Here at The Junkluggers, we do everything we can to dispose of the items we pick up responsibly, keeping as much out of the landfills as we can, and disposing of certain items like paint in a way that protects our environment. It has been recently discovered that disposing of paint responsibly is very expensive. While we continue our pledge to protect the environment, we must do so by continuing to be responsible about how we dispose of paint. We will now be charging $20.00 per gallon for paint to cover the expenses that we incur to dispose of it responsibly.

We understand that this is a high cost so we would like to recommend kitty litter as a great way to dry out left over paint. It takes about 3 days to properly dry out. It takes time, but is a lot cheaper. We will absolutely take dried out paint cans at no extra charge.

We ask for your understanding and help in our continued success at being the most environmentally responsible junk removal company in the industry.

Check back for more tips and ideas for handling special items for disposal!

A few months ago, I blogged about EJ in Luggerland, a kind of tongue in cheek recount of my day in the life of a lugger, that day was filled with jobs of junk to be carted away, cardboard to be recycled and furniture to be donated. Today, I witnessed the other side of what we do; a house clean out set up by a brother and sister for their widowed dad who was recently moved to a nursing home.

This was the house that they grew up in; their childhood bedrooms, the kitchen table they ate their meals at every night, where they learned how to walk, where they got that nasty scar on their knee, where they made their plans for the future and where they slept safely every night for years. This was the only home they knew until they made their own homes with their own families as adults. Today they were there to see the last of the items carted away before the house is scheduled for demolition. In speaking to the sister, she shared with me stories of the “olden days”, pointing out items and what they meant to her and her family. I went with her on her journey down memory lane. The parties they had, the way her brother snuck up the chimney and knocked on her window to let him in when he was out past curfew, their childhood dog that lived a long 16 ½ years, and where they buried him in the back yard.

She shared with me who her parents were; generous and benevolent souls who would be pleased to know that their things were not just going to be thrown away, but donated and recycled instead. It would be so in the vein of their character and the way they lived that others would benefit from their furniture to make new memories of their own. She imagined a young family in need accepting and appreciating that kitchen table and chairs, as she remembered her family sitting around that table. “The stories that table could tell,” she said with a hint of mischief and nostalgia in her eye. “Now it will learn new stories with a new family”.

The house was built in 1910. Their family had been in it since 1946. “Many happy ghosts roam these rooms,” she said looking around. She talked about how her parents always had an open door to everyone and that it was like a party everyday in their house. What a wonderful way to grow up. I watched her face simply glow with the happy images that were certainly dancing in her head. She picked up a small hand stitched wreath ornament that one of our guys had rescued off the ground and placed on an old planter, “I made this you know.” She looked a little sad and I told her to take it and hang it on her tree this year. She smiled and put it in her pocket, “I think I will.”

When her brother arrived, he echoed her sentiments. You could really tell the strong moral foundation that was clearly instilled by their parents in this house. They were genuinely good souls like their parents, and they stressed how important it was to know that the people that were taking care of their things mirrored that kind of integrity. They spoke very fondly of my luggers, and who they are. I truly agree we have the best people on our team.

What we do is not just junk removal. When we come into a situation like this one we are taking care of precious memories. We are passing on the good karma of these items to a family in need when we donate. We are recycling obsolete items into useful ones. Just walking through the house I could picture the happiness. I could almost hear the laughter. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget and I am prouder than ever to be part of The Junkluggers and our mission.

Written By:
EJ Flynn

Four Easy Steps to Getting Your Clean On:

Step 1:

Start small – Don’t attempt to clear an entire house in one day. This can quickly squash your motivation and cause you to procrastinate. Do it in pieces. Clear out one room at a time starting with an easier one first so that you can stay motivated to move on to the next one. When you get to a bigger more difficult room, divide the area into three or four sections and sort one section at a time.

