We face the consequences of junky, disorganized, overfull houses every day. Anyone from a young professional with limited time to a retiree who can’t muster the energy to discard broken appliances can suffer from possession overload. Owning too many possessions can disrupt daily life, leading to dissatisfaction, distraction, and even depression. But while the mental ramifications of owning junk builds up over time, the physical health concerns develop more quickly.

Junk Removal Job

Mr Junk recently cleaned out the home of an elderly man who owned more possessions than he could keep up with. Because of his inability to clean efficiently, the cabinets, corners, and furniture were filled with roach dust. Because of the pervasiveness of the affected area, we cleared all junk from the premises before sweeping corridors and counters of the thick, black dust. We removed surface-level evidence of the infestation, allowing the scheduled cleaning company to sanitize the home while we donated and recycled the majority of the hauled items.

Dangers of Roach Dust

Roach dust accumulates from cockroach infestations. Cockroaches crawl through cracks in your windows, holes in your home exterior, and open doorways, eating crumbs and tainting your food supply. Apart from deteriorating the cleanliness of your home, cockroaches are a common allergen. Those suffering from cockroach allergies might experience itchiness, dry eyes, or difficulty breathing. While physical contact with roaches generally provokes an instantaneous reaction, poor indoor air quality from cockroach dust and other contaminates often affect people who suffer allergies.

Prevention Insect Infestations

The best way to avoid bugs and roach dust is to prevent them before they infiltrate your home. If you don’t have the time or energy to clean cluttered closets and attics full of furniture, sort through your stuff and let Mr Junk haul away items you no longer use. If you reduce the number of dark, dirty spaces for insects to burrow, you reduce the risk of attracting them to your home. Overhaul your home, removing possessions you no longer need, to make your life easier to maintain . . . and keep the bugs from coming back.

Call Mr Junk to haul away deteriorating furniture, broken appliances, and boxes of unwanted junk.

The New Year offers a fresh start. Every year, millions of people vow to organize, clean, and live overall healthier lifestyles. In January, the gyms are overflowing, the dumpsters are full, and health foods fly off the shelves. So why is it that only 8% of people who make New Year’s resolutions keep them? Resolutions aren’t just about a life overhaul; they’re about making lasting changes to the way you and your family live. If you’ve resolved to organize your home for 2014, here are 3 simple ways to stay on track.

1. Out with the old. Most of us get quite a haul of coffee makers, clothing, and even couches for Christmas. The key to organizing your new items is sorting through your old ones. Take stock of your gifts and box up the appliances, furniture, and knickknacks that have been replaced. You’ll find it easier to stay organized with less mess to clean, and someone in your community will enjoy that well-loved easy chair you decided to donate.
2. Everything in its place. It’s easy to lose track of home decor, paperwork, and other items you don’t use every day. As you complete your January cleaning, label boxes for important, infrequently used items. Giving each item its own home makes staying neat twice as simple.
3. Organize your life. It’s easy to stay neat when your life is uncluttered, but once responsibilities start junking up your schedule, your home gets messy, too. Don’t drop junk mail on the kitchen counter or stuff that ever-expanding pile of shoes under the hall table. Make a space for your problem items, like an easily concealed box to hide the mail when you’re on the go. If you have a few minutes to spare, take the time to put things away before they pile up.

Don’t worry about dragging old items to donation organizations and recycling centers. Let Mr Junk haul your unwanted items to a new life . . . so you can start your New Year now.

With so many songs about the trappings of Christmas, it’s easy to get wrapped up in stuff and junk. A ’54 convertible (light blue), sleighs and sleigh bells, and brown paper packages inundate the airwaves, reminding us to cross off our holiday shopping lists. While most of us wouldn’t say “no” to a Christmas tree trimmed with decorations from Tiffany’s, we also know the holidays aren’t about presents and draping garland. A few of those artists got their holiday wishes right: all we need for Christmas are the people we love.

