House Clearance - so overwhelmed, where do I start?

[ErlingHaalandsManBun]

My Dad died earlier this year and my brother and I are sole beneficiaries. Probate granted and the house went on the market last month and sold.

We now have the absolutely mammoth task of clearing out the house.

Where do we start??

There is so much 'stuff' such as plates/pans/crockery/vases/pictures etc... what do we do with them?

Anyone done it recently who can give some sound advice on how to approach this overwhelming task.

With my MIL’s we sorted anything personal or that we were going to keep. Then for the furniture we contacted British Heart Foundation and they took the majority of it. Clothes and household goods in reasonable condition went to a large charity shop nearby. The rest we took to the tip which was close by but we should really have just hired a skip. This was a large 2 bed bungalow with 2 garage sized storage sheds that were full.

it felt very overwhelming at the time and did take a while. If you’re going to do it yourselves then get the skip early so you can just chuck stuff as soon as you’ve made the decision.

Thank you.

On the back of advice on here yesterday I have made a list and will be contacting BHF for the furniture and good condition household items.

As you say, other stuff we will box up and take to a charity shop and we are considering a 'man and van' service who does skip runs to take the rest of the stuff to the skip for us.

Our issue with hiring a skip is that neither myself or brother live at the property so we fear the minute we leave we will get CF locals dumping their own stuff on it and we will come back and it will be full. That's the issue we will have with no-one at the house overnight to monitor the situation. We could do our own skip runs but are prepared to throw a bit of money at the problem and hire someone to do it for us.

Thanks again for this x

I did a skip and did it in one day. Dismantled all the furniture and got it ready downstairs.

Then I just took it out the front door into the skip, and the skip was taken away at the end of the day by arrangement in advance.

The most important thing is to get everything you want out first. What happens to the rest then is largely irrelevant.

The most important thing is not to get too hung up on something because it is "good stuff and someone will want it". A lot of s/h stuff is worth next to nothing and it is far more hassle to arrange to sell it than it is to just skip it.

If you are feeling like you want to give people the chance to take stuff you can just order a second skip and pile all the good stuff in that and leave it out for a few days. Don't be shocked though if you come back and find stuff strewn all over the place. That's normally the reward you get for being kind.

Remember that anything metal the scrappers will normally take.

Thank you. This sounds do-able actually and will just need us to be organised and have ready everything we want to put on the skip when it arrives and then just spend the time loading it up and chucking everything onto it.

Worth a thought.

We did this for a family member recently, and did it after my dad died too. In our family all the aunts and uncles and cousins descend and help. The direct family direct and everyone gets busy.

we had boxes to charity, boxes to the tip, valuables set aside. It was hard emotional work but my family really stepped up. Do you have that. I’m aware that my mums family probably would do the same!

If not be methodical. Lots of charities will collect furniture etc which helps. And if they are collecting furniture get them to take other bits at the same time if they can. Our favourite local charity will do that if you ask in advance.

My brother and I had to do this in our late mother's house not long ago. I persuaded him that the sensible thing to do would be to engage a house clearance company, anything else would just be too much work for us!

We set aside a few things each we wanted to keep. We met a representative from the company about 3 weeks before completion date on the sale. She looked through all the rooms, pointing out things that could be sold at auction (including ornaments and crockery sets and garden tools - all sorts of things you wouldn't think could go) and what would go to charity or the dump. On the day itself, they did a tip run, a couple of charity shop runs, loaded up their van with auction items, and cleaned the house (which was already quite clean). It cost £1500 for a two bedroom bungalow, garage and a couple of sheds.

The auctioned furniture and items was accounted for later after the auction - I think it was about 6 weeks. They sent a detailed account and transferred the money into my Mum's bank account.

We have never regretted spending that money! It was so worth it. I did a thread on here about link to my old thread at the time which may be of interest.

This would probably be the only thing I would keep.

House clearance companies vary, the most expensive just dump the lot. The better ones will sell what they can to offset costs and sort and donate stuff to charities. They know which local charities accept which items.
i had four round to quote and it was easy to pick the right one. They took all the stress out and even recommended a cleaning company for after.

