Junk Genies
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We do a lot of these, and the pattern is nearly always the same: the family is not stuck because the job is big. They are stuck because every object needs a decision, and the decisions are heavy.
This is the order that seems to work best. It is not the only way, but it moves.
1. Find the paperwork first
Before anything moves, walk the house looking only for documents: deeds, titles, insurance policies, tax records, military discharge papers, safe deposit keys. Check the freezer, the backs of drawers, and inside books. People of a certain generation hid things, and once a room is cleared you cannot un-clear it.
2. Photograph every room before you touch it
Take a photo from each doorway. Families are surprised how much they want these later, and if there is any dispute among siblings about what was in the house, the photos settle it immediately.
3. Let each person take what they want, with a deadline
Give everyone a window, two weekends say, and a rule that anything not claimed by the end of it is in play. Without a deadline this stage runs for a year.
4. Decide about a sale early, not late
If there is genuinely valuable furniture, an estate sale company is worth calling before anything leaves. If it is mostly ordinary household goods, a sale often costs more in time than it returns. Ask one estate sale company for an honest opinion. The good ones will tell you when it is not worth their time.
5. Clear the easy rooms first
Garage, basement, shed. Almost nothing in those rooms carries emotional weight, and clearing them gives you somewhere to stage the rest. It also produces visible progress on day one, which matters more than people expect.
6. Then the rest, in one pass
Once the decisions are made, the clearing itself should be quick. We can do a whole house in a day or two, or work room by room across several visits while you keep deciding. Either is normal. We set aside anything that looks like paperwork, photographs, or jewelry and hand it to you rather than making that call ourselves.
If the house is going on the market
Clear it before the listing photos, not after the first showing. An empty house reads as a deal and a full one reads as a project, and buyers do that arithmetic in the first thirty seconds. It shows up in the offer.
If you want to talk it through before you start, call 612-208-7435. We have had this conversation many times and there is no obligation in it.