Prayers needed

katmouse

katmouse

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I should have posted this last week, but I thought I wouldn't need help.

I posted last week in donuts my brother died and I know several of you never read donuts.

My brother never married or has children. I have to take care of everything. He lives an hour
away from me, but I haven't been sleeping well.

I got info for death certificate. I need to find lawyer and get his apartment clean. I paid for
an extra month.

Someone suggested getting a dumpster, but I think that would be too big. My brother didn't
keep his apartment neat. If anyone can think of a company that can pick up items when
I have things ready to go, much appreciated.

He lived in Ft Smith Arkansas and a member of the SCA, Society of Creative Anachronism.
Maybe someone knows members.

The only helpers I have now are older women and I need men to help too. If I got a dumpster,
it would be hard to get things inside.

Thank you so much.
 
katmouse said:
If I got a dumpster, it would be hard to get things inside.
Click to expand...
Many dumpsters that you can rent open at one end, so you can just walk the items into it. When you're done, you just shut the doors. There are also many sizes of dumpsters. When my uncle died 2 years ago I rented a medium size for a weekend. (had it delivered late Friday and it was removed on Monday morning). Don't leave it sitting too long because random people will throw their own garbage in it, and you pretty much pay by the pound. You pay a flat fee of so much weight, then anything over that weight you have to pay extra.

Here's a picture of how they open on the end: (this is a huge one, but it's just an example)

city-junk-removal-cleanout.jpg



As for the roaches, get a pack of bug bombs. They're easy to use, just follow the instructions.

I had to empty two relatives houses when they died within the past 8 years. One house was a filthy hoarder house. And the other was property in another state, with a house and many outbuildings.

There are places that will empty houses/apartments such as you're describing, but unfortunately they're often kind of pricey.
 
Kat, dumpsters come in all sizes, & they have small ones. It possibly would be worth it, to you, to have one there. I know the neighbor said he would bomb the place so perhaps roaches would all be dead........

When we moved into town, and had to dispose of so much.......we filled a small dumpster to overflowing. You would be surprised. Consider a moving company, who would probably know where to take furniture to a dump. They have the manpower.
 
JS, thanks for letting me know about others using dumpster. It will take several visits
to clean his apartment out and that would be a problem. Thanks for picture of one.

Poirot, I like your ideas too.
 
Kat, absolute worst case scenario (and truly the last resort), if you're unable to empty the apartment, go in, take all the items you want to keep, and leave the rest. The property owner will then have to empty the apartment. They will end up hiring a company to come and get rid of everything, so they can fix up the apartment to rent out again. It's not the best solution by any means, but sometimes people have no other choice. I know several people who own rental properties and at one time or another, they've had to do that, if the tenant died or otherwise abandoned their belongings.
 
JS is right about others using dumpster. When we first got the one delivered to us. before we even got a chance to put in the first thing of ours, we found a TV, and a framed painting in it. Sure, everyone tsked tsked, no one admitted. & eventually bags of garbage were thrown in, very upsetting. Just convenient for others. But boy, when you live rural, you truly are hard pressed to dispose of things.
 
I agree with leaving it. It probably sounds mean but legally it's not your responsibility. You could talk to them and offer some cash for doing it or ask how they'd deal with it if it was just left there. I get not wanting to just dump it on them so maybe something can be worked out so you feel better about it. If you do want to get it done the landlord would probably know of a service you could hire.
 
Poirot said:
JS is right about others using dumpster. When we first got the one delivered to us. before we even got a chance to put in the first thing of ours, we found a TV, and a framed painting in it. Sure, everyone tsked tsked, no one admitted. & eventually bags of garbage were thrown in, very upsetting.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine had an elderly next door neighbor whose house had become a filthy hoarder house. The man was eventually moved into a nursing home and his house was sold as is. Two young guys bought it, brought in a dumpster, emptied it. The dumpster was there for about 2-3 weeks. My friend said he saw other neighbors throwing garbage (heavy stuff) into the dumpster every day. No doubt those young guys paid an additional fee for it being over the weight limit.
 
Oh Kat, I'm so deeply sorry for your loss.

I don't know much about this process. But I think Poirot and JS are right about how to go about this. And yes, the bug bombs or even hiring an exterminator is probably the best thing to do as soon as possible. Makes the cleanup easier for sure. My thoughts and prayers are with you, my friend.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far.

In order to find the good stuff, the bad stuff has to be taken away.

Today I need to find lawyer and not worry about apartment this week.
I hope I can. I'm not sleeping.

I'm paying his water bill today.
 
It's a difficult thing to handle when someone dies and leaves behind a mess. There's no way around it, it's hard, time-consuming, messy and expensive to handle. So sorry you're dealing with this, Kat.

At the very least, get a box of heavy duty trash bags, some bug bombs, and protective gear (masks, rubber gloves, safety glasses, even disposable rain ponchos to wear over some old clothes). Also get some heavy duty work gloves (you can get those at the dollar store; you can also get the safety glasses and rain ponchos there).
 
I’m just now seeing this. I will check with a few people who may have resources in Ft Smith and be able to help. I’m headed to England (the city) for Cal’s track meet today but I will come back to this post later tonight after I’ve had a chance to talk with them.
 
Kat - I am so sorry you hare all this to deal with. What wonderful, caring people we have on this board, jumping right in with suggestions.

Maybe this place is worth a cal: 1800GOTJUNK is a validated company, and I checked, they have three locations in Arkansas:

www.1800gotjunk.com

Full Service Junk Removal

1-800-GOT-JUNK? Is a full-service junk removal company serving areas across the United States. We’re in your neighborhood. We offer junk removal for homes and businesses as well, including offices, retail properties, construction sites, and more! Our friendly, uniformed teams can help you get...
www.1800gotjunk.com www.1800gotjunk.com

I believe they will come out there and assess what you have and give you a quote.

I hope this helps, and the best of luck to you with this.

Never stopped sending prayers.
 
I have been a long time reader of this site but I don't think I have ever posted anything. My deepest sympathies go out to you, Kat, on the loss of your brother. I know how hard it is to deal with the affairs of someone who has passed when things were mostly in order. I can only imagine how hard it is to deal with what you're experiencing.

I was going to suggest you use a company like 1800GOTJUNK but I see they don't operate in the Fort Smith area. There may be similar junk haulers in that area. Maybe your brother's neighbor knows somebody? Or maybe the landlord knows somebody? Did your brother attend church? Maybe somebody there would know some teenagers who could help haul things away. Or maybe you could hire some teenagers in your area who have a pickup truck and take them with you on one of your trips.

Also, I found this site, which lists contact information for the Fort Smith SCA chapter (scroll down). https://gleannabhann.net/local-groups/ Best of luck to you and I will look for your posts reporting your progress!
 
1-800-Got-Junk charges an outrageous amount of money, plus they expect you to tip the driver and each guy who comes with him (at least $10-$20 each; it's not stated on their website, of course, but was heavily implied when I called).

They wanted to charge me over $100 to remove a 24 inch old style TV, plus tip the driver and the 2 guys who would come with him. To carry it from the house to the curb (we're talking 5-10 minutes of work and maybe 10-12 feet from front door to curb, with 1 step from the porch to ground level).

They also have lines in the truck bed, across the bottom and up the sides. Supposedly you "only" pay for as much of the truck as you "fill" based on the lines, but the guys will spread out your stuff to take up the most room possible, so you pay the highest amount of money.

I'd only use them as a last resort. Heck, I'd abandon the stuff in the apartment before I'd pay them.
 
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