How to Declutter Your Home with the Help of a Dumpster Rental

Are you getting ready to sell your home? Are you helping your elderly parents downsize before they move? Do you want to reclaim your garage so you can actually park in it? Maybe you want to turn your basement or attic into a finished living space. In all of these scenarios, you have to decide what to do with all of the stuff you or your parents have accumulated.

Today, we’re going to go over some tips on how to declutter your home. And depending on your situation, how a roll-off dumpster rental can help make the task easier. Let’s get started.

Decluttering Tip #1: Set a Timeline and Goals

Decluttering a whole house will likely take more than a weekend. Give yourself a timeline. If you have a move-out date, set a deadline of at least a week before that, to allow extra time for the unexpected. The same goes for listing a home for sale. Declutter at least a week before, because you’ll then need a deep cleaning.

Decluttering Tip #2: Sell What You Can

If you have the energy for a garage sale, you can go through your items and determine what someone might want to buy. You can also list items on Facebook Marketplace or other online sales sites. Check what prices similar items are being listed for and price your items accordingly. Be willing to accept offers below your asking price. You can have items listed for sale at the same time as you launch your decluttering efforts.

If things don’t sell, don’t hang onto them.

Decluttering Tip #3: Choose Your Method: Room By Room or By Category

There are 2 main methods to declutter your home: room by room, or by category. Which method you choose will depend on how much stuff you have, what kind of stuff you have, and whether you have spread it all over the house, or dumped everything in one main location.

If you’re someone who never throws anything away, you may have stashed everything in your garage, attic, or basement. You may want to use the room-by-room method. It can be very satisfying.

On the other hand, if you have thousands of books, CDs, and closets full of clothing you haven’t worn in years, you may want to use the category method. Also known as the KonMarie Method™, the category method of decluttering your home was popularized by Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo.

Whichever method you choose, it’s OK to start small. Tackle the junk drawer in the kitchen, clear out the medicine cabinet, clear out a sock drawer, or go through one bookshelf. Seeing how tidy things look will increase your motivation to move on to the next area.

Tip #4: Devise a Sorting System

The most common sorting system for decluttering your home involves making a decision item-by-item. Keep, Get Rid Of, and Store. Large bins, a rental dumpster, and an outdoor staging area can be very helpful as you begin to sort through items.

To truly declutter your home, be brutal. Examine each item and determine if you have used it within the last year. Your answer will determine how to sort it.

Keep

As you go through everything, keep items that you use every day or at least a few times a month. You can lay items on a large table or bed in a “Keep” pile. Ideally, you will end up putting these items away in a drawer or closet in an organized fashion. The idea is to keep less than you get rid of.

Get Rid Of

Within the “get rid of” category, you may create sub-categories, such as donate, recycle, or throw out. Anything that hasn’t been used in the last year should go. Get rid of the “but I might need it sometime” mentality.

Consider donating used items that are in good condition. This can include clothing, shoes, books, furniture, kitchen items, and more. Some charities will pick up larger items such as furniture or working appliances.
Glass, metal, plastics, and paper can go straight into your recycling bin or into bags that you take to the closest recycling center. Be sure you know what type of recyclables are accepted.
Throw Out. This is where a dumpster rental can come in handy. Most municipalities limit the amount of stuff you can put out on trash day. If you have a lot of broken furniture, non-functioning exercise equipment, home improvement materials, and damaged items, you can walk or toss them into your roll-off dumpster. When you’re done decluttering your home, you simply call the rental company to come to pick up the dumpster.

Store

You will come across some seasonal items. If you are staying in your home, or know that you will use them when you move into a new home, put them in clearly labeled storage bins. Take this opportunity to downsize in this area as well. You may also have sentimental items and papers. It’s OK to keep them. Just put them in a storage bin, and determine where all the storage bins can be neatly stacked.

Tip #5: Congratulate Yourself for a Job Well Done

Decluttering or clearing out a home is not for the faint of heart. Congratulations on doing it. It will help sell your home or your parents’ home faster. It will give you a clean slate to start finishing your basement or attic. And it will just make your home a more enjoyable, cleaner place to be.

By tidying each day and putting stuff away, you can avoid having to do major decluttering again.

Set Up Your Dumpster Rental Now

If you have a lot of stuff to clear out, a dumpster rental can make the job easier. To set up your rental, call or text us at 443-286-3284. In most cases, we can deliver your roll-off dumpster the next day, but we recommend calling 1-2 days in before you need it. You can keep the dumpster for up to 10 days, and you simply call us when you’re ready for us to pick it up. We offer delivery and pickup Monday through Saturday.

We offer competitive dumpster rental prices to customers throughout Baltimore and Harford counties.