[00:00] Speaker 1: (gentle music) Welcome to the Junk Refund Show, hosted by Alan J. Cook, founder of 1-800-JUNK REFUND. Have you ever paid those expensive junk removal companies to take away some of your stuff, only to say to yourself, as a truck drives off down the street, "Some of that stuff wasn't junk." Did they try to sell it for you and give you some money back? No. Well, now there is a company that can do just that. Listen to our weekly Junk Refund Show on BBS Radio TV to learn how one lady spent $375 on junk removal and got $3,200 back. 1-800-JUNK REFUND represents the next generation of junk removal. Learn how to not only save your money on junk removal, but how to get some money coming back. Plus, purchase one of our radio vouchers during the show to save even more on your junk removal. Let's get the junk out of your home and out of your life. Now, with your host, Alan J. Cook.

[01:33] Speaker 1: (uplifting music)

[01:37] Speaker 2: Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Junk Refund Show, Thursdays at three o'clock Eastern, my favorite time of the week, where I get to come on here and talk about whatever the heck I want to, 'cause it's my show. Which is awesome. We talk about, uh, our junk removal business, 1-800-JUNK REFUND. You can find us at 1800junkrefund.com. You can email us at junkrefund@gmail.com. Listen to the show. We do fun things. We talk about the world of junk removal. We have the world's longest running junk removal radio program. Now in about our third year plus, I think. And, uh, happy to be on the BBS Radio network, where these guys do a great job. We're gonna talk to you about a little bit of some of the stuff they're doing with AI a little bit later in the show, because they're doing some great stuff. And it's, it's been busy.

[02:29] Speaker 2: I was sitting here, um, at my place, my apartment here, just on, on, at my desk, ready for the show, catching a, a break for a second because this morning, I have, let's see, so far I have pulled up a master bedroom, one, two, three closets, and a hallway worth of carpet and padding, and pulled up the tack strips that hold the carpet down all the way around that area. Plus swept it up. And had to make a run to Home, Home Depot to grab some tape to tape up the rolls of carpet as we pulled it out. But we're having fun. Um, I'll tell you about this job in a minute that we've been working on for a few weeks with a really good realtor who I invited to be a guest on our show. But we are talking about how to get the junk out of your homes and also out of your lives. And we're starting off today, you'll know that today is February 12th. And 217 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln was born.

[03:39] Speaker 2: So happy birthday to Abe Lincoln, who would be 217 years old, is 217 years old, today, born on February 12th of 1809. What a great, great man. And when you live in the Washington, DC area, you're not far from the Lincoln Memorial which honors him and the things that he did in his life and as a president. It was not an easy road for him. But he walked it, he did his best, he did it with class, and did some memorable things. So happy birthday to Abe Lincoln, 217 years old on today, February 12th, 1809. And happy President's Day weekend to everybody coming up. Hope you have a wonderful three-day holiday and that everything goes great. And we, uh, tend to have it kind of fun and easy back here because we got so many monuments around here that honor former presidents, and that's kinda cool. But I will tell you... So I want to start off by wishing Abe Lincoln a happy birthday. I just think that's appropriate.

[04:53] Speaker 2: Second, the, the fact that it's President's Day weekend, you know, uh, a, a fun thing to do is to just say to yourself, "Well, what would I do if I were the president? If they suddenly made me the President of the United, the United States, and I took over office tomorrow, what are some things I would do?" I was thinking about this recently, and if this happened to me, and all of a sudden I was the President of the United States tomorrow, here are, let's see how many I put down. I think I put five down. Yeah. Here are five things I would do right off the bat if they gave me the authority. Number one, I would publicly apologize to the City of Portland, Oregon, because they've been called out by our current president in a way that I thought was bad and rude and frankly ignorant. And he called out the City of Portland and basically said, "Who in the world would live there?" Well, lots of cool people live there.

