By The Junk Lord · Updated
First, don't rush it
Learning how to clean out a parent's house usually happens all at once, at the worst possible time. There's grief, there's paperwork, and there's a house full of things that each mean something to somebody. The best advice we can give is the simplest: unless there's a real deadline, slow down.
Nothing has to leave the house this week. Before anything is sold, donated, or thrown out, talk to the estate's attorney or whoever is handling the estate. They can tell you what has to be kept, what has to be accounted for, and whether anyone needs to sign off before things go. We're not lawyers, and this guide isn't legal advice.
If more than one family member is involved, agree on who makes the final call. It saves a lot of hard conversations later.
Secure papers and valuables before anything else
Do one quiet walk-through with a box, a notepad, and a roll of tape. The goal isn't to sort the house. It's to make sure nothing important gets lost in the shuffle.
- Gather every piece of paperwork in one place: the desk, the filing cabinet, the shoebox in the closet. Don't throw out any of it yet. Let the attorney or executor go through it.
- Bring in the mail and keep it together. Bills and statements that arrive over the next few months often point to accounts nobody knew about.
- Check the hiding spots. Parents tuck cash and jewelry into coat pockets, freezer bags, books, and the toes of shoes.
- Lock up or remove anything small and valuable, and change or collect the house keys if a lot of people have copies.
- Photograph rooms before anything moves. It helps with the estate's records and gives the family something to look back on.
Sort into keep, give, sell, and toss
Start with the room that carries the least emotion, like a spare bedroom or the laundry room, and save the bedroom, the photos, and the kitchen for later. Early wins make the hard rooms easier.
Use four plain categories and label them with tape or sticky notes:
- Keep: things family members have claimed. Put names on them, and set a date for people to pick them up.
- Give: usable furniture, clothing, linens, and kitchenware that can go to donation.
- Sell: pieces that may be worth something. If you're not sure, have them looked at before they go anywhere.
- Toss: the broken, the stained, and the stuff nobody would take for free.
Where the hard-to-toss things go
Most of a house goes out the usual ways. A few things don't, and an older home tends to have all of them. Here's what the local authorities say.
- TVs and computers: Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act bans putting TVs, computers, monitors, and computer peripherals in household trash, and the ban has been in effect since January 24, 2013.[1][2]
- York County residents can recycle electronics free at the Resource Recovery Center and at the Fairview and Penn Township recycling centers, with a limit of five TVs per visit. The county suggests wiping personal data off devices first.[3]
- In Lancaster County, LCSWMA's household hazardous waste facility takes TVs and computers from county residents, and LCSWMA says it doesn't destroy data on them. Dauphin County residents can recycle TVs and computers free at the Dauphin County Recycling Center in Harrisburg.[4][5][6]
- Stains, solvents, cleaners, and garden chemicals: York County holds two free household hazardous waste days a year, spring and fall, and you have to register. Latex paint and medications are not accepted at those events.[7][8]
- Refrigerators, freezers, and dehumidifiers: these can go to the York County Resource Recovery Center, where the Freon is removed before the items are recycled. Empty out the food first.[9][10]
- Furniture, mattresses, and extra trash: York County's Small Load Drop-Off takes these, with a fee for waste loads.[9][11]
- Cardboard from all those boxes: the county's Recycling Drop-Off Center on Blackthorne Court takes corrugated cardboard, and there's no fee to drop off recyclables there.[12]
What curbside pickup can and can't handle
Regular trash service helps, but it's built for a week of household trash, not a whole house. Rules depend on where your parent lived.
In the City of York, curbside customers can schedule up to five bulky items a week, booked 7 to 10 days ahead. The City says bags or boxes of anything have to be handled privately, and TVs and computers are banned from collection.[13]
In York Township, it's one large item a week, liftable by two people. A twin or full mattress and box spring count as one item; a queen or king set counts as two.[14]
Spread out over a couple of months, curbside pickup can chip away at a house. If the property needs to be empty for a listing or a closing, it usually can't keep up.
Why older homes take longer
Around here, a lot of these houses have been lived in for decades. The median home in York County was built in 1976, and almost a third of its housing, 32.9 percent, went up before 1960. Lancaster County is close behind: a median year of 1978 and 32.5 percent built before 1960.[15][16]
Nearly one in five residents in both counties is 65 or older: 18.8 percent in York County and 19.6 percent in Lancaster County. Long-held homes mean full basements, packed attics, and garages that haven't seen a car in years. Budget more time than you think, especially for the basement.[15][16]
An estate cleanout checklist
Print this out or keep it on your phone. Work down it in order.
- Talk with the estate's attorney or executor before anything leaves the house.
- Collect paperwork, mail, keys, and small valuables in one secure place.
- Photograph each room.
- Let family members claim what they want, and set a pickup date.
- Sort the rest into keep, give, sell, and toss, one room at a time.
- Get possible valuables looked at before they're donated or sold.
- Set aside electronics, paint and chemicals, and refrigerant appliances for the right drop-off.
- Empty the fridge and freezer.
- Decide what's left for curbside, drop-off trips, or a cleanout crew.
When to bring in help
Some families do the whole thing themselves over a few months of weekends, and that's a good way to do it if you have the time. Others live out of state, have a listing date coming, or simply can't face carrying a parent's life out to the curb. That's a fine reason to call too.
For estate cleanouts, William walks the house with you room by room first. Anything you flag stays, reusable items go to donation drop-offs, and we haul the rest, as many truck loads as it takes, leaving the house broom-clean. We can coordinate with your realtor, the estate attorney, or family. Most full houses take one full day; large estates can run two. You get the price before we start.