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I can't imagine what that company charged you. I didn't want to hire them just to remove a sectional sofa because they were very pricey.
Cleaning out is hard work. Hopefully the emptiness will give way to relief. At least you have a plan of where you want to go and what to do.
I hired a guy that worked at 1800 got junk, it seemed to be an odd business from what he shared with me.
1. They are franchises, so prices can vary
2. They recycle stuff but do not sell it and cannot "take" stuff home. For example they brought a Harley Davidson Snap On tool box to a scrap yard, got a nickel a pound for scrap value. That was easily a $5000 tool box. My employee dropped it off and left with $25! There is no way that tool box got scrapped, the owner of the scrap yard likely had it online within minutes.
They will donate some stuff to charity but it has very limited parameters.
3. They are essentially making their money on the labor and the hauling. The drivers have 2-4 appointments per day, in 2 hour increments so likely they had no chance of emptying a whole hoarders garage in such a short time. My employee quit because it was too dirty and the places usually stunk terrible, he said they would get a hoarder call literally every other day and the schedule was too sporadic to make any decent money. He said in the 6 months he was there he never once saw anything of big value (other than the tool box). Garbage was the main find, followed by dead animals (everything from roaches to rats, he did find a cat dead behind some boxes.
At the end of the day, the truck cabs were wired with cameras/sound and the employees had to write down all the receipts (scrap receipts/payments from customers) and lock it in the truck for the manager to collect. Huge turn over due to the job. He did feel bad when they would charge like $150 to remove a couch or something. He said it was just awkward pricing a simple job so high but they had 2 guys and a truck to pay for. He said the hoarding jobs were never enough money, no matter how high they priced it!
Honestly, the garage is the one place I have avoided like the plague. It was like the man cave for every man that ever lived in this house, and holds like 4 generations of tools. Ive opened it a couple times (in 6 years), stood there, felt sad, and closed it again. And yeah - with so little traffic it looks like the spiders really take it over.
Best wishes moving on Tallysmom! I know how difficult it is to let the things that represent a 'life' you loved - go. It may take someone else to do it for me too, and it will be worth every penny when the time comes.
My husband had a shed. He wasn't a hoarder but he had a lot of tools in that shed and it was his workplace as well. Same with a work area in the garage. He was always working on something. He also had a big tool chest.
These things were looming to me.
What a relief to clean them all out - I sold most of the tools and the tool box. I only kept the very few things that I would actually use in the future, probably (and I have used a couple of them). It was a huge project but the tools themselves, and the shed for that matter, just made me feel so sad. I didn't even open the door to the shed for several months. Just seeing it sitting in the back yard reminded me of my husband. He was working on a couple of projects when he suddenly died so it was like his presence was there, ya know? He had laid a couple of tools down intending to pick them right back up and finish what he was working on.
Some neighbors knew how I felt about things and not only did they come buy some tools, they also (several of them) gave me a bit of extra money, which was nice. I mean, I know I undervalued some things but I meant to do it because I meant to get rid of this stuff.
Hang in there - surprisingly this is how I felt:
As they were taking things out of the shed and going home, I felt sad. But after it was all cleared out I felt a great sense of relief.
Hopefully you will feel the same way.
Regarding tools, my husband was not mechanical. And he also really thought it was perfectly acceptable to buy tools at the dollar store. Dollar store tools are junk that will rust in no time whatsoever. I can’t tell you how many tools I threw out at the beginning because they were literally just rusted recyclables. And for some reason that man and I use that in a loving way refused to buy monkey wrenches. He liked those ones that you could put over top of the bolt if the bolt is flat on something — ratchet wrenches! those are what those are called. I have four sets of ratchet wrenches, none of them are complete. I should throw those out, too and all of them are cheap. And not one damn monkey wrench when I need it, which I need monkey wrenches constantly and I never need a ratchet wrench. His attitude was that’s what the crummy pliers were for.
What I should do in all actuality is throw out all the tools and start over, with a proper toolbox filled with proper tools. You should see the car hammer. It’s totally rusted. Yes I carry a car hammer. Left over from the janitorial days, you carry a hammer, a set of Allen wrenches, and spare towels. And actually a spare set of clothing because you just never know.
Regarding tools, my husband was not mechanical. And he also really thought it was perfectly acceptable to buy tools at the dollar store. Dollar store tools are junk that will rust in no time whatsoever. I can’t tell you how many tools I threw out at the beginning because they were literally just rusted recyclables. And for some reason that man and I use that in a loving way refused to buy monkey wrenches. He liked those ones that you could put over top of the bolt if the bolt is flat on something — ratchet wrenches! those are what those are called. I have four sets of ratchet wrenches, none of them are complete. I should throw those out, too and all of them are cheap. And not one damn monkey wrench when I need it, which I need monkey wrenches constantly and I never need a ratchet wrench. His attitude was that’s what the crummy pliers were for.