[05:59] Speaker 2: I have two friends, Keith White and Al Jackson, two really cool guys with their families that have both lived in Portland.Um, I have dated people in Portland who were so classy that I flew across the country from Washington, DC just to take them out. I've dated two different people from Portland. Um, I don't know all the pluses and minuses and the history and everything that's going on in Portland, but I do know it's part of the United States, and I do know that if you haven't been to Mul-... I'm gonna call it, um, I think it's... I'm pronouncing it correct, Multnomah Falls. I- I'm a big waterfall guy, I love waterfalls. If you haven't been to Multnomah Falls, a big double waterfall is really what it is with a bridge in the middle of it, you're really missing out. Google it and look it up if you haven't been there. That's in Portland, and it's beautiful.

[06:56] Speaker 2: I went on a date one time with a girl and she took me to Salt & Straw, a great ice cream place in Portland that was fabulous and I think it's been there a long time. I think, I think it's got some history in the Portland area. And like I said, Keith White and Al Jackson, two of the coolest guys that I know in the Washington, DC area that, uh... Keith is now down in North Carolina, Al is here in Washington. Both lived in the Portland area, both two classy, really cool guys. So one thing I would do, I would apologize to the City of Portland, Oregon for what my predecessor said. And I would, uh, let them know that they're loved and I would let them know that no city is perfect, including Washington, DC, and, and New York City for that matter, um, but I would, I would, uh, I would apologize 'cause I think they deserve it. And I think when you're the leader of the free world, I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat or something else, it doesn't matter.

[08:00] Speaker 2: What you don't do is call people names, put down people, just... You don't, you just don't bash anybody. I mean, I just think that's stupid to do that. If you're the leader, you're trying to lift people up, not put people down, right? That includes cities. So that's one thing I'd do. I'd apologize to the City of Portland. Second thing I'd do, I'd call the Mayor of Minneapolis and encourage him not to use profanity during news conferences. When you are the mayor of a big city, one thing you don't do is drop the F-bomb in your news conferences, which this guy did. That just has no class. I mean, I'm sorry. If you can't control your mouth any better than that, then have somebody else speak at the news conference, because all you're doing is giving people an image of yourself that is less than professional.

[08:59] Speaker 2: So I would call the Mayor of Minneapolis privately, I wouldn't do this public, I'd just call him pri- privately and encourage him not to use profanity during news conferences, and leave it at that. Number three, I would encourage our citizens to make time for God. In other words, take time to bring about some good religious strength individually in your lives. Um, one of the most sought after books at the Library of Congress is an original 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, a religious book that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses, and our good friend President Lincoln checked that book out, and I assume read it because he kept it for about nine months during his office as president of the United States. Probably trying to figure out what these Mormons out west were all about. I don't, I don't know. But it is one of the most sought after books in the Antiquity Department of the Library of Congress, uh, to see, and our good friend President Lincoln checked it out.

[10:12] Speaker 2: But I would encourage our citizens to make time for God in whatever way you want to do that. Show him he's a priority in your life, and you will be blessed individually, and if we're blessed individually, we're gonna be blessed as a country. Number four, I would encourage people to find somebody to forgive and then do it. This is a society, and not just our country, but this is a, a society worldwide that's finding fault with people. We basically are raising a generation of critics. And people make decisions too quickly and they make judgments too quickly. Find somebody to forgive and then do it. And that means you put it in the past and it's not an issue anymore. There is a, a wonderful talk that you can get copy of, you know, just go on Google and look it up, by a guy named James E. Faust, E is the middle initial, F-A-U-S-T, given maybe, I don't know, 20, 30 years ago, something like that, called The Healing Power of Forgiveness. Now, there's power in forgiving people.

