Don’t you want the house clean when guests arrive?
Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, about a month from today. If the spare room has turned into a storage unit with a bed buried somewhere inside, or the garage hasn’t fit a car since spring, this is your window. That old mess you’ve been holding onto has to go, and fall is the right time to do it.
Why fall is the right time
- The rain is coming. Hauling things out of a garage or backyard is a lot more pleasant before the wet season settles in for good.
- The holidays are closer than they feel. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, most weekends are already spoken for.
- Everyone else remembers late. The week before Thanksgiving is when a lot of people suddenly look at the guest room. Getting ahead of that makes scheduling a pickup much easier.
- Donations do more good right now. A usable couch, dresser, or bed frame goes a long way for a local family heading into winter.
The four-week countdown to Thanksgiving
Week 1 (Oct 26 – Nov 1): Walk the house like a guest.
Start at the front door. Look at the entryway, the guest room, the bathroom they’ll use, the dining room, and the garage if that’s where they’ll park or where coats will end up. Sort everything into three lists: keep, donate, and gone.
Week 2 (Nov 2 – 8): Clear the guest room first.
It’s the room guests actually sleep in, so it matters most. The exercise bike that became a clothes rack, the wobbly chair, the boxes from the last move. Check the mattress while you’re in there. If it’s sagging, now is the time to replace it. Our guide to clearing old furniture before a delivery explains why the old piece should leave before the new one shows up.
Week 3 (Nov 9 – 15): Garage and basement, then book the pickup.
Make room for cars, holiday decor bins, and winter gear. Gather old paint cans and household chemicals into one spot. Pile up the dead electronics. Pull out the patio furniture that won’t survive another winter. Then text us photos of everything in the “gone” pile so the pickup is on the calendar.
Week 4 (Nov 16 – 22): One pickup, then the real cleaning.
Everything in the “gone” pile leaves in a single visit. With the clutter out of the way, the actual cleaning goes fast. That leaves the last few days before Thanksgiving for groceries and cooking instead of dragging boxes to the curb.
The fall extras that sneak up on you
- Branches after a windstorm. Fall winds bring down plenty of limbs across the west side’s big trees. We handle yard debris cleanup too.
- The patio set and the old grill. If they rusted through this summer, get them out before they spend another winter in the rain.
- Holiday decorations that quit working. Dead string lights and broken inflatables. Electronics and wiring get recycled where possible instead of landfilled.
- Last year’s leftovers. The artificial tree with the broken stand and the bins of decor nobody put up.
Keep, donate, or haul: simple rules
The hardest part of decluttering is deciding. These rules make it faster:
- Keep it if you’ve used it in the past year, it has a real home in the house, and you’d buy it again today.
- Donate it if it works, it’s clean, and somebody could use it this winter. Sturdy furniture, bed frames, lamps, dishes, and small kitchen appliances all qualify.
- Haul it if it’s broken, stained, missing parts, or it’s been waiting to get fixed for more than a season.
- Set the hard stuff aside in one spot: old paint, household chemicals, and dead electronics. Those can’t go in the garbage cart, but they can go in our truck.
Not sure which pile something belongs in? Text us a photo. We’ll tell you what’s likely to be donated and what isn’t.
What guests actually notice
You don’t need a magazine house. Guests notice a handful of things, and all of them are about clutter, not cleaning:
- The entryway. Shoes, boxes, and bags piled by the door are the first thing anyone sees.
- A place to park. A garage or driveway that’s actually open makes arrival easy on a rainy November night.
- The guest bed. A clear room with a bed that isn’t doubling as a shelf.
- The dining table. Stacks of mail and projects that have to move before anyone can eat.
Clear those four spots and the house feels ready, even if the rest of the cleaning happens the night before.
Donate before the holidays
We’re donation-first. Usable furniture, household goods, and decor go to local charities like Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity ReStore before anything heads to the dump, and every donated item takes $5–$10 off your bill. Here’s where your junk actually goes.
We also take what most haulers won’t: e-waste, styrofoam, paint, and household chemicals, all in the same trip (call for pricing on those items). Asbestos is the one exception.
What it costs
From our published pricing:
- Minimum pick-up: $150
- Single items: $150–$240
- Small load (5×10 dump trailer, up to 2,000 lbs): $240–$600
- Medium load (6×12 trailer, up to 5,000 lbs): $600–$960
- Large load (7×14 trailer, up to 7,000 lbs): $960–$1,200
Every job is quoted from photos first, and the price we quote is the price you pay. See the full breakdown in what junk removal costs in Portland.
Get the house guest-ready
Text photos of your pile to (503) 455-7920, whether it’s the guest room, the garage, or whatever is standing between you and a relaxed Thanksgiving. We’ll send back a quote and a pickup window. We serve Tigard, Beaverton, Tualatin, Lake Oswego, Sherwood, Hillsboro, West Linn, Wilsonville, and the rest of the Portland metro. For a whole home, see our full house cleanout service.
FAQ
How far ahead should I book before Thanksgiving?
At least a week or two. Texting photos during week 2 or 3 of the countdown locks in a pickup before the pre-holiday rush and leaves you time to clean afterward.
Can you take the old patio set and a pile of branches in the same trip?
Yes. Furniture, yard debris, and household junk can all go in one load.
Will you carry a mattress down from an upstairs guest room?
Yes. We do all the lifting, stairs included. A mattress and box spring runs $150–$180.
All Oregon Junk Removal — family-owned since 2021, serving the Portland metro and Salem. 4.9★ from 240+ Google reviews.