instead of only doing them when it’s convenient.

New Year’s Resolutions for Homeowners

1. Downsize. If you’re anything like most people, you have years of Christmas presents, birthday gifts, and bought items cluttering up closets. Before tackling New Year’s organization, weed through the clutter and box up what you don’t use or need.
2. Dive in. Whether you organize room by room, all at once, or with a squad of declutter-fairies, you can’t change your lifestyle until you take care of the problem. Sort, organize, label, and call Mr. Junk to haul away the junk that’s left.
3. Create an action plan. Don’t just expect your home to stay clean. Despite our best intentions, life always gets hectic, and counters always get cluttered. Instead, make a plan going forward. Put kids in charge of certain chores, plan laundry Mondays and fridge clean out Saturdays, and teach the whole family how to stay organized. Simple tricks make all the difference.

Out with the old? Call Mr. Junk to haul away unwanted stuff so you can dive into a cleaner New Year.

FreeDigitalPhotos

Losing a loved one is an overwhelming experience. Grief, funeral arrangements, and financial concerns far exceed the 24-48 hours of bereavement most people receive from work. The last thing anyone wants to do is sort through the house of someone they’ve lost. Tackle this physically and emotionally taxing task step-by-step to minimize stress and pain.

How to Clean Out the Home after a Death

Whether it’s a parent, grandparent, friend, or other loved one who passed away, sorting through their stuff can bring a flood of positive and negative emotions. Organizing the task can help family members do a thorough clean out, even when they’re overwhelmed.

1. Divide the work. Many times, the take-charge sibling winds up with the daunting task of cleaning out their parents’ home. This can cause increased stress and grief, as well as encouraging troublesome family dynamics. Divide the physical labor of cleaning out a late loved one’s house. Take the home room-by-room or put one sibling on packing duty while another cleans and organizes.
2. Remember it’s okay to be sentimental. Everyone deals with grief in different ways. Some donate everything to avoid confronting grief, while others refuse to throw away anything. A healthy balance is necessary when cleaning out a late parent’s house. Ask each family member which items they hold dear. Set aside family keepsakes before sorting the rest for donation.
3. Hire an appraiser. If your family has decided to sell jewellery, antiques, or other costly items, hire an appraiser to advise you on the best way to dissolve assets. Most appraisers charge an hourly fee, so organize the items beforehand.
4. Be realistic. It’s okay to hang onto photos, souvenirs, and family heirlooms that hold special significance. But don’t fall into the trap of keeping everything. After setting aside the items you or a family member would like to keep, sort the rest for donation.

Mr. Junk donates or recycles hauled items whenever possible. Call us to remove broken appliances, old furniture, and other items you won’t pass on to other family members.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos

As a junk removal company, we’re pretty familiar with the temporal nature of stuff. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the hubbub of the holidays, from finding the perfect gift to cleaning out the guest room before company arrives. And there’s something magical about opening a gift on Christmas Day to realize that yes, your sister really does know you that well. But when the Christmas tree hits the curb, you realize that stuff is just stuff. By New Year’s Day, kids will have broken their brand new toys, passed along gifts they don’t want, and shoved still other items to the back of the closet. But the memories of the holidays — the joy, the merriment, the hours of laughter with people you love — can’t get stuffed into a New Year’s clean out bin.

Take the time to relax this Christmas, reconnecting with loved ones near and far. Put aside the wrapping paper to teach your son to baste a holiday ham, cuddle up with hot chocolate to watch a Christmas movie with your grandparents, and share your new gadgets with the generous giver. At the end of the day, memories are the things that will stick with you.

Merry Christmas from your friends at Mr. Junk! We wish you happy holidays and a bright New Year.

You’ve made your list and checked it twice. But are you really ready for the holidays? Christmas is less than two weeks away. Across Atlanta, folks are going into a tailspin buying last-minute presents, stocking up on Christmas groceries, and frantically cleaning the house before guests arrive. Are you a master of the holiday season? Check off this Christmas to-do list and see!