Celebrate your family and friends this holiday. Whether you’re staying home for the holidays, inviting guests into your house, or fighting holiday traffic to be with loved ones, the blessings of the season come from those you share it with. People who love you enough to scour shops and websites for the perfect present, just like you did for them. So gather up the kids to pitch in with the cleaning, pick up discarded wrapping paper after each present, and pile the holiday junk in the corner; the mess will still be there when your relatives have gone home.

Mr Junk wishes you a Merry Christmas!

We’ve all been there. The living situation that looked bright and promising at the beginning of the school year has soured. Maybe the facilities weren’t what you were expecting. Maybe your roommate kept eating all your food. Maybe you found a new apartment off-campus. Whatever your reasons for relocation, we’re here to make moving simple. Instead of battling stairs, co-eds, and university waste regulations during your dorm move, let Mr Junk haul away your unwanted futons and broken coffee makers. You have enough on your plate.

Whether you’re a relocating pro from semesters of speed-moving after finals or you’ve managed to avoid the chaos of hauling furniture and books, a few things never change. You’ll always have to clean your dorm room, the goodbyes to your old roomie are always awkward, and something will inevitably go awry. Universities from Harvard to Kennesaw State have tips and checklists to make the shift simple, but winter-semester dorm relocation seems to fall through the cracks. When moving dorms before second semester:

• Check the university’s move-in dates
• Ask ResLife about cleaning guidelines, repainting, and damage fees
• Avoid unnecessary charges by asking questions
• Coordinate with your new roommate or landlord before you start packing

With the madness of finals, holiday shopping, and planning trips, switching dorms after first semester is almost as stressful as moving home before summer classes start. But relocating on-campus now has an advantage: fewer people are hauling boxes and futons across the quad. Make moving dorms even simpler by keeping these relocation guidelines in mind:

• Pack a box of important items so your toothbrush and exam study-guides don’t get lost in the mix.
• Sell, recycle or trash old appliances, furniture, and books.
• Use mid-sized boxes that are easy to haul and enlist friends to make the move faster.

If your old carpet, upcycled coffee table, or Charlie Brown Christmas tree just won’t work in your new living space, call Mr Junk. We recycle and donate old junk so you can focus on finals, not finding a new home for your high school stuff.

In a world that’s so driven by consumerism, non-material gifts sometime feel, well, less. Less deliberate, less pricey, less jolly. But it’s personalized presents like a donation to your mom’s favorite charity or cleaning the house for your roommate that capture the loving spirit of the holiday season. Instead of giving a gift that will migrate to the re-gifting pile, the junk closet, or the local landfill, share lasting blessings with your loved ones this year. Here are some simple gift ideas for a celebration that goes beyond holiday gimmicks.

The Gift that Keeps Giving

1. Adopt. Adopt a Highway, Adopt a Rainforest, adopt a puppy from the Kennesaw animal shelter.
2. Gift for a Cause. Buy a goat for a family across the ocean, donate a bag of seeds to a third-world community, or purchase a quilt from a survivor of human trafficking and donate it to a family in need.
3. Gift Wrapping. Offer your services wrapping presents for friends, family, and members of your community.

Tried and True

Classes. Does your sister keep talking about that culinary arts class at the community center? Does your dad want to try yoga? Buy a class, a dozen classes, or even a year membership.

Arts. Take your brother to a concert, take your best friend to a new museum exhibit, or take your grandparents to the symphony.

Vacations. Plan a day trip to the North Georgia mountains or a weekend getaway to the beach.

The Best Gift of All

It may be cliché, but there’s no better gift than your time. Treat your parents to lunch, drive across the country to spend the holiday with your friends, or simply slow down and spend the day with your kids. Toy fads come and go, but your loved ones are here year after year.

Call Mr Junk to haul last year’s forgotten presents, and we’ll donate your old baubles, furniture, and electronics to someone who truly needs them.

photo from flickr

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed around the holidays. There are presents to buy, decorations to hang, and a houseful of holiday guests on the way. It may seem easier to wedge your clutter into an overflowing closet to deal with after Christmas, but holiday junk isn’t out of sight, out of mind. Give yourself room to enjoy the love and laughter of the season. Create a clutter-free holiday by finishing a pre-holiday clean-out.