We hired a van and took what we wanted and asked relatives to take what they wanted. Then we asked all the neighbours to take what they wanted. Then we got a charity to take what furniture/goods they wanted. Then we got a house clearance company to do the rest. It cost £500 and it was so worth it! They came with two big vans and a load of banana boxes and cleared the place in a couple of hours and even swept out the garage. It was a company from near Wrexham if you want a recommendation!

I agree with a pp, don't hold out for making lots of money. The Royal Doulton lady that cost a load of money and was so carefully chosen is now worth £5 in a charity shop. The whole process goes so much faster if you focus on letting things go.

Unless of course your family heirlooms are actually valuable.

We packed up clothes first. Divided them into things that might sell and rags. There were some emotional things, like hats dmil wore to our wedding, dh found packing up his dad's suits hard. But it had to be done.

Then we did the kitchen. There's a big charity shop near us that sells even the most random of mugs and plates, they have shelves that are 3 items for £1 or something like that.

Ornaments and vases and the like also went to charity shops once people had chosen what they liked.

That was manageable to do, but the volume of stuff was unbelievable. I can't even count how many trips it took us.

Furniture either to the dump, charity shop or local facebook groups.

Paperwork, photos and diaries we boxed up and took home with the intention of sorting through eventually. We've had mixed success with that so far.

It's a horrible job and took a huge amount of time. But I'm glad we did it. It felt like the last thing we could do for them,.

But don't feel guilty if you use a clearance firm. Not everyone has the time to do it themselves.

We had to do it ourselves too.

We broke it down into 4 lots/piles.

Keep
Charity
Burn
Sell

Don’t underestimate the time involvement, it took us a whole month.

Go room by room, remove anything in the way of personal papers, documents and photos. Then remove anything you or a family member likes and would like to keep.

The rest, get in a house clearance.

We cleared my dad's shed. He had already down sized from a full garage.
it took probably 6 days over weekends
There was an initial tip run but then a lot of sorting and storing at our house.
Nothing was worth very much but it was all worth something, this was hard to deal with.
We kept some for us, some for the kids, then offered friends, then finally the local Men in Sheds group took the rest.

We could be so methodical only because we didn't have to cope with much else.
You can chip away at stuff but when I look at even clearing wardrobes of clothes, that was a day of sorting, lifting, carrying, research, having the stuff in my car till a charity shop would take them and I was off work. Commuting with my dead dad's clothes stuffed in the car was grim.

I'm not doing it again. It's made me quite harsh with my own stuff. The in-laws are in an over stuffed house with lots of precious to them things. They attach a high emotional connection to physical objects, sorting it with the three children plus 8 GC will be highly emotional. I absolutely think we should pay for house clearance to keep the family from falling out.

Best wishes as you work through it all, sorry for your loss.

My neighbours put everything on the front lawn and posted on the local FB page that anyone could take what they wanted over the weekend, while the family cleaned and decorated inside the house. All the furniture went and most of the crockery and ornaments. They then charity shopped or tipped what was left.

Some people wanted to pay, so they accepted donations to the hospice which cared for their mum. Think they got a few hundred quid.

@Mumstheword2022 "One of the most successful ways of clearing out was to put stuff we didn’t want in the drive with a big sigh saying ‘house clearance- make us an offer.’"

Yep. Although I just put a sign saying free to a good home and kept replenishing the stuff as it went. Amazing what was and wasn't popular - baking stuff went fast. Delightful ornate mirror - nope.

"The pressure was being worried we would destroy something important!"

Yep! I'm now selling the house I cleared, and the potential buyer's solicitors asked for the planning permission docs for the previous, previous, prevous owner's conservatory. (Erected in 1975). Luckily I'd kept it.

Good luck! Three ideas:

I cleared an inherited house using house clearance firms twice. One really expensive (I doubt they flytipped the stuff but I had no guarantee). One far cheaper, absolutely great AND was accredited by the Environment Agency (which is apparently all the accreditation there is). https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers

I wanted a skip but even though I had a driveway I couldn't. Turning circle was too small, apparently. BUT I could have had skip bags craned in (big v small) and taken away the next day. Might be useful for other peeps who can stay in the property.

Shamelessly ask everybody who enters the house if they'd like anything. My Ukrainian gardener was delighted to take a load of decent gardening tools. My cleaner's mother wanted some Moorcroft pottery, etc.