What I should do in all actuality is throw out all the tools and start over, with a proper toolbox filled with proper tools. You should see the car hammer. It’s totally rusted. Yes I carry a car hammer. Left over from the janitorial days, you carry a hammer, a set of Allen wrenches, and spare towels. And actually a spare set of clothing because you just never know.
I miss that man…
I would go through the tools and try to assemble a nice smallish tool box. But if you can't, just go out and buy some tools.
Years and years ago, while my husband was still alive, I put together a tool box for personal use. I wrote my name in a Sharpie pen on every single tool, and I never never never let anyone use that tool box except for me!
He had tons of tools and yes, I did go through them and get some out but so many of them were very specific tools for very specific things that I knew I would never do so I just sold them.
He had three or four of those ratchet sets too. I got rid of all of them. I am never going to use them! Ironically, those were some tools that actually sold separately. Some people got really excited about them. I was like what the heck, get them out of my sight.
I hired 1-800-Got-Junk. Actually, they were the only ones who wanted to handle it. I can’t go in the garage as I’m allergic to spiders. And the garage is where the bulk of the hoard is.
Seems weird to put this in the grief section maybe, but… it is bringing up a lot of feelings. Sadness. No anger. I pretty much dealt with that.
And the fact of the matter is, if Brent hadn’t died I would’ve been very stuck. Because now, it’s obvious he was in some sort of a cycle of hoarding and working. He did not want to retire, he could not enjoy himself, all he wanted to do is find more stuff and sell it on eBay, find more stuff and sell it on eBay. And all I wanted to do was retire and have us enjoy our lives which he couldn’t have done.
I’ve shed some tears, my sister is predicting I’ll feel relief, but I think I might find a more profound emptiness. A sense of this is really it, he is well and truly gone, I’m really going to sell this house and move. Back to where he never wanted to be again. And to really seal the deal, I’m taking him with me.
See, I had the feeling that this was going to cost me a lot of money. And it is. So I wanted to wait until I got my mothers inheritance. Not much money but so as I wouldn’t deplete my own resources for when I found the new house.
But even before my finding out about my allergy to spiders, he would not allow me in the garage. I haven’t been in that garage for years. And things were going in and out of that garage for years. Cabinets in order to keep things, bookcases, filing cabinets. I actually had no concept of how bad it was until I actually had to look for something in it about four months before he died and could no longer sell on eBay. And even then I didn’t see the whole amount. Just a small tiny bit.
So in my head, the contents of the garage kind of became this behemoth, like worse than what you see on the hoarders show. In reality they are working at a pretty good clip, I think they’ll be done in about four hours. Although they think it’s probably going to be four trucks. Cha Ching!
The one thing I learned from therapy was I have the biggest problem asking for help. I think I need to get over that. Out here the housing prices are crazy, I will probably be able to buy a really nice house back east, pay it off when this one sells and still have money in my pocket. Which will go for a redo on any kitchen so I can have a cooktop and wall ovens.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved my husband with all my heart. I accepted him for who he was. And he loved me with all his heart.
But it’s time for me to get on with my life… and it isn’t here. Clearly. As my massage therapist says the universe is giving me signs. My doctor is winding down his practice. All the places we used to go are being torn down.
First of all, you should have someone you trust go through the garage to see if anything of value or sentimental value is in there, before you call people to junk it all. You could also set off bug bombs in the garage while you go to lunch, and/or get an exterminator to kill all the potential spiders so you can look through stuff.
Another alternate would be to call an Estate Sales company that would assess the value of items you wanted to sell, and conduct the sale for you (you pay a 20-40%) commission on anything they sell. Afterwards, most of them have bulk buyers who take most everything else, and they also arrange for the junk to be discarded.
If you have not already done so, check your husbands Ebay account to make sure no sales have come in that need to be fulfilled.
This is a great time to sell, but not to buy. So you should sell your place soon for top dollar, and then rent in the area you plan on living in, until prices start to return to normal levels. I suspect it will be 6 months to a year before that happens.
What you don't want to do is stay in your place while the home is in a red hot sellers market, then look to sell when it becomes a buyers market.
I hired a guy that worked at 1800 got junk, it seemed to be an odd business from what he shared with me.
1. They are franchises, so prices can vary
2. They recycle stuff but do not sell it and cannot "take" stuff home. For example they brought a Harley Davidson Snap On tool box to a scrap yard, got a nickel a pound for scrap value. That was easily a $5000 tool box. My employee dropped it off and left with $25! There is no way that tool box got scrapped, the owner of the scrap yard likely had it online within minutes.
They will donate some stuff to charity but it has very limited parameters.