Holiday Decluttering Checklist

• Assess the gifts you’ve bought (or intend to buy) and remove similar items from your kids’ closets and toy bins.
• Remove clutter in guest rooms, which often become unofficial storage spaces.
• Simplify and organize living spaces, removing items you haven’t used in the last year.
• Check your kitchen for duplicate cooking equipment. Wrap up saucepans, spatulas, and coffee makers that you won’t give as Christmas presents, and call a junk hauling service to remove broken appliances.
• Sort Christmas decorations and recycle or donate décor that’s broken, has missing parts, doesn’t match your home, or hasn’t been used in the last two Christmases.
• Rearrange the junk collecting spaces in your home. Tidy mudrooms, clean off your magazine racks, and toss junk mail and coupons you’re unlikely to use.
• Determine which spaces will see the most use over the holidays. Remove breakables, heirlooms, and cumbersome furniture, then determine which ones to keep and which ones to donate.

The Gift That Keeps Giving

During the holidays it’s easy to see just how much stuff we tend to accumulate. But many in our community go without, even at Christmas. Mr Junk donates all good-condition items to local charities. Make someone’s holiday bright by donating the things you no longer need. Whether it’s old toys, used furniture, or an appliance you don’t use, there’s a Marietta family who will cherish the gift.

Call Mr Junk to clear the road to your holiday celebration. We haul furniture, appliances, scrap parts, and other unwanted junk.

photo from flickr

Is there any time more rich and fulfilling than Thanksgiving? Every year we take the Thanksgiving holiday to remember the abundance in our lives; blessings both tangible and intangible that enrich and fulfill us. We make lists overflowing with delicious foods, pen holiday cards to the people we love, and shove more junk than we knew we had into dark closets to await the end of the holiday season. Thanksgiving allows us to relish the bounty present in our daily lives. It lets us give back to those we love and remember the members of our community lacking in the basic amenities we take for granted.

Don’t let junk and stuff clutter your Thanksgiving. Take the holidays to savor time spent with loved ones. Forget stuffing your holiday with more decorations, and focus on creating memories with your friends and family. Take part in a canned food drive or donate old holiday-themed dishes to those less fortunate. Teach your kids or grandkids a Thanksgiving recipe. Make a new tradition. And above all, give thanks for the people in your life. After all, traditions and heirlooms mean nothing without the seasoning of family history.

While your family enjoys weeks of leftover turkey and stuffing, Mr Junk will remove the evidence of your holiday festivities. Pile up your donations, holiday decorations, and Thanksgiving junk; Mr Junk will take care of the rest.

photo from flickr

Thanksgiving is nearly here with all the hustle, bustle, and blessings of family and friends. But Thanksgiving brings with it a consumer-driven holiday: Black Friday. While millions of Americans are fighting their friends, elbowing other shoppers, and losing lots of sleep to snag the best deals on Christmas presents, remember that there’s a safer, saner way. Instead of risking life and limb at a shopping center, do your Black Friday shopping somewhere familiar: your attic.

Heirloom Gifting

If you’re like most Americans, you have an entire section of storage dedicated to family junk you’re expecting to keep forever. Old furniture, vintage appliances, and boxes of books and toys sit in storage for years because they were favorites of a late relative. Instead of letting heirloom items rot in your attic, dust off that vintage bookshelf and peruse your Christmas list. Your recent college grad would love a beautifully crafted settee for her barren apartment; and she might appreciate the family history as well.

Giving Collectibles

Unable to part with your extensive collection of coins, Beatles records, or china dolls? Chances are someone in your family has a love of classics. Record the history of your collectibles, note your favorite pieces, and pass the collection to someone who can truly appreciate it.

Personal Presents

Are you hoarding a beloved-but-lonely dining room chair you uncovered at a flea market? How about that box of Daguerrotype photos that never quite went with your home décor? Passing along priceless items breathes new life into bits of your history that are currently wasting away in storage. Share a bit of yourself with your loved ones, and let them rejuvenate the precious pieces that deserve a place of prominence.

