One person's junk removal is another person's treasure of memories

Junk removal doesn’t usually get the same attention as a full household move, but for Paul Wagner, it’s often where the work becomes most meaningful. It’s not just about hauling things away, it’s about timing, judgment, and understanding what people are going through when they decide it’s time to let things go.

“I do a lot of junk removal,” Paul says simply. And for him, it’s often tied directly to moving.

Most junk removal jobs start the same way. People are preparing for a move and realizing that not everything they own is coming with them.

“It’s usually just stuff that people don’t want when they’re moving,” Paul explains. “Broken furniture, or stuff that they know they can’t fit into the new house.”

In many cases, junk removal and moving happen at the same time, which requires planning and order. Paul describes a process that keeps things efficient and protects the items that still matter.

“If it’s a junk removal and a move, we’ll pack up all their junk stuff first, put it on the truck, and then we move their house in,” he says. “After that, we take the junk out to the dump.”

There’s a reason for that order. Junk doesn’t get treated casually, but it does get handled differently than furniture and personal belongings.

“You want to make sure you put your junk on first, cover that stuff up so it doesn’t damage any of the other stuff,” Paul says. “Then you do the move, and then you go do the junk removal after.”

Done right, it saves customers time, money, and the stress of coordinating multiple services. That’s especially important for people already dealing with major life changes — and Paul says seniors are often the ones who benefit the most.

“It would be mostly the seniors,” he says. “I’ve had a couple seniors where they wanted us to do some junk removal. It was a huge move.”

In those cases, uncertainty is common. Customers aren’t always sure whether all their unwanted items can be taken, or whether they’ll need to hire someone else afterward.

“They weren’t sure if we were going to be able to take the junk,” Paul recalls. “But I got it on there, loaded the truck up.”

By the time the move was finished, the relief was obvious.

“Once we got to the offload, they were super happy,” he says. “They thought they were going to have to pay somebody else to go do it. But we were able to get it all on the truck.”

For seniors on fixed incomes, that matters.

“It made their day because they didn’t have to spend more money than they needed to,” Paul says.

Not every junk removal job is straightforward. Some homes contain an overwhelming amount of belongings — far more than expected — and those jobs come with their own challenges.

“I had this one house,” Paul says, “and it took us four days to empty this one house. That’s how much stuff was in it.”

Jobs like that often reveal surprises. Sometimes they’re strange. Sometimes they’re funny. Sometimes they’re oddly charming.

“I’ve found some crazy stuff,” Paul says. “I got a brand new clown bike out of the deal. A whole bunch of McDonald’s toys still in the wrappers. Cards. All kinds of stuff.”

But not every discovery feels lighthearted. In that particular case, the reason for the junk removal changed the tone entirely.

“The only bad thing about that junk removal was that the person died prior to this,” Paul explains. “It was their family trying to get rid of it.”

Estate cleanouts are some of the most emotionally complex jobs movers face. Families are often overwhelmed, unsure of what should be kept, and unprepared for the memories that surface once they start sorting through a loved one’s belongings.

“It’s very awkward,” Paul says. “You don’t know if the family wants any of this stuff gone.”

As movers work through the home, emotions can surface unexpectedly.

“A lot of family members are sitting there, and you’re going through their stuff,” he says. “It brings up a lot of heartache.”

Objects that looked like junk at first can suddenly become meaningful.

“They’re finding stuff like, ‘Oh, I haven’t seen that forever,’ or ‘I didn’t even know he still had that,’” Paul says. “And then they end up breaking down and start crying.”

In those moments, efficiency takes a back seat to empathy.

“You have to kind of take a break and give them some time,” Paul explains. “Then come back to it.”

Paul says handling families with care is just as important as handling furniture carefully.

“Talk to them, pull them off to the side,” he says. “See if there’s anything they want to talk about. Try to help them make it through that time.”

Junk removal also requires judgment. Not everything labeled “junk” actually is — and Paul has learned to slow down when something doesn’t feel right.

“I’ve had that happen a couple times,” he says. “They told us everything in the house was junk.”

But then something unexpected appears.

“We found a piece of furniture that’s been in their family forever,” Paul says.

When that happens, the move stops.

“You call up the customer and say, ‘Hey, we found something back here. I wasn’t sure if you knew about this.’”

Sometimes those discoveries come late — after the truck is already packed.

“There’s been times where we’ve actually had to offload half a truck just to get that one piece,” Paul admits. “Because we didn’t call ahead.”

For Paul, that inconvenience is worth it. Junk removal isn’t just about clearing space — it’s about respecting people, their memories, and the situations that brought them there in the first place.

With Two Small Men With Big Hearts, junk removal is treated as part of the moving process, not an afterthought. Whether it’s helping seniors avoid extra costs, supporting families during emotional cleanouts, or making sure something meaningful isn’t thrown away by mistake, the work goes far beyond the dump run.

As Paul’s stories make clear, sometimes the heaviest part of junk removal isn’t what’s on the truck — it’s knowing how to handle everything left behind.

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