[11:33] Speaker 2: There's weakness in holding a grudge. So if you want to be on the high road, if you want to bring some power to yourself, forgive somebody. James E. Faust was a, a top leader in our church and was an attorney, and I've often thought that if, if there are people who know what words to use when you're giving a, a, a talk, a title, and you have to pick four words, one of these experienced attorneys are gonna be really good at knowing what four words to use. And he did that when he called his talk very simply The Healing Power of ForgivenessNot only is there power in doing it, but it heals you and it can heal others. And I would encourage people to find somebody to forgive and then do it, and if you do that, you'll be happier. Instead of finding somebody to point out their faults, which is kind of what's happening here, find somebody to forgive and great things will happen. And number five, I would do something nice for someone else.

[12:46] Speaker 2: Now, I can't remember if I told this story or not last week because I don't remember exactly when it happened, but I found myself in a situation where I was able to help an old lady across the street, of all things. And it was... there... I think I did mention this last week, but it deserves another mention. I, I just had... I, I was in an apartment complex in Alexandria, Virginia, and we were hauling away some furniture there, and this is when the road crews were out kind of blocking off the lanes so they could remove the snow from the, the sidewalks and the curbs and stuff like that. So there was a road crew out there ahead of us that was limiting the traffic, and here's an old lady trying to cross the street, not in a crosswalk, with the road traffic going on, the road crews in front, and she's by herself, and it's icy. And I just went, "You know what? That's a, that's a recipe for disaster." And I just kind of immediately went out, grabbed her by the arm.

[13:47] Speaker 2: I said, "Hey, where are you trying to go?" She said, "I'm trying to cross the street and go over there." I said, "Let me help you," and I helped her across the street, and one of the road crew guys, when he saw what I was doing, immediately put his arms out and stopped the traffic, so he jumped on board as well, and he stopped the traffic. I helped her across the street. Once she got across the street, she just, you know, thanked me about four times. I turned around and came back across the street. The traffic guy, the road guy stopped the traffic again so I could now get back, and I fist-pumped him and thanked him for his help, and he said, "Hey, I've got a mother and a grandmother who can slip and fall. I know exactly what you're doing. Great job." You know, that kind of thing.

[14:33] Speaker 2: That's the kind of experience that more of us need to be having on a regular basis instead of the fault-finding, criticizing experiences that many of us have, and I was thrilled to be able to help her out, and I was... and it brought me joy. It made my day. It was one of those things where I thought, "You know what? I'm gonna remember that one." And remember it, I did, and now I'm telling, you know, 49 countries through this radio show about it. I'm not a big fan of pointing to yourself and saying, "Look wha- look at what a good guy I was," but I am a big fan of telling stories where I'm intricately involved because those are the stories I know best, and I had the opportunity to help an old lady across the street. The typical scenario that we all talk about, I helped an old lady across the street, and boy, did it feel good, and boy, did she appreciate it. So I just thought it was... I just thought it was a good thing to do.

[15:33] Speaker 2: An opportunity surfaced right in front of my nose, and thank God I was smart enough to take advantage of it and recognize when someone else needs some help, and I was in a position where I could do it. So I just did it, and it made me happy. So again, those five things, if you made me president tomorrow on this President's Day weekend and on Abraham Lincoln's birthdays... birthday, I would do five things right off the bat if you made me the president. Number one, apologize to the City of Portland. Number two, call the mayor of Minneapolis and encourage him not to use profanity during news conferences, and probably invite him to the White House for dinner, right? Number three, encourage our citizens to make time for God. Number four, find somebody to forgive and then do it. I would encourage people to do that. I would elevate forgiveness. And number five, I would encourage people around the country to do something nice for someone else.

[16:32] Speaker 2: When you take your attention and point it away from yourself and put it onto somebody else, joy is waiting for you right around the corner, and you will feel great, you will help somebody else out, and it, it'll make you happy, and that's what life is all about, is about being happy. So anyway, ask yourself on this President's Day weekend, "What are five things I would do if they made me the president of the United States tomorrow? What would I do? What are my priorities? What are five things I would do?" Those are five that I would do right off the top of my head as I thought about it with Abe Lincoln's birthday being today and with it being Presidents' Weekend. Think about what you would do if you suddenly had the power, and you were in the position, and people were watching you around the world as the leader of the free world. Those are five things I would do, and I would do them in a second, and I would be proud of them because I think it's the right spirit of being a good leader.

