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You scored huge savings on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Your cool couch, flat-screen TV, refrigerator, mattress . . . all that new stuff arrives, and now you need to get rid of the old stuff.
Keep your savings streak alive and call Junk King to remove your old, unwanted items. We offer single item pricing—the best deal of any insured, full-service hauler in Northern Virginia. We’ll even demo that old hot tub or shed for you.
Junk King Fairfax is now on Thumbtack where you can shop for home services and construction support. You can also call us directly at (703) 348-8214. We serve Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Prince William, and Montgomery Counties.
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Local Junk King haulers and recyclers across the United States are helping hoarders appearing on the TLC show, Hoarding: Buried Alive. The broadcasts featuring Junk King franchisees begin November 6, 2013. Click here for some previews!
For the franchise owners and employees of the company, aiding the individuals featured on the show is more than a chance to get a little face-time on a popular national television show. It’s local business aiding local residents in need. Helping those with the compulsive-obsessive disorder can be an emotional experience for everyone involved—junk collectors, hoarders, and the families of the hoarders. Virtually every employee at Junk King, from those at the corporate headquarters in California, to the local franchisee, has spent time collecting junk. Walking into any home where there is an extensive amount of clutter, even if it can’t be termed “buried-alive” clutter, affects those who enter the space. Even the employees who answer the phone to book the appointments for “everyday hoarders” can sense the despair. Whether the call is from a family member or the individual who needs help, the hopeless attitude is easy to sense. Adding hope to the equation is the job of the workers. The local Junk King employees who actually collect the “stuff” know they must “tread lightly” in these situations. After all, hoarders have psychological issues, and even the perception of a “callous attitude” can stop an intervention in its tracks.
Local Junk King franchises apparently have a knack for the kindness needed in the extreme situations featured on TLC’s Hoarding: Buried Alive. While there is an eight-hour time limitation for actual removal of the items, Junk King usually gets a call back, after the completion of the filming to finish the job. This indicates that the local franchisees not only do a good job, but that they are sensitive to the issues involved with hoarding. Anyone who has watched even one Buried Alive broadcast has seen how difficult it can be for the hoarders to accept help without feeling they’re somehow being violated. Junk King, a company with over 50 franchises throughout the U.S. and Canada, understands it is their responsibility to help hoarders without making it seem as if the home is being invaded.
Again, Hoarding: Buried Alive episodes featuring Junk King hauling begin November 6, 2013.
Here is some information to help you decide whether to use the Arlington County Service or call Junk King when you need to dispose unwanted items or debris. In general, for small pick-ups, Arlington provides good service at a modest additional cost to residents. If you think you have a big load or you need some labor to clear your clutter, then Junk King is likely your best option.
For Arlington Service, you request a pick-up, Monday — Friday, 8 a.m. — 5 p.m. You need to get your items to the curb and Arlington has some rules you must follow. “Pile items separately, curbside or in the street (not in the yard). There must be an overhead clearance of approximately 25 feet. Do not pile under low hanging power lines or tree limbs. Do not place next to parked cars; the truck needs at least a 10-foot clearance from cars to avoid possible damage.”
Arlington charges $20 for televisions and $15 for computer monitors, added to your quarterly utility bill. Arlington charges $10 for metal items (air conditioners, cabinets, exercise equipment) collected curbside for recycling. They have a weight limit of 50 lbs. maximum for each item. These charagable items include:
• Air conditioner
• Awnings (window, porch)
• Boat
• Camper shell (truck)
• Car doors, bumpers
• Cast iron/wrought iron fixtures (bath tub, sink) and furniture
• Chain link fence
• Dehumidifier, humidifier
• Desk/office
• Drill press
• Engine block
• Exercise equipment
• File cabinet (3 drawer+)
• Fireplace, insert
• Floor buffer
• Furnace
• Garage doors
• Gas grill
• Grate/iron (sewer, tree)
• Heat pumps
• Heating oil fuel tank
• Home appliances (dishwasher, freezer, refrigerator, stove, washer/dryer)
• House radiator (cast iron)
• Hydraulic floor jack on wheels
• Lathe/metal
• Lawn equipment, motorized (leaf shredder, mower, rotor tiller)
• Motor/outboard
• Pool
• Recreational vehicles (go cart, moped, motorcycles/motorbikes)
• Safe
• Shower stall
• Snow blower
• Metal stairs
• Stationary air compressor
• Table saw
• Tool chest
• Truck wheel/rim
• Wardrobe/closet
• Water cooler, heater
• Wood stove
The Arlington County Website has a list of items they take curbside or that you can drop off at their disposal facility. Click here.