Step 2:
Create three categories: “Junk”, “Donations/Recycling”, and “To Keep”. You can simply use piles or we recommend using plastic bins to separate your items into the 3 different categories. Try not to have a “miscellaneous” pile. Make a decision and stick to it.

Step 3:

Take a survey of whatever the item is. Ask yourself, “Have I used this lately? Will I use it soon? Can someone else use it? Will I (or somebody else) regret throwing/giving it away?”

Step 4:

Call The Junkluggers at 1-888-584-5865 to set up an appointment! We will recycle and donate as much as we can, on your behalf, and take the rest to the transfer stations for you.

Ever looking for something you can do to impress your boss? Take a step back and look around your office with some fresh eyes.

Does this sound like you? You wake up in the morning and drive, walk or train to work. You walk through the same door, walk down the same path, you say good morning to the same people, on your way to your desk. If this sounds like you, tomorrow try this; take a different route to your desk, stop on your way, look around. Do you see some piles of junk that have gathered dust indicating they’ve been sitting there a while? Do you see papers that have yellowed, boxes sagging with age, their contents unknown, taking up space in a corner or even stacked halfway up a wall? Let’s go a step further, check out the kitchen or break room or even open up the closets. What do you see? Lots of old stuff from people that no longer work there tend to find homes in these places and no one knows what to do with them, so they just stay there taking up valuable real estate.

Now what? Don’t bring this up at the next meeting to create more work for everyone. Do bring this up at the next meeting with a solution for everyone. Send a blast email out to everyone to bring their junk to you or to a central location and then go to your boss with a cost effective and green way to get rid of it all. The Junkluggers have vast experience dealing with situations just like yours! We are fast, efficient and professional. We understand the needs of an office environment and will handle things swiftly, discreetly and affordably.

Shine bright green in the eyes of your boss or bosses and just maybe the next employee of the month will be you!!!

Written by: EJ Flynn

Ever see the show Dirty Jobs? Well that guy needs to come check out some of the stuff that our luggers have had to deal with…

One of our nastiest jobs…

East Fishkill, NY – This was, according to the luggers that worked it, the absolute worst. The home owner no longer had running water or electricity. It was the height of summer with degrees reaching into the 90’s every grueling day they had to endure in the condemned space. And there were cats, lots of them. Everywhere you looked there they were, of all sizes and colors, although there were no litter boxes. For a moment they thought she had wall to wall brown carpeting, sadly no, the whole house was one big litter box. The homeowner herself had resorted to using plastic grocery bags as a toilet and simply tying them shut and throwing them into the basement. Out of sight out of mind I guess but certainly not out of smell. The smell carried down the street, it hit you like a wall as you approached the house. The house itself was set back away from the street, thankfully away from other houses otherwise the complaints may have come sooner. The guys knew they were in for something bad when in big bold letters in the notes for the appointment it says “BRING MASKS” but they could not have even predicted what they were walking into.

Our fearless luggers, Tommy and Matt looked at each other and exchanged no words, just a nod of acknowledgement that it would take a brave crew to do it, and it had to be them. It was silent, only the sound of decaying wall paper slowly peeling off the wall in what used to be a living room. Tommy was the first to break the silence. Before placing the facemask that was hanging around his neck, over his mouth, he winked at Matt and said “Cover me, I’m going in.”

If you can imagine the worst possible situation, it was 10 times worse than that. The ceilings and floors were cracked. Each room held more terror then the one before. There was garbage everywhere, barely a path to follow to make it through the house. Moving with trepidation and fear our luggers braved through not even sure where to start. The heat only intensified the stench and the discomfort inside the house. Doors were pinned open. Piles and piles of junk filled each room floor to ceiling. Newspapers delivered daily for 8 years, never picked up, or disposed of from the front door.
This was a house that was being flipped by a real estate agent, so the former owner was thankfully not on site. Four days, ten hours a day, a rescue mission from the local SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), 10 full trucks and a 30 yard dumpster of metal later, and The Junkluggers could close the book on that nasty job.

Stay tuned, more nasty jobs to come…