How Does Junk Removal Services Work If I Live in a Condo?

Condos are typically smaller than single-family homes. And because they are smaller, there’s very limited space for storage. Eventually, you’ll need a junk removal service to haul away all that junk you’ve accrued.

Surprising Ways Junk and Clutter Affect Your Health

Getting junk removal service is like getting treatment for our health. That’s because living in clutter makes us sick in so many ways. Listed below are just some of the ways clutter is affecting your health.

It Raises Stress Levels

It’s easy for condos to become a place that’s filled with clutter. That’s because of the lack of storage space. Even if you don’t have a lot of personal property, you could be overwhelmed with the amount of junk you have. Just being in the presence of this junk raises cortisol, a kind of stress hormone that’s responsible for our body’s fight and flight reaction.

The problem is that when stress hormones are constantly in our system, it affects the way our organs function. Our immune system weakens, and our heart rate shoots up. Furthermore, constant stress makes us susceptible to anxiety and depression.

It Affects Your Diet

Just seeing the clutter is quite overwhelming to the brain. Just imagine for a moment that you’re a child again. Children become stressed out and cranky when they are exposed to stimulus all the time.

You have the same response to clutter. Clutter is a stimulus and seeing everything piled up will definitely cause our brains to go into overdrive. When this happens, we try to cope with it by turning to food. Food has become our source of comfort, hence we will be overeating.

This is why it’s not uncommon for hoarders to also suffer from obesity and other eating disorders.

It Exacerbates or Triggers Respiratory Problems

Too much clutter encourages dust formation. There are more surfaces for dust to settle on. Moreover, people often forget about the clutter, so to speak. They allow it to continue to pile up. And so over time, they haven’t touched anything in that pile, it’s become a settled part of the space. This means there has been plenty of time for dust to accumulate.

With so much dirt and dust around, you should expect any existing respiratory issues to worsen. In fact, people with asthma or chronic respiratory problems can have trouble breathing.

It Threatens Your Safety

Junk that stays in your condo will also increase your risk of fires. If you store flammable items like old paint, paper, and chemical sprays, they could end up catching fire.

It Affects Your Social Life

Have you seen couples who are happy living in a place with a lot of junk? You might have seen a lot of shows on TV about hoarders having a falling out with their friends or family because of their junk hoarding habits.

Living in a home devoid of clutter gives you a positive mindset. Furthermore, you wake up every day feeling light and happy, so you are more likely to have a positive relationship with other people. There’s no emotional baggage brought about by clutter weighing you down.

It Forces You Into Isolation

Would you invite friends over when your home is a big mess? In condos, what little space you might have is already occupied by junk, so there’s no more space for you to entertain friends. This forces many people to go into isolation.

It Affects Your Productivity and Performance

For those people who work from home, your creativity and productivity dwindle when clutter surrounds you. It has a direct effect on the brain and you can’t think clearly when you are staring at something chaotic.

It Affects Your Financial Health

Many people who hold on to clutter don’t realize how much stuff they have. They spend money on unnecessary things even when they won’t use it much. But when you get a junk removal service and you see just how much clutter you have, you start to visualize how much money you spent on things that will only go to waste.

How to Start Getting Rid of Junk in Your Condo

Now that you know how junk affects your health, here are the things that you can do to finally start decluttering your home.

1.       Start with easy things such as your toiletries.

A lot of people accumulate toiletries without realizing it. It’s not uncommon to find so many barely-used bottles of lotions or moisturizers in one’s vanity counter or bath products.

It’s hard to get rid of personal items because of sentimental reasons, which is why it is a good idea to start with toiletries. They are easier to get rid of because you don’t have a sentimental attachment to them. Starting with these items first will gear you up for what’s to come.

2.       Empty your storage areas and begin sorting out your stuff.

It’s much harder to purge out things when you have to pick them one by one. Instead, remove all the things that are in your cabinets. That includes your kitchen under cabinets, overhead cabinets, pantry, closets, and many more. 

Once you have them laid out on the floor or a table, it’s much easier to see which one you want to get rid of. Here's the hoarding cleaning services from Jiffy Junk in case you need to clean out.

3.       Separate them into 4 piles.

Separate them into sell, keep, donate, and store piles. Get storage boxes to make sure you’re organized in sorting out your things. You don’t want your piles to mix.

Keep the ones that you use all the time. Store the ones that you wish to hold on to but won’t need right away.

4.       Clean all your surfaces.

Before you start bringing in all the items you intend to keep or store, make sure you clean the surfaces first. Use a damp cloth to wipe dusty surfaces. The damp cloth will prevent dust from getting everywhere.

