Cleaning Out a Deceased Estate

When a friend or loved one dies, handling the clean-out of their home can be a challenging task – physically and emotionally. Their home holds their history and a whole lifetime of things they loved. Be patient and kind to yourself through this long process. Ask for help from family and friends. 

Why Hire a Skip Bin for a Deceased Estate?

Hiring a skip bin to help with clearing the house can be a wise decision for three reasons: efficiency, safety, and sustainability. 

Hiring a skip bin is efficient for waste removal

It’s an efficient solution in terms of your energy, scale, and time. A skip bin helps conserve your energy and peace of mind because it’s on-site at the property. You can work at your own pace and feel like you’re reducing clutter by removing the rubbish items immediately. It also eliminates multiple trips to the tip.

Scale is important. Household bins and bags are comparatively tiny, and you’re clearing out large volumes of waste from an entire home.

A skip hire also saves time. If the home is going to be sold or leased, then the timeline may be tight. With a skip bin, you can clear household goods more quickly. And once the rubbish disposal is done, it’s easier to clean or make any necessary repairs. 

Skip bins can help with safety

You may be handling the waste disposal of household items that have been standing in the same place for years. Linens, curtains, old furniture, and carpets may contain dust and allergens. Outside, green waste may include large amounts of waste like decaying twigs and clippings or general waste like rusting furniture and old pots. 

Other items to dispose of may be too heavy or too large to fit in a car’s boot. 

Skip bins are eco-friendly

You can minimise the environmental impact by managing waste responsibly rather than sending everything to a landfill. If you choose a bin for recyclable materials (such as metals, timber, or plastic), recycling facility staff will sort and process them.  

What bin size will I need?

A standard family home can fill a 10 to 12 cubic metre bin with discarded furniture and household items. At Capital Hire, we have a wide range of bin sizes. Our 2-cubic-metre bins can handle 300kg of rubbish, while larger bins of 10 cubic metres hold 1500kg of rubbish, and we have bins of various sizes in between.

How long will I need it?

We offer hires for 1 day, 3 days or 7 days. If 7 days isn’t enough, you can simply rebook to hire the skip bin for longer. 

Contact us with any questions about bin size or hire duration. 

Managing the Clean Up

Before entering the home, find out from the lawyer handling the estate who the executor is. If you’re the executor, redirect the mail and make sure the home is secure. If you’re not the executor, then get that person’s okay before entering the home to begin clearing it out. 

Here are some tips for organising and managing the estate management process.

Set aside enough time

Deciding what to do with years of accumulated belongings can be emotionally draining, so set realistic goals for your progress. Give yourself a generous timeline. If family or friends are helping, divide up the tasks so no one is overwhelmed. 

Get supplies

Gather supplies like bin bags, boxes, labels, and markers. Don’t forget about cleaning products. 

Go room by room

You’ll be able to see your progress if you go through each room methodically. Start with rooms that contain the fewest memories and least emotion, like bathrooms. Don’t forget about sheds, garages, attics, and any hired storage spaces. 

As you go through each room, you’re doing three things: securing paperwork and valuables, sorting, and making an inventory.

Secure paperwork and valuables

Look for important papers like wills, banking and financial documents, bills, property deeds, insurance policies, and identification documents. Often these papers aren’t organised or stored as safely as they could be, so keep an eye out for them before you start throwing things away. Secure any papers you find and pass them on to the executor of the estate.

Look for valuables as well as you search. Check the back of drawers or behind them. Go through pockets and purses for documents, jewellery, or cash. Check between the pages of books for cash and documents as well.  

Sort everything

Organise belongings into categories: for sale, donation, to keep, and needs to go. You may also want another category for items that require an extra step before deciding. For example, you may need a valuation for certain items or a joint decision about deposition. 

Box items and label the boxes by category. Another method is to mark items with removable colour-coding dots and place them into separate piles.

For donations, contact charities so you know what they’ll accept.

Make an inventory

Record every item in a room, even the ones you’re pitching out. If items need valuation or you think you’ll sell them, now’s a good time to document them with photos. 

Skip bin hire in Canberra

Now you’re ready to use that skip bin to dispose of the rubbish. Arrange to hire the skip bin if you haven’t already. Here’s where friends and family can really help.

When you hire the skip bin is based on personal preference. Some people prefer to sort everything first and then use a skip bin for rubbish removal, inviting friends and family in to help with donations, disposals, and cleaning. Others prefer to do the sorting and removal at the same time. 

Once the home is empty, it’s time for a deep cleaning and arranging necessary repairs.

Contact Us Today

If we can help you with clean-up and stress-free rubbish removal services across Canberra and the surrounding areas, get in touch.