How to Get Organized for the Holidays

• Don’t just grocery shop. Make a list of all the dishes you’ll make for Christmas eve and Christmas dinner. Make sure you have not only the bare essentials, but extras in case things go wrong during cooking. Getting crunched for time? Ask a few guests to bring their seasonal specialties. It’ll lighten your load, and everyone can broaden their palates with a few extra treats.
• Prepare for guests. That means prepping the guest room, sure. It also means putting away breakables that your nieces, nephews, or grandkids might mistake as toys.
• Organize the house. Nothing’s more frustrating than feeling overwhelmed during Christmas. Relieve your holiday stress by scheduling preemptive organization. Enlist the family to help you pick up around the house. Do a final run-through, starting at the front door and pretending like you’re a guest seeing the house for the first time since last Christmas.
• Think ahead. On December 25th at 6am (or 8:30, if you’re lucky enough to have middle schoolers), you’ll be knee deep in paper, ribbon, and gift bags. Relieve the stress of holiday clean-up by planning ahead. Keep ornament storage organized (divided boxes work wonders), keep a trash bag on hand for discarded wrappings, and announce the clean-up plan ahead of time so the kids don’t dart off with their new toys.
• Call Mr. Junk. Have Christmas decorations you haven’t used since the 90’s? Will you be out of town for the curbside Christmas tree pickup? Call Mr. Junk and schedule a holiday junk haul at your convenience.

Wrapping Paper Image from Flickr

With Christmas just around the corner, your to-do list probably grows two sizes each day. From Christmas shopping to decorating, planning holiday meals to cleaning up the house, the holiday season brings a sleigh load of responsibility with the requisite goodwill and cheer. If you’re stressing about this year’s holiday guests, have no fear. Mr. Junk has the secret to refreshing the guest bedroom before Santa’s sleigh appears.

How to Refresh the Guest Room for the Holidays

1. Clean it Out. We hate to say it, but your mom will definitely notice that you’ve turned the guest closet into a catch-all for your latest craft project. Before the guests arrive, get rid of any junk that may get in the way during their stay. Relocate unused items that are just taking up space. Better yet, realize that they aren’t going anywhere, and make the call to haul.
2. Stock up. Guests don’t want to trip over that dresser you never refinished, but they shouldn’t be left in an empty space either. Before the holidays, stock the guest room with fresh linens and towels, shampoo, bath soap, and other necessities your guests many need during their stay.
3. Make their stay a holiday. Leave visiting family and friends with the sense that they’re truly experiencing a holiday vacation. Create a welcoming atmosphere by replacing dim lights, moving a loveseat from the living room to the foot of the bed, and providing plenty of throw blankets to keep them warm, inside and out.
4. The finishing touch. Want to really blow away your holiday guests? Personalize the guest room with a scented candle they love or a book they’ve been meaning to read. They’ll appreciate the little gestures (and cut you more slack when the Christmas Eve ham takes 2 hours too long).

Prepping your home for the holidays? Start fresh. Call Mr. Junk to haul unwanted items from your home and storage spaces this Christmas.

Guest Room Image from FreeDigitalPhotos

Like any savvy shopper, you’ve probably spent some time sorting through junk closets for anything clean, cool, and functional enough to rewrap and regift. Regifting saves money, cuts down on junk, and, if done correctly, can make a loved one’s holiday. Unfortunately, it also has the tendency to make friends and family feel like an afterthought. If you’re thinking about regifting this year, take a step back. Mr Junk has the rules to make you a regifting champion this Christmas.

6 Rules for Regifting

1. Check the date. Before you regift those holiday treats, make sure your coworker won’t wind up sick from bad chocolate. Always check the expiration date before regifting edibles.
2. Mull over the meaning. No matter how little you need it, if it’s a homemade gift, keep it in your closet. Chances are it will get recognized down the road, leading to an awkward situation for you and the person who received it. The same goes for store bought gifts with a highly personal story.
3. Skip broken pieces. Yeah, we’re pretty sure your nephew will notice that his “brand new” Monopoly game is missing a few pieces. If you’re regifting something gently used, make sure it has all it’s pieces, no noticeable stains, and can actually be of use to the recipient. Better yet, only regift items that are still in their original wrappings.
4. Shop the closet. Regifting isn’t an excuse to get lazy with Christmas shopping. If you want to regift this year, set aside your to-gift items and pretend you’re going shopping. If you wouldn’t pick it off the shelf in a store, it’s probably better suited to the donation pile.
5. Make it a tradition. Every few years, there comes along a gift so horrendously bad that it becomes a family joke. Create a family regifting tradition to enjoy the entertainment year after year. Just make sure the original giver is nowhere in sight.
6. Pass it on. There’s one time you can give gifts that are obviously old, used, and missing pieces: passing on family heirlooms. Make a list of which family members want great-grandma’s pearls, grandfather’s cufflinks, and your great-aunt’s settee. Consider carefully before passing on family heirlooms, and make sure to include the story with the gift.