Hey @ErlingHaalandsManBun sympathy for your loss.

It's a mammoth task indeed. We did it for my mum’s house which thankfully she had only lived in for 10 or so years.

It helped that we cleared personal stuff before we put it on the market so that staggered it a bit.

So here are my thoughts:

• Start with small personal stuff. First of all make sure you both (and any DC of yours) take anything you want to keep – photos, jewellery, any furniture, books, cookery stuff (strangely compelling to use my mum's potato masher)
• Then do all clothes and shoes etc – just take them to the nearest charity shop or take them to a range. Similarly with bedding. Old towels can be used by pet care centres.
• Any small items no one wants can either be charity shopped as well (china ornaments etc) or given away. I took a load of mugs in to my school staffroom.
• Is any of the furniture worth anything? You can try selling it on FB marketplace if you can be bothered. Or we gave loads of items away via Freecycle. I recall one chap being delighted to pick up a very battered cane-seated chair – he was excited for the project so I was like, great, have it mate.
• British Heart Foundation may take items
• Other charities are also possible – we ended up having the last of the big furniture in our living room for a few days until it was picked up
• Dh and I cut up and binned unsellable divan beds.

If you can actually pass things on to peopel who may want them it can help I find, rather than just getting a house clearance firm in and paying them. It might take a bit of time tho – but again, that can be helpful. A slow goodbye.

The final thing I did for my mum's house was cleaning it from front to back, top to bottom before the sale completed. I could have got a cleaner in but I wanted to do that for her myself. Oddly therapeutic (but I do love to clean).

My neighbour made £1500 on a yard sale for their MIL house contents in one weekend.

Another neighbour was decluttering her home peior to a move abroad and just put out stuff each day - on a school road and she announced it on village WA - random stuff was cleared daily .... we even saw someone come along at midnight with a head torch to scavange.

Dont under estimate what random stuff other people want / need.

Best of luck. This thread has been helpful as we will be downsizing next year from 6 bed house to 2 bed flat. Still have all the duplicate stuff from my 4 kids uni days that landed back at ours - x4 woks anyone?

Hay again @ErlingHaalandsManBun some great posts on here already.

I second the idea of leaving nice stuff at the bottom of the drive "please take" but only when you are in the house for the day maybe.

And yy don't feel guilty.

It's bizarre that you sold the house without clearing out first. I've had to clear and sell two relatives' houses in recent years and by the time they went on the market there was only basic furniture left. I can't even imagine the stress of doing it the other way round with the clock ticking towards the buyer's move in date. Good luck.

I would get as much big stuff out of the house as possible first. If you don’t intend to keep any of the furniture and if it isn’t sellable then either BHF like you have contacted or look up your council recycling facilities and sometimes they have links to other furniture charities that they are affiliated with.

Pots, pans, dinnerware cutlery and homeware stuff I would call homeless shelters and refuges who support people being housed with nothing. It’s the kind of stuff they will fine store and then batch up into starter packs for families who need one.

Any tins and cupboard foods that are unopened and in date can be dropped at a food bank.

Then I’d Stratton going through all the papers and personal stuff to see if there is anything necessary or sentimental that you want to set aside and distribute to family.

Clothing separate into still good and, rags to a rag bank at the local tip, good stuff to a clothing bank or charity shop.

It’s possible to get a skip with a lockable cover.

Do not be surprised if BHF or similar charity do not take all the furniture, even if in good condition- it is about what they can sell, not what is technically usable.

We did it for my MIL. A lot of stuff went straight in the bin. Get family members to help. Buy a massive load of tea, biscuits etc and make it a farewell task... have a cry and a laugh.

How long do you have before you complete the sale, OP? As some of these things eg BHF pick up might have a long lead time.

Making your peace with the fact that what meant the world to them is almost worthless to anyone else is bloody depressing.
I think @Mumstheword2022 s post nails it.
When mum died we cleared the house before we sold it. Treasure to mum was just tat to us. A million photos of dogs. We kept very little, less than a box each. The photos we kept were ancient ones with long dead ancestors.
We found a local, very poor. charity who served a very deprived area and were happy to take everything. Hopefully they made a few £ from it. It really took the pressure off us.
Just to add that I am ruthless about not keeping tat now.