3. They are essentially making their money on the labor and the hauling. The drivers have 2-4 appointments per day, in 2 hour increments so likely they had no chance of emptying a whole hoarders garage in such a short time. My employee quit because it was too dirty and the places usually stunk terrible, he said they would get a hoarder call literally every other day and the schedule was too sporadic to make any decent money. He said in the 6 months he was there he never once saw anything of big value (other than the tool box). Garbage was the main find, followed by dead animals (everything from roaches to rats, he did find a cat dead behind some boxes.
At the end of the day, the truck cabs were wired with cameras/sound and the employees had to write down all the receipts (scrap receipts/payments from customers) and lock it in the truck for the manager to collect. Huge turn over due to the job. He did feel bad when they would charge like $150 to remove a couch or something. He said it was just awkward pricing a simple job so high but they had 2 guys and a truck to pay for. He said the hoarding jobs were never enough money, no matter how high they priced it!
They wanted $900 to remove a sectional sofa from my home. I guess it was a job they didn't really want so they bid it high enough I would look elsewhere. Luckily, there are lot of competitors out there.
First of all, you should have someone you trust go through the garage to see if anything of value or sentimental value is in there, before you call people to junk it all. You could also set off bug bombs in the garage while you go to lunch, and/or get an exterminator to kill all the potential spiders so you can look through stuff.
Another alternate would be to call an Estate Sales company that would assess the value of items you wanted to sell, and conduct the sale for you (you pay a 20-40%) commission on anything they sell. Afterwards, most of them have bulk buyers who take most everything else, and they also arrange for the junk to be discarded.
If you have not already done so, check your husbands Ebay account to make sure no sales have come in that need to be fulfilled.
This is a great time to sell, but not to buy. So you should sell your place soon for top dollar, and then rent in the area you plan on living in, until prices start to return to normal levels. I suspect it will be 6 months to a year before that happens.
What you don't want to do is stay in your place while the home is in a red hot sellers market, then look to sell when it becomes a buyers market.
Good Luck.
Thank you. I know you mean well.
I sold off the house collections. The garage items in question are magazines, books, old videotapes that have been rained on, dvds that people threw out and old posters that have been nibbled on by the wildlife in the almost one hundred year old not well built never maintained garage.
eBay account was closed when hubs was still alive, after we both realized he wouldn’t be able to return to it. He had a brain tumor. Surgery took his short term memory, and did some other damage. He never touched the computer again.
And understand there was a pathway through the garage. There was no way for someone to come through to assess anything. There’s raccoons living in my garage.
I was aware my husband had an issue, I also know what he had. There were a couple of things that he had in the garage that may have been worth something, but they were also on the low end of quality.
Imagine having an original Revere tea set. Could be worth thousands, but this tea set was used and abused and somebody decided to use it for hammers and somebody broke the top off of the tea pot and the sugar bowl lost the lid and the tray looks like somebody sat on it to go sledding down the hill during the last 200 years of big snows. Yes it’s a Revere tea set, but in this condition is it worth anything?
So sorry for your loss. But thank you for this wake up call. Good job on tackling the garage! I will be sharing this with my husband, the endless book collector. Boxes upon boxes of maybe valuable but definitely expensive books collected over a lifetime. In the garage! And under the stairs and in the family room and… Far too many for me to ever organize and sell. Ever. And endless tools.
Again so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine. We’ve been together since 8th grade so I will not be functioning with all pistons firing when/if this happens. Not easy.
Regarding tools, my husband was not mechanical. And he also really thought it was perfectly acceptable to buy tools at the dollar store. Dollar store tools are junk that will rust in no time whatsoever. I can’t tell you how many tools I threw out at the beginning because they were literally just rusted recyclables. And for some reason that man and I use that in a loving way refused to buy monkey wrenches. He liked those ones that you could put over top of the bolt if the bolt is flat on something — ratchet wrenches! those are what those are called. I have four sets of ratchet wrenches, none of them are complete. I should throw those out, too and all of them are cheap. And not one damn monkey wrench when I need it, which I need monkey wrenches constantly and I never need a ratchet wrench. His attitude was that’s what the crummy pliers were for.
What I should do in all actuality is throw out all the tools and start over, with a proper toolbox filled with proper tools. You should see the car hammer. It’s totally rusted. Yes I carry a car hammer. Left over from the janitorial days, you carry a hammer, a set of Allen wrenches, and spare towels. And actually a spare set of clothing because you just never know.
LOL! I have a crap ton of tools, all very organized, and I use them all. I don't think I have ever even owned a "monkey wrench". Not really sure what that is.
LOL! I have a crap ton of tools, all very organized, and I use them all. I don't think I have ever even owned a "monkey wrench". Not really sure what that is.
So you made me look it up. And I discovered that my whole life what I’ve been calling a monkey wrench is simply called a wrench. In England it would be called a spanner. A monkey wrench is a pipe wrench. It’s OK we didn’t have regular wrenches either. Except for the ratchet wrenches which he just seem to collect.
__________________ Solly says — Be nice!
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Solly says — Be nice!