Once you clean out your regifting options, it’s time to clean out the closet. Call Mr. Junk to haul away old furniture, appliances, and boxes of presents you’ll never need.

Holiday Gifts from FreeDigitalPhotos

It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. There’s always another room to clean, another counter to wipe-down, and another dish that needs that finishing touch before it’s ready for the holiday table. But in the end Thanksgiving isn’t about what’s around us, but who’s with us.

This holiday season, we’re so grateful for the people in our lives, from the customers who make us feel welcome and appreciated to the friends and neighbors who share our day-to-day. However we choose to celebrate, it’s not about the food or the fun. It’s about telling the people you love, “I’m so grateful for having you in my life. Thank you for sharing this day with me.”

This Thanksgiving, give thanks for the people and places that populate your world. Feel blessed by your home and your yard. But never forget that it’s the people who share those spaces that truly make them worthwhile.

Happy Thanksgiving! We pray you have a holiday blessed with good food, great joy, and excellent company.

Unless you’re willing to invest in some serious renovations, there’s nothing you can do about the size of your house. People living in small homes and apartments face the constant struggle to make their living spaces feel more open, roomy, and bright. Banish that cluttered feeling with these 5 tips to make your home feel larger.

5 Ways to Open Up a Room

1. Paint it light. Soft, light colors buoy the eye, making rooms feel brighter and bigger. Use light colors and neutrals on the walls and floors to open up the room. For added effect, dress up the windows with light-colored, translucent curtains and paint the room’s trim to match the walls.
2. Draw the eye upward. Painting the trim the same color as the walls is one way to fake taller ceilings. What’s another? Hang curtain rods several inches above the frame. This will draw the eye upward, making windows seem larger than they are. You can also extend the rod to either side of the frame, making the window seem broader, too.
3. Use the mirror trick. Hanging mirrors isn’t about vanity. Mirrors reflect light, making smaller rooms feel more spacious than they actually are. For best effect, choose a large mirror (or several) and place them opposite a wall without much adornment.
4. Store smart. In smaller homes, storage is hard to come by. Unfortunately, many renters wind up creating storage space with large, unsightly cabinets and shelves. Make storage work for you by finding airy pieces to pull double duty, like an open-design end table with a light wicker basket on the bottom shelf. Add to the airy atmosphere by installing hanging shelves instead of more grounded pieces of furniture, which will only make the room feel heavy and small.
5. Ditch the mess. The more junk you have, the more cluttered your house will feel. If you’re struggling to store years of junk in closets two feet deep, it’s time to reassess the stuff you’re trying to store. Sort your stuff, haul away the junk, and reorganize what’s left for a home that feels large and open (even if it’s not).

Ready to get rid of home clutter? Call Mr. Junk to haul boxes of discarded stuff, along with old furniture, electronics, and appliances that are just taking up space.

Neutral Room Image from Flickr

Once November hits, cleaning house takes on a new meaning. While folks are still concerned with stuffing boxes in the attic to impress the in-laws, many home renovation projects shift to preventative home maintenance for the upcoming season. Winterize your home in a single weekend with these tips from Mr. Junk.

Home Winterization Checklist

• Inspect and clean the gutters and downspouts
• Inspect the roof for damaged shingles and leaky spots
• Repair cracks in the sidewalk and driveway (a little ice, and those spots get dangerous, fast!)
• Check window frames for decay or rot
• Test windows and doors for drafts
• Replace worn weatherstripping and caulk around windows to replace the seal
• Make sure all home vents and openings are covered to keep out birds and small mammals
• Clean or replace dirty furnace filters
• Use the fireplace? Call a chimney sweep for a seasonal inspection and cleaning
• In fact, schedule an inspection of all heat sources (gas, wood stoves, HVAC systems) before the temps drop for good
• Test smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and home security systems

Lawn Winterization Checklist

• Stop fertilizing the lawn and winter perennials (growth after the frost may permanently injure plants)
• Drain and winterize irrigation systems and outdoor faucets
• Trim branches that may damage the house or property in a winter storm
• Clean and store patio furniture
• Clean and store gardening equipment like shovels, hoses, and lawn mowers

Need to haul away old branches, worn weather stripping, or warped wood? Call Mr. Junk for a quick, quality home clean up.