Top Tips For Cleaning Out An Inherited House
Have you inherited a house, only to find that it's stuffed full of the previous owner's belongings? Are you at your wit's end as to how to clean everything out so that you can either sell the house, rent it out, or move in yourself? Many people start to hoard things as they get older, leaving literally tons of things that must be sifted through. This can be a long process, but it doesn't have to be as difficult as it might first appear. To get through the task, here are some things that can help make it easier:
Throw out the obvious trash first: Some people will tell you to completely organize one room before moving on to the next. This may be good advice for small rooms, like the bathroom, but may not do so well for living rooms and bedrooms. With larger rooms, there may be a lot of things to keep but nowhere to put them until you have moved things around in another room. This can make the cleaning effort seem futile and frustrating. Instead, go through and throw out everything that is obviously trash, such as old food containers and moldy newspapers. A dumpster rental can make this easy so that you're not forced to deal with mountains of full trash bags: everything will go straight into the dumpster.
Give away what you can: When you get a dumpster rental, there can be an additional charge that depends on the final weight of the trash it contains. Although this can be a good fee for having a clean house, you may be able to keep the cost down slightly. For example, if you find an ugly dining table with wobbly legs that has been buried under the mess, your first instinct may be to throw it away. However, a thrift store or oher charity might be glad to take the table off your hands and give you a tax deduction as well. If an item isn't completely broken or horribly damaged, chances are good that somebody will want it. Donating these items will save room in your dumpster rental and help cut down on the final cost.
Sell the really good stuff: Many things that are worthless to you may actually command a high price if you sell them. Kitchen items, especially, can fetch surprisingly high prices for their size. For example, if you find stacks and stacks of vintage Tupperware in the kitchen cabinets, you may be tempted to sweep them directly into a trash bag for a fast trip to your dumpster rental. But vintage Tupperware can fetch around $50 a set, making it worth your while to set these aside and sell them later. Other vintage and antique kitchen items may be similar. If you've found a kitchen stuffed with old gadgets, you should consider having everything appraised before throwing any of it away.
For more information, contact companies like General Waste Removal.