[17:36] Speaker 2: So with that, happy President's Day weekend coming up to everybody. We will take a break real quick. You're listening to the Junk Refund Show. I'm your host, Allen Cooke, coming to you from Rockville, Maryland, and we will be back in about 60 seconds to, uh, talk about some other fun stuff that talks about how to get the junk out of your homes and also out of your lives. You're listening to the Junk Refund Show on the BBS Radio Network.

[18:02] Speaker 2: (instrumental music plays)

[18:05] Speaker 1: Have you ever hired one of those expensive junk removal companies, then wondered what they did with the stuff, especially the good stuff?At 1-800-JUNK REFUND, we junk the junk. Recycle stuff like metal and wire, donate items and get you receipts. And put up for sale the good stuff, and if it sells, you get some money back. Cynthia paid $375 for junk removal and got $3,200 back. Would you like to know how she did it? Tune in to the Junk Refund Show with your host, Alan J. Cook, every Thursday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time to get the junk not only out of your home, but also out of your life.

[19:03] Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to the Junk Refund Show. I'm your host, Alan Cook, coming to you Thursdays at three o'clock Eastern on the BBS Radio Network. It's really a lot of fun. It's never been eas- easier in the history of the world to have your own radio show than it is right now. It's economical, it's affordable, it's fun, and you command the airwaves and you get to say whatever the heck you want. Um, I mean, within reason, right? But, um, it's a great thing. And so I wanted to, as a third thing I wanted to talk about here today, I want to compliment these guys on this network, BBS Radio, for their use of AI. Let me tell you what I know about AI. I know it stands for artificial intelligence. I know that Donny Osmond, a guy that I know personally and have a great deal of respect for, uses this in his show at Harrah's in Las Vegas.

[20:01] Speaker 2: The way he uses it is he has recreated his own self when he was 15 by taking his actual grandson, who is 15, filming him, and then putting Donny's 15-year-old face on the face of the, of his grandson. And what you get is 68-year-old Donny Osmond talking to his 15-year-old self as a part of the show at Harrah's in Las Vegas. Now, that is flat out brilliant, and I think when he did that, many months ago he jumped on this and did that, he's changing the entertainment industry. Because you can bring back your 15-year-old self and make them a part of the program, and you can talk to yourself as though you're 50 years younger. I mean, that's great. And he came out in the Washington, DC area and did a program at the National Harbor two years ago as part of his summer concert tour.

[21:07] Speaker 2: His wonderful brother Merrill Osmond and Merrill's wife, Mary, were missionaries for our church in the Washington, DC area and were assigned to go to church in our congregation, and that's how I got to know Merrill. I interviewed him on my, my other podcast, a religious podcast, and he was just a blast to talk to and to interview. We did a video of it, and it is... If you go to the podcast called How Great Shall Be My Joy and just, just look for Merrill Osmond, you can listen to, and I think w- actually watch the interview. It was terrific, and I think we put it up on YouTube as well. But my point is, these guys are really smart and talented, and it is AI that has brought 15-year-old Donny Osmond back to life. You know, you couldn't do that before. But he does it now, and not only ju- does he do it, but he talks to himself, right? Right there on the show, as part of his show.

[22:15] Speaker 2: If you're looking for a great family entertainment venue and event to go to, go see Donny Osmond's show at Harrah's in Las Vegas. And you can thank me later. He is one talented guy and a brilliant guy who I've had the opportunity to meet personally. I, I even... W- we were raised in the same area out in Utah. He is six months older than me. I actually was mistaken for him when I was 15 in a, in a Taco Siesta restaurant, it was called, in Orem, Utah. And I actually signed his autograph when somebody thought mistakenly that I was him, a couple of construction workers, and one guy came across and said, "Excuse me, aren't you Donny Osmond?" And I heard them talking about this before, and I said, "Uh, yeah. As a matter of fact, I am." And he said, "Can you sign this autograph for me? My daughter would love it." And I said, "Sure." And because I had a bunch of sisters who had the Osmond Brothers posters up in their rooms, I knew what Donny Osmond's autograph looked like.