Junk King takes everything. We provide all the labor, even some demolition for items such as sheds and hot tubs. We charge by volume. You can call Junk King 24 hours per day for same-day service in a convenient two-hour window. We can guide you through the disposal of paint and other items that Arlington will not take. Roughly speaking, if you have enough junk to fill a standard pick-up truck or more, you are probably better off using our labor to remove the unwanted items.
Again, Arlington has a good service for small, easy-to-manage disposal problems. Certainly, if you can get your items to the curb, Arlington’s $20 charge for TV or $10 for a gas grill makes more sense than calling a junk hauler. For larger cleanouts, you can save your time and your back by calling Junk King.
At Junk King, we give free estimates, and we’ll be straight forward and tell you if we think you are better off with the Arlington County service. Call me any time: Alex Powers, Owner and General Manager, (703) 819-5667
One last note: Arlington has an awesome system for leaf collection. Here’s the schedule: Click here.
2013-10-24 14:04:10
The USS Forrestal super carrier was just bought for scrap for 1 penny. The scrap value of the 83,000-ton vessel is at least $18 million. Of course, the scrap company needs to dismantle the ship. This recycling job is too big for Junk King, but we can dream, can’t we?
The cost to build the USS Forrestal, in today’s money, is about $2 billion. The ratio of recycling revenue to building cost is just under 1%. To put that on a scale, old automobiles typically get $250+ for recycling, and the typical automobile costs less than $2,000 to manufacture. (Assembly lines and volume have a huge impact on costs relative to super carriers.) The ratio for the recycling revenue/cost for automobiles about 12.5% or more than 12 times the ratio for the USS Forrestal.
I wonder if we should have let some city have the good old ship and use it for a museum? Whenever I have had work at the Navy Yard in Philly, I would buy a delicious hoagie for lunch and eat it while gazing on the Forrestal and think about her expoits. I’ll miss her.
2013-10-17 15:22:22
Maria Spetalnik, member of the Fairfax County Inter-Agency Hoarding Committee, shared a metric to help one distinguish between clutter and hoarding. If you have a loved one or neighbor who might have a problem with clutter, do not jump to the conclusion that the person is a hoarder. Click here to get The Clutter Hoarding Scale to help your assessment.
She points out that hoarding encompasses all socio-economic groups. The causes can vary from head trauma to a psychological disorder. The case can be chronic or a one-time episode.
In many cases, friends and family can effectively help, but even those with the best of intentions need to know the severity of the problem and their own limits for helping. The Clutter Hoarding Scale is a great place to start. If you and your family can manage the situation, you can call Junk King to provide the labor and trucks. We remove and recycle or repurpose everything we haul.
If you think you might have a tougher organizing or hoarder problem, contact Maria at Conquer the Clutter.
My Fairfax neighbor told me, “My old refrigerator just provides a little shade for the food but doesn’t make things cold anymore. Can you get rid of it for me?”
We’ll be happy to come remove your old refrigerator or freezer and we’ll give you a good price, excellent service, and recycle it for you.
But first, let’s make sure the old fridge really is a goner. Follow these five simple steps:
1. Check the plug and circuit box to make sure your fridge is getting power.
2. Check the thermostat to make sure you didn’t accidentally bump it into the off position.
3. Make sure the vents in the back of the fridge or freezer aren’t blocked.
4. Ensure your condenser coils—at the back of, or underneath your fridge—are clean. You can use a coil brush or a vacuum to clean the coils.
