Junk Removal is a Rising Business in Real Estate

If you’ve never used your crockpot, give it to the junk removal guys.

Investing in a junk removal company seems like it would be a good business model. In California, it’s called trash outs, but usually it’s one or two guys with a truck. In Minneapolis, it’s a full blown operation with many outfits advertising on Angie’s List for business. They give quotes like $250 for a certain number of cubic yards, but that’s just to suck you in. If you have any quantity of trash to deal with, the junk removal guys charge more than a $1,000 and closer to $2,000 to cart and dispose of debris.

Since my sister has become disabled, it’s more difficult for her to maneuver about her home. Over the 20 years or so she’s lived in South Minneapolis, she has accumulated much stuff, including worn out stuff from her daughter’s childhood. I tried to send over an “organizer” but upon closer inspection, it seemed junk removal was the first thing to deal with.

There is also the propensity to develop feelings of attachment to impersonal items. One of my ex-husbands used to say, “You come into the world without pockets and you leave without pockets.” But he was one of the few people I’ve known in my life who was not attached to anything and did not collect stuff.

Even as I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to dispose of many things by asking myself the tough questions. Like: will I ever use it again? Do I have more than one of these things? When was the last time I used it? Is it worn out, broken or of no use? It is taking up valuable real estate that could be used for another purpose?

That history prepared me as I stood in my sister’s living room to yell at my niece to throw away that crockpot. Doesn’t matter if it’s in the box that has never been opened, get rid of it. The junk removal guys will donate usable items to charity and take the rest of the stuff to the dump. But I may as well been talking to the wall. She clutched that crockpot like it was the most precious thing in the world to her.