House Clearance Firm - Lazy?

[Timeturnerplease]

Am I lazy for considering a house clearance company once we have moved? To clarify, this is for our house, not a deceased relative or similar. There are mitigating factors though!

We are currently living in a cottage on my father’s land, having sold our property previously. We’re waiting for the sale of our new house to complete, which originally was no chain (us, then seller relocating and moving into rented) but now sadly has become a long and complicated onward chain. We expected to have completed by March.

It’s now looking like a May completion, then we have a selection of things to do to the house before we move in - conservatory, flooring, heating etc - so probably a July moving day. All fine, except we have a two year old, both work full time (me as a teacher so every evening until 10pm plus extras over the weekend) and are due another baby at the beginning of August.

Most of our furniture was second hand and cheap when we first moved in together 13 years ago, so we won’t be taking much of it with us and is not suitable for resale. Once we complete, DP will be spending weekends doing work on the new house, while I look after toddler/pack/declutter/keep up with my own teaching workload. Once we’re in the new place, we’ll be lucky to have a couple of weekends before the baby arrives to sort out (break up furniture, multiple trips to the recycling centre/charity shops etc) the cottage we’re living in.

We’re already planning to hire a cleaning company to deep clean both properties. Would a house clearance company be unsuitable for our needs, ie to clear and dispose of remaining furniture plus maybe some additional clutter (old toys etc)? I was planning to call around during May half term for quotes etc, but DP has tonight suggested that they might not ‘do’ this kind of job and we might need to have a Plan B.

Can't you just hire a skip?

@hotchocdrinker I understand it as she still needs someone to do the labour, taking it from house into skip.

@Timeturnerplease I looked at quotes on anyjunk.com they can include labour. Found a few services like that. In my (non house move) case I ended up waiting until I was no longer pregnant to sort it all out. There are a couple of services like this, look for junk removal/waste removal. After all that’s what it is if it’s not suitable for resale. There’s an app called lovejunk where you advertise the job and people give quotes.

Well, will there actually be anything fir them to sell in, at a profit, to cover their costs? Or are you prepared to pay them for their time/disposal of old furniture that can't be resold?

Or have a weekend of putting everything on freecycle type site and see what's left afterwards?

Yes, it’s about the labour and the time involved - I’d like to be spending the last weekend or two getting all of DD’s old things out of storage and washing them/getting things ready for her sister (assuming this one doesn’t come three weeks early like she did!). I also don’t fancy breaking up and lifting furniture etc when 39 weeks pregnant. DP also likely to be trying to fit some weekend work by then, in case the birth isn’t smooth sailing and he needs to take some time off - he’s self employed.

We’re very new to the idea of hiring in help! Never even used a removal company before, so this is all new territory for us.

Happy to pay for such a service, if it exists, for the avoidance of doubt.

www.anyjunk.co.uk/

www.lovejunk.com/

Thanks, it’s a good thing I checked on here first before wasting precious time calling house clearance rather than junk removal firms.

If only we’d completed already! No one would be heavily pregnant, moving wouldn’t clash with end of year insane workload and, crucially, my dad would be around to help (the very minute international travel is allowed we won’t see him, his bike or his golf clubs for dust!).

Why not? If you can afford it and it will make your lives easier and give someone else a job then?

I think we have a funny attitude about paying people to do things in our culture and worry about being lazy etc. In reality it'll be cash for someone who makes their living clearing junk and a less stressful (stressful enough moving houses twice and being pregnant and teaching etc) move for you and your family.

I think they want photos of all the stuff to see if any of it is sellable etc and how much they charge you depends on what you have - if it's all just for waste then it costs more as they have to pay tip fees etc and won't be making money selling anything on.

Is your furniture really unusable, or just not of use to you?

If it is decent (eg clean and in damaged Ikea basics, or more expensive items with very minor scrapes and scuffs) it could go to a charity - British Heart Foundation will usually pick up SALEABLE stuff, as will Bethany Trust, Shelter (some areas) etc. If your stuff is only 14 years old it probably doesn’t belong in landfill.

I think there is one wardrobe that would be suitable for a charity shop, but the rest came from our local Hospice furniture shop originally and is mostly damaged through heavy use and three DIY house moves. Ironically, the only item that we bought new was our sofa, which DD then spent the first fifteen months of her life puking all over - in her defence, she had extremely bad reflux. The cat then peed all over it, I guess to mark her territory against DD.

It sounds like we live in a hovel but we really don’t! We’ve just saved a fortune over the years by having second hand stuff, so now we’ve found a proper family sized home we’re able to use some of that money to set it up with quality furniture.

Our local auction place sells general household stuff every fortnight- mostly house clearance. Worth asking as solid but unfashionable furniture etc does sell.

If it was me, I'd call a few charities to see if they want to come and have a look & take anything they want.

Hopefully some of it will find a new home & it'll reduce the amount you need to pay to have removed.

I'd start looking now fir a junk removal company, they're scarce as hens teeth where I live.

I didn't address your actual question though! NO it's not lazy, it's accepting there's a limit to what you can do/fit in and finding ways of getting the rest done!

Best of luck with everything!!

Your local things for sale pages on facebook will have people. Just put up a post and ask for recommendations.

Normally I'd say charities etc but they're a nightmare in terms of being able to say when they'll come and it is just more days you have to be around in the house waiting for things when you've got enough on your plate.

It sounds like they've had good use and have survived a lot and were second hand in the first place so I wouldn't feel to bad about letting them RIP

If you could manage it I would contact a charity to see if they would take anything. We have one near us that a friend used recently. They took all sorts of things I hadn't expected including cutlery and bedding type items. Iirc it was a charity who provided starter packs for people moving from homelessness to housing.

@TheHoneyBadger That’s exactly it re charities - teachers can’t take a morning off to let someone in to repair their boiler, so waiting in for a charity sadly can’t happen unless they have a partner who is able to. I think we’ll have to go with a junk company.

I am all for recycling and most of our house has second furniture but in your position I would get a house clearance company in.

Just do it, OP.

I have been disposing of furniture.

I have sold some on Marketplace etc, people are exhausting to deal with, they don’t read the info, badger you to deliver when you said ‘buyer collects’, agree to buy and then quibble about price etc etc. And your Messenger inbox is full of time wasters. I did make some money but it was a hassle.

I found the same on Olio. (A free cycle app). Endless notifications etc.

You might find that the Salvation Army will collect usable furniture as a job lot.

Otherwise, just get a house clearance business that has a second hand shop.

Yes even when you're giving away stuff for FREE you still get all the hassle Raining lists there - it's exhausting.