You can also use a vacuum cleaner with a small attachment to remove accumulated dust on corners and at the back of your furniture or built-ins.

Now’s also a good time to use liners on your cabinets. Cabinet liners protect the material from scratches and stains. This will also make your cabinets easier to clean since you only need to take out the liners and wash or replace them.

5.       Start organizing all your stuff.

Organize your “keep” pile in their respective places. It’s important to have designated areas for all your things, so it’s much easier to put them back once you’re done using them. That way, you won’t have trouble keeping your condo organized.

You can also try using small bins to segregate your things. Label them properly so you’re not always rummaging in your cabinets, trying to find what you need.

6.       Be less sentimental when deciding what to get rid of.

People tend to form emotional attachments to things. If there are things with sentimental value but are too hard to keep, you can try taking photos of them instead. Photos are easier to store than the actual items.

What to Do With Large Junk  

Aside from everyday junk, you will also eventually need to throw away large junk such as old mattresses, furniture, and appliances. Here are the things that you can do with them:

Refurbish Them

For old pieces of furniture, try looking for a way to breathe new life into them. Perhaps you can transform that old cabinet into a side table or a makeshift home bar. Use your imagination to create pieces that you can still use in your condo.

Ask Your COA

Condo dwellers also have a Condo Owner’s Association. You can talk to your condo association to find out if they offer recycling services for bigger items like appliances and furniture. Some condos might offer this service but at an additional cost. It might even be included in your COA fees already.

Put It for Curbside Recycling

You can talk to your local garbage recycling company. Ask them if they pick up heavy and big junk. The policies depend on where you live. Some areas accept big items but with a certain fee. Others don’t.

But before you leave your old furniture or mattress on the curb, make sure you ask permission first or find out if it is allowed. Otherwise, you could get fined.

Hire Jiffy Junk

We offer junk removal services for condos, offices, and residential areas. Our expertise is hauling trash away from your property, whether it be a condo unit, an apartment, or a single-family home. With an experienced team in tow, we make sure that you don’t have to worry about how you can get rid of your junk.

Our experts will do everything for you – from removing the junk from your home and sorting through them to find things for recycling and throwing out the rest properly. Once you get our services, you won’t have to worry about what will happen to the trash you will throw out anymore.

Rent a Dump Truck

Another option you have is to rent a dump truck. While it’s much cheaper, it’s also less convenient, especially for condo people who still have to carry their junk to the ground floor where a dump truck is waiting.

Find out where you can park the dump truck you hired. Some condos might not permit a big dump truck to stop at the front entrance. You might need to park it at the back gate or outside the premises of the condo.

How a Junk Removal Service Work for Condo Dwellers

The best option is to hire a junk removal service. It’s the most convenient option, especially if you’re going to get rid of old furniture, appliances, and mattresses. It’s hard to carry those on several flights of stairs if you live in a condo. Moreover, some condos also don’t permit carrying trash using the main elevators.

Once you get our junk removal service, we will go to your condo on the scheduled day and time. Choose a convenient hour for you to have our team over. You can prepare the junk that we need to haul by putting them in boxes or sorting them out. If not, our team can go and handle it for you.

We will coordinate with the condo association on your behalf to make sure that it’s done properly. If there’s a service elevator that we can use, we will transport your junk to the truck using that.

After that, your junk will be hauled to the sorting center to know what can be recycled. If there are things that can still be saved, we’ll take them to the right charity organizations. The rest will be disposed of safely.

DIY versus Junk Removal Services

You might be wondering whether it’s better to get a junk removal service or just do it yourself? After all, you can rent a dump truck and have it collected by the junk removal company, right?

While this might sound like a good idea, it’s not always the best choice. If you have a lot of junk to get rid of, it’s more cost-effective and more convenient to hire a junk removal service.

Our junk removal service is complete. Aside from hauling your junk, we also make sure that your condo is cleaned properly so that there are no remnants of the junk that was there before. Our job is to make sure that you’re not stressed out over your old stuff anymore.

You’ll have to solve a lot of challenges if you take the DIY route. First, you need to hire the right dump truck services and coordinate with your condo association to make sure that you don’t disturb your neighbors during the junk removal process.

Second, if you have heavy items to haul, it’ll be a nightmare to carry them even if you have an elevator to help you out. Just imagine carrying heavy items like an old couch. Even a mattress is heavy and requires the muscle of at least two people.

If you want to get the junk removal process over and done with and without suffering from too much stress, hire us to do the work for you.

Start the decluttering process. It’s a good idea to declutter at least once a year to make sure that your junk doesn’t pile up. Condos need to be kept clean and organized all the time, so it is a conducive place to live in.