1. Create a Plan:

To begin with, create a plan of where you will start and how you will proceed. Estimate the time that you will need and make sure that you focus solely on the house clearance, without distracting yourself. For a thorough house clearance, it is recommended to have at least twelve hours for each room. It is essential that you give yourself the required time in order to keep stress at a minimum.

2. Separate the items

After the initial planning, go through each item within each room within the house and put them in either a keep or go category. If you place an item within the ‘go’ category, decide what you are going to do with the item; is it going to be sold, donated, thrown away or is it confidential and therefore, needs to be securely destroyed? Use colour labels to identify the various categories.

3. Estimate the volume of the stuff that needs to be cleared

To estimate the volume of the items that need to be removed, use the idea of a domestic skip. Walk around each room in turn and detail how many skips will be required for that room (you don’t need to 100% accurate, you are only estimating). Once you have estimated the number of skips required for each room, add them all together to get the total.

4. Arrange for the house to be cleared

There are 3 options open to you for this part of the house clearance:

  • Do it yourself:
    If you have a very little budget, this option may appear the most cost-effective. However, you must take into consideration the fuel costs of taking the items to the tip/recycle centre and if you need to hire a vehicle to deal with the volume.
  • Hire a skip:
    This option is beneficial if you wish to clear the property at your pace, and the items you wish to dispose of is made up of heavy, loose waste. The challenge with this option is that regardless of how much of the skip you fill, you must pay for the whole skip. Furthermore, you cannot put hazardous waste items (fridges, tyres, TVs etc.) into the skip and you must load the skip yourself.
  • Hire a professional house clearance service:
    Using a specialist house clearing service allows you to plan when the clearance will take place and that you will only pay for the rubbish that they take. Another great benefit of this type of service is that they can take all items, including those classified as hazardous waste, and you do not have to load the items into the van, the company providing the service will do this, allowing you to sit back and oversee operations.

Please Note:
If you decide to use this service, make sure the company has a waste carriers license, is fully insured and will provide you with the correct documentation. Failure to do this may leave you susceptible to a fine up to £5,000 if they don’t do this and do not dispose of your waste correctly.

Conclusion

Planning and managing a house clearance can appear overwhelming. However, if you follow the step-by-step guide above, there is no doubt that you will have the clearance sorted in no time.