5. Ensure that the condenser fan spins freely. If your condenser coils are on the back of your fridge, you won’t have a fan.
If the fan doesn’t turn, unplug fridge try to clean the fan blades. Then plug in the fridge and watch to make sure that the fan spins when the compressor turns on. If the fan doesn’t spin, you need to replace it. The parts run from $7 to $30 for most models.
If the fridge is dead, you’ll need a new one. Some stores provide free delivery and haul away—score! If the store tells you the haul-away fee is greater than $89, then you owe it to yourself to call Junk King for an estimate.
Someone had to drag this debris 200 feet to the curb.
This post was updated in April 2022
If you’re considering Bagster, it’s likely that you need junk hauling or debris removal services but don’t want to hire a typical company that comes to your property in an obvious truck or van. You might be looking to reduce the hassle of hauling your trash yourself and trying to fit it into your car, SUV, or minivan along with everything else you’re transporting on your way to work, school, or home.
Debris hauling can be a hassle for any business or homeowner. Unless you live in a larger city, where there are junk removal specialists available, hiring someone to remove debris from your home or business can cost a lot of money. Bagster is making debris removal simple by offering affordable alternatives to traditional trash bags. With Bagster, homeowners and businesses can haul away junk quickly and easily while reducing their costs on disposal fees significantly. These days, many cities offer curbside pick-up programs but some waste management firms charge exorbitant rates for even small items.
The concept of the Bagster™ is like having a 3 cubic yard mini-dumpster, but is that solution for debris hauling right for you?
Bagsters require time and effort on your end. You purchase the Bagster at a retail store like Home Depot. You must fill the big green bag using your labor and ensure that the bag is within 16 feet of the curb so the waste hauler can reach the bag with its mechanical lift. On average, you ought to budget at least three hours to acquire and fill the bag. The Bagster hauler may charge extra or refuse to haul if you overfill the bag. If you have stone, concrete, or dirt, you can fill only 1/3rd of the bag. No item can exceed 4 feet in length.
The Bagster costs $30 for the bag and you pay another $79 to $249 for the pick-up (average $140) for the hauling. That comes to $60 per cubic yard. You pay the whole $180 whether the bag is full or not.
With more than 30 years of experience behind them, Junk King is one of America’s top junk removal companies. They have handled thousands of different jobs—everything from garage cleanouts to construction debris and furniture removal.
Junk King has alternatives that provide better flexibility and better pricing. We have 18 cubic yard trucks with crews to provide the labor. We discount for pre-staged debris, essential what a Bagster becomes. Our pre-staged rate for the Bagster’s 3-cubic yard volume of construction debris is $90. That’s about half the cost of a Bagster.
Junk King also has 12-cubic yard dumpsters for rent. Our dumpster would hold 4 Bagsters. These dumpsters are perfect for DIY projects and small renovations. The graphite wheels make the dumpster’s driveway friendly. The cost is $298 for the dumpster and includes the first ton — normal weight for 12 cubic yards of construction debris. To get the same volume of Bagsters you pay up to $685. Again, our solution is more flexible and costs about half the cost of the Bagster solution.
Here are just a few reasons why our services are better than Bagster ’s:
Junk King knows that you may need your items removed at any time during the day or night, which is why they offer 24-hour online booking services. That means you don’t have to rearrange your schedule in order to meet with them, as they come when it best suits you.
On each job that they handle, Junk King employees work quickly and carefully so as not to disrupt any home or business while they’re onsite. Their trucks also contain safety equipment such as straps, ramps and wedges to keep everything safe and secure throughout transport.
When you compare Bagster ’s pricing to that of Junk King Fairfax, what might seem like comparable prices, however, things can quickly become much more expensive for Bagster customers with you dig deeper. For example, in addition to costing more money per cubic yard of junk removed, Bagster doesn’t provide any discounts for volume pricing or additional jobs. You always pay their full fees for every job.
