For most people, the holidays are a time packed with events that might involve opening your home up to friends and family members. However, with the COVID-19 outbreak recommending that we avoid large gatherings, and maintaining social distancing, this year you may find that you have some extra time off and not a lot of places to go. This makes it the perfect time to get organized and get rid of extra stuff. Here are a few suggestions on how to spend that extra time over this unique holiday season.
Eliminate Junk Collection Points
We all have these somewhere in our homes, often several of these throughout our property, anything as small as a junk drawer to areas as large as a closet or an entire room where we put things we no longer know what to do with. Things that are broken that we plan on getting fixed “someday,” clothing that no longer fits, old electronics, toys, and knick-knacks that we no longer display. If you can’t give these away or recycle them, and you have a lot of junk, you might need to rent a roll-off dumpster to get rid of them.
Sort Through Holiday Decorations
Because we only see our holiday decorations once per year, it is easy to lose track of what we have. Many of us have broken decorations that we never quite got around to throwing out, and very old strings of non-energy efficient lights. This is the time to cull all of those old decorations that are either too worn, too dated or simply no longer used. A good rule of thumb would be, if you haven’t put it up on display over the last five years, consider getting rid of it.
Use an Inventory Application to Track Food and Household Supplies
One of the biggest problems caused by disorganization is waste. Food spoils or expires because we don’t know that it’s there because it gets shoved to the rear of our pantry or refrigerator, we run out of cleaning supplies because we have no idea that we ran out, or we buy duplicate items because we can’t find the original item after hours of searching for it. There are many low-cost, even free apps that scan bar codes and record them in an electronic inventory. These apps can track all food and household supplies to make sure that you don’t buy too much of one product, and let you know when you need to replenish others.
Regift or Donate New or Unopened Items
All throughout the year, we either buy things that we thought that we’d need and didn’t use, or received gifts that were not wanted or duplicates of what we already had. Since they are new, we are reluctant to get rid of them. Now is the time. Collect these items and donate them to an appropriate charity that can either include them in donations or sell them to fund their organization.
Need a Roll Off Dumpster for Your COVID Clean Sweep?
Make the best of a bad situation. If you decide to do a COVID-19 clean sweep and you need a roll-off dumpster, give us here at Circle J Roll-Offs a call at (215) 661-0001 or fill out our online form. We will help you select the right size of dumpster for you. Call us now to get the process started today.