Owing to the size of your home, domestic clearances can quickly become expensive. So it is unsurprising that Brits are constantly looking for ways to save their pennies during a renovation or removal. To lend you a helping hand, we have devised this guide filled with expert tips on how to cut costs and protect your pennies during a home clearance!
Selling and donating your old junk is likely the best way to save money on your next home clearance. Not only does doing so cut the cost of skips by reducing the amount of waste and therefore the size and number of skips required, but it also offers you the opportunity to make money if you successfully flog some of your junk.
• Sell Your Junk: There are plenty of platforms to sell your old junk on and almost always someone that wants what you want rid of for the right price. Whether it is to mutual friends on through an online selling platform such as Gumtree or Shpock, as long as you price your junk reasonably, you can get a fast sale.
• Donate Your Junk To Charity: If you’re less concerned about making money and more concerned about getting rid of your junk to reduce skip hire fees, donating your junk to charity is a quick and easy way to get rid of your old clutter. Typically, small item donations can be made within 24 hours, meanwhile furniture collections can be arranged within a matter of weeks. However, you should keep in mind that charities will only accept items that they have a fair chance of reselling and so they are selective about what they can and cannot accept. For example, charity shops are unable to accept donations of sofas without the appropriate fire labels since they are prohibited from reselling these. It is worth checking their guidelines for further assurance. Charities such as the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research and Age UK are known to accept furniture, but local charities near you might be able to collect it sooner.
• Give Your Junk Away For Free: Alternatively, you can seek to gift your junk to those that might need it more, free of charge. Creating listings on sites such as Facebook Marketplace and placing physical local adverts is a perfect way to find a potential new home for your clutter.
Many of the biggest savings on a domestic clearance are a product of early preparation and good organisation. By managing your time effectively and planning ahead, you have more time to research the most comprehensive packages and negotiate the best deals. As many of us have learned before, failing to plan ahead often results in extra fees and surcharges for missed timings and ordering the wrong sized removal equipment.
To avoid these, we recommend scheduling your clearance as far in advance as possible and that you use all of this available time to research the offers, suitability and availability of your chosen clearance service.
Recent research reveals that 1 in 3 Brits throw away furniture and homeware in a good condition, every year - with this figure rising to almost 50% in London. Each year this is not only wasted money, but it is also unnecessary damage caused to the environment. Before you trade your old furniture for the latest model, it is well worth considering what you could do first with your old furniture. There are countless simple ways to give your old furniture a new lease of life. With new furniture costing a small fortune, your bank account will certainly thank you for doing so.
Yet another way to save money on your domestic clearance is knowing how to load your skip in the most efficient way! These simple steps will help you get the most of your skip space:
Finally, we strongly recommend being legally compliant in order to avoid fines and liability later on. It is not only important to ensure that your clearance company have a traceable way of disposing of your waste and the correct certification, but it is also imperative that you check that license conditions are met for skip storage and that you aren’t guilty of fly tipping, since this can incur fines of up to £1000!