If anything happens to your vehicle or property during transportation due to fault from one of their workers or subcontractors, Bagster will cover all damages; however, if damage occurs due to negligence from one of their staff members, then you could be held responsible for paying out-of-pocket expenses. Junk King is fully licensed, bonded, and insured so you always have nothing to worry about.
When you want to schedule your junk removal job, Junk King gives you three delivery options. You can choose when they come to pick up your items: same day, next day, or on a weekend. Junk King also offers a number of flexible payment options based on how much stuff needs to be removed.
Bagster charges you a standard rate of $60 per cubic yard to haul your junk, regardless of how much waste that equates to. The company also offers an additional service where they dump your debris at no extra charge. When you add it all up, Junk King is one of America’s most affordable junk removal companies when it comes to pricing!
While Bagster does give you the ability to remove a lot of your junk, it won’t cover things like old or broken appliances. Junk King has appliance removal services that can make them more cost-effective overall. Not only that, Junk King will do all of the heavy lifting for you. You don’t have to worry about hurting yourself trying to MacGyver an old appliance into a Bagster.
Unlike most junk removal solutions, including the DIY approach of loading a truck and taking it to a landfill, Junk King has the environment in mind with everything we do. We will go through every item we collect and break down the components and materials and recycle whatever we can to help reduce the impact your junk has on the environment. It is a win-win situation for you and the environment!
If you have a bunch of unwanted junk taking up precious space around your home or business, call Junk King today! We can help you declutter your home or business and help you start on the pathway to a cleaner, more usable space.
Maria Spetalnik of Conquer the Clutter answered this question for me. Her answer surprised me even though as owner of Junk King, I thought I had a fair understanding of hoarding. Yet I know Maria is an expert on the subject with 20-years of hard-earned experience. So, I trust her answer, and so should you.
She told me, “The worst thing you can do to a hoarder is a forced clean out.”
Maria explained the typical scenario. The concerned adult children decide to help their aging mother who has a moderate hoarding or clutter problem. One of the siblings takes Mom on a weekend trip, and while she is safely away, the other siblings secretly clean out the house. They pay haulers to remove the trash and ruined furniture. They pay to clean the house top to bottom, pay to shampoo carpets—even paint. It is a Herculean effort motivated by filial love for Mom. At the end of Mom’s weekend trip, the siblings welcome Mom back to clean, orderly home expecting Mom to get emotional—overcome with gratitude.
As Maria explained, the returning hoarder gets emotional for sure, but it’s not gratitude. From the hoarder mom’s point of view, her children lied to her, violated her home, and stole her possessions—some of which may have great sentimental value. And to make matters worse, within three months the typical hoarder, after a forced clean out, will re-clutter the space.
Such good intentions can have such a horrible outcome! Mom is in a worse position than before the forced clean out. The clutter is back, and Mom no longer trusts her own children.
If you think you have a loved one who has a clutter problem, call a professional like Maria and take advantage of her 20 years’ experience. The small investment in your time may save life-long relationships and ensure that your loved one gets the lasting results he or she needs.
Next month, we’ll look at a metric to help us understand the severity of a hoarder situation.
Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project says, “Outer order contributes to inner calm.” A scientific study was done that backs up Rubin’s claim. In an excellent article on parenting, Katie Morton shares research and tips on how de-cluttering the home benefits the child. Click here to read Katie’s article.
As a father of a large family, I want to add another point: de-cluttering the home teaches the child the relative unimportance of stuff. People are more important than stuff. Time is more important than stuff. Health is more important than stuff. A job well done is more important than stuff. A good story is more important than stuff. In fact, almost every aspect of life is more important than stuff. Detachment from stuff leads to contentment.
We engage our kids in the periodic de-cluttering and involve them in donating used clothes, books, and other goods. They learn to think of other people in need. They are rightfully proud of a job well done – a clean bedroom. They like the space. And most importantly, they realize that they are actually better for having less stuff.
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