If your search for Christmas gifts leads you to irreparable tables, unusable sofas, or boxes of toys with missing pieces, call Mr Junk. We’ll donate or recycle the relics of your past, letting you focus on wrapping those future Christmas presents.

photo from flickr

The holidays abound with good food, good company, and fond memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions long past. But sometimes nostalgia has a way of junking up the cogs of your smoothly running holiday plans. Just like that crumbling dough snowman ornament you made in elementary school, some holiday hang-ons are best left in the past. Clear the way for new holiday memories by keeping in mind these three holiday de-cluttering tips.

1. Ask: what would your mother say? It’s easy to wallow in the past when cleaning out your closets. When attacking your overflowing garages, attics, and storage sheds, look through the eyes of an impartial family member. Grandma’s mahogany vanity is probably worth keeping, but do you really need that box of trains your son hasn’t played with since he was seven? Put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and put the shoes from your high school prom in the junk pile.
2. Keep Christmas presents on your mind. Pre-holiday decluttering often turns into a home shopping trip. Who knew you had two functional microwaves? So that’s where your great aunt’s costume jewelry went. Keep your Christmas list handy while you clean. You may not have any use for your dad’s old record collection, but your niece might. Gifting heirloom items allows you to cherish their sentiment without junking up your space with things you won’t ever use.
3. Pick your decorations wisely. Do you have a Thanksgiving drawer, a New Year’s box, or a Christmas closet? Instead of hanging the first ornaments you see, reassess your holiday decorations this year. Pair similar items together to eliminate duplicate adornments. Then take stock of your collection: Have you hung that construction paper turkey in the last two years? If not, it’s probably time to purge. How about the elaborate nativity scene that doesn’t quite compare to your traditional wood one? You may have picked it up for a great price, but someone else will appreciate it more.

Call Mr Junk to haul away broken appliances, old furniture, and boxes of miscellaneous clutter. We’ll donate, recycle, or trash your unwanted junk, so you can focus on making spirits (and your home) bright.

photo from flickr

Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the people in our lives and offer gratitude for the blessings we enjoy every day. Every year Americans dig out family recipes, find festive decorations, and dust off beloved traditions for a day of warmth, community, and delicious food. But with the stress of preparation, making it to the holiday often seems a herculean task. Don’t let the frantic week before Thanksgiving make you forget the gifts you enjoy. Plan your Thanksgiving in advance so you can relish the savory dishes and sweet company you’ve been blessed with this year.

Meal Plan

For a holiday that more or less celebrates food, cooking is one of the biggest stresses of the season. Buy simple dishes for earlier in the week to prevent getting bogged down with excessive cooking. Delegate Thanksgiving breakfast to another member of the family so you can focus on preparing your holiday feast. Organize your pantry so you know what canned goods you’ll need, and buy nonperishable groceries before holiday crowds hit the stores.

Organizing

Whether you’re hosting a hoard of distant relatives or you’re simply preparing for an overnight visit from mom and dad, cleaning your home for guests can cause a lot of anxiety. In the upcoming weeks declutter one room at a time. Recycle, trash, and organize items as you clean to prevent a pre-Christmas mess of similar proportions. Pay special attention to the kitchen. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, organize a cabinet for the bowls, trays, and baking dishes you’ll need on Thanksgiving. If you simply don’t have the time to get gung-ho about organization, make sure your cookware is clean and easily accessible. Digging through cabinets for cooking utensils will junk up the Thanksgiving cooking schedule, leaving you frustrated and frazzled.

Clean and Clear

Once you’ve cleared the clutter, clean the guest room. Knowing your family has a fresh, clutter-free living space will make tackling other Thanksgiving projects much easier. Lay out basic amenities like towels and fresh soap, and tuck spare toothbrushes, toothpaste, and razors into a drawer for forgetful guests. Hide daily messes like laundry hampers in the closet, and provide a new basket for guests to discard towels and sheets.

To clear away last year’s broken appliances or to help you remove an excess of Thanksgiving clutter, call a professional Kennesaw junk hauling service. Then count your blessings and enjoy the holidays.

photo from flickr