By Nancy Brumback, Contributing Writer
Bellingham – Is cleaning out the garage, attic or basement on your list of New Year's resolutions? Affordable Junk Removal can help.
Jason and Christine Schadler have been running this family-owned business for six years, offering deals on getting rid of the stuff you no longer want. Their crews, fully licensed and insured, will do all the work.
“You don's have to lift a finger,” Jason said.
Affordable's specialty is the $250 truckload, a flat rate of $250 for all the stuff that fits in a truck. If you pile it all in the driveway first, the hauling fee drops to $200. And the company's website, www.takeawayjunk, often features specials. There are a few core items – things like refrigerators, mattresses, televisions, tires and such that landfills do not accept as part of a regular load – that are not included in that base fee. A list of them is on the website, and Affordable charges extra for those.
If you don's have a full truckload, the company's representative will quote a charge for removing your junk.
And the crews will also carry stuff downstairs and disassemble and remove such items as swing sets and above-ground pools.
“We'sl take anything and do anything,” Jason said.
The company recycles about 70 per cent of what it picks up, he said.
“I donate maybe 100 bags of clothes a week,” and paper goes to a recycling facility, as do other recyclable items.
About two years ago, the Schadlers opened a store, Resellables, to sell furniture and other household goods their trucks picked up. In early December, the store moved into a new location in Bellingham that had been the location of a church-run second-hand shop. That location now serves as company headquarters as well.
Resellables is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with an ever-changing mix of furniture, electronics, toys, appliances and housewares.
“It's like a permanent yard said,” Christine said. She has tentative plans to add an outdoor farm stand at the store and perhaps a flea market in the future.
Jason noted that the income from reselling items his trucks pick up helps the company keep its prices for junk removal low. Selling items like furniture also keeps that much more out of the landfills.
“My kids have to live on this earth. I don's want to see everything tossed in a landfill,” he said.
Alexi, their oldest daughter, a student at UMass-Amherst, helps out in the business, he said, particularly in posting available merchandise on Craig's List and other websites and in the pricing decisions.
The two younger children, son Carter, 6, and 6-month-old daughter Quinn, can often be found at the store, where other extended family members frequently help out as well.
But the major scope of the business remains helping people dispose of the stuff they no longer need, and Affordable Junk can do estate or foreclosure house clean-outs. It also provides 24-hour emergency service, for example, damaged furniture removal and even demolition work after a home is flooded in a storm.
The company's service area is roughly within a 20-mile radius of Milford. It will handle both commercial and residential customers.
Affordable Junk Removal and Resellables are located at 163 Mendon St., Bellingham. The junk removal service is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The store is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For additional information, call 774-287-1133 or visit the website? www.takeawayjunk.com.