[23:20] Speaker 2: So I signed it, and they thanked me, and I thanked them, and everything was good. So I, I just think this guy's brilliant and he is doing a brilliant use of AI. Now, what is BBS Radio doing with, with AI? Let me tell you about the old days. (clears throat) In the old days, I would do a program like this. They would then listen to it and review it and come up with a summary, and it would, you know... 48 hours later or something, maybe t- 72 hours later or something, they would post the show on their network, on the website, and it would have kind of a, a, a, a basic summary of the insights from the show. Uh, eh, what I was supposed to do, and, and sh- could have done a much better job, is to send in to them after each show a summary of, uh, and a description of what the show was. Then they could just copy and paste that, put it on the, put it on their, you know, website, and boom. Up it goes....

[24:22] Speaker 2: but I get busy doing junk removal jobs and I don't stop to do the descriptions and all that kind of stuff. Well, what's happening now is... Well, back to the old days again for one other thing. Two or three days after we would record the show, I would get an email with the audio file saying that a new show's been created. I could then take it and download it and put it up on my podcast, the Junk Refund Show, and it would be listed there, and then I would write a description to put into the podcast so that, you know, it tells everybody what it's like. That's similar to what I still do now. But what they're doing at the network now is that within 30 minutes of doing this show today, they will have this show posted and up on their website. It will have a complete description, it will have quotes from what I've said, it will have images, it will have a, a... just a full panoramic view of what this show was all about.

[25:23] Speaker 2: The issues we talked about, my five suggestions if I was the president of the United States, and all this kind of stuff will automatically go into the description because of AI. And it'll be done within 30 minutes. It would take you hours to manually do what AI's gonna do, you know, in a few nanoseconds basically. And it's a great example of what AI's doing and the power of it, and why we all need to examine it and look at it in our own businesses and our own lives. What has happened at the network has caused... has kind of awakened me to ask myself, "What should I be doing in my business that," and life, frankly, "that AI could help me with?" And the answer is, just about everything.

[26:13] Speaker 2: So hats off to the folks at BBS Radio for buying a new computer, a new server, you know, investing the money so that AI can take all these programs, I think they record about 120 programs a week, something like that, and it can take all these programs, quickly generate a summary of each, each program, post it on the website. Boom, you're done. And it's, it's brilliant and it saves time and it, it's light years ahead of what we used to do. So check out AI for your own business and for your own life, and don't be afraid to jump on the bandwagon 'cause this bandwagon is moving really quick, and I'm just getting awakened to the reality of it. So anyway, thanks to these guys at the BBS Radio Network because they've, they've taught me what can happen and shown me what can happen. Um, Donny Osmond did the same thing and I'm telling you, it's like, it's like the latest canoe going down the river and the canoes are... and th- these new canoes are going three times faster than the old ones.

[27:25] Speaker 2: So if you want to stay in the old canoe, go ahead, but you're gonna get passed by a lot of other canoes with a lot of people in them having a blast, and you're gonna be left behind. I mean, I just think that's the, the reality. And I have been awakened to this in the last little while, uh, just as a result of the radio show. So let me tell you about junk removal and what's going on in the world of junk removal and give you some realistic hands-on advice from what I'm seeing as a junk removal guy. We are doing a job in Silver Spring, Maryland at a place called Leisure World. Leisure World is a massive complex of condos, single family homes and apartments and townhomes for people 55 years and above. I could have joined this community and moved there 12 years ago. I have opted not to because frankly, just between you and me, I don't get excited about waking up every morning and being surrounded by people who are at least 55.

[28:30] Speaker 2: I mean, I'm f- I'm 67 but I feel like I'm about 47 or 37 or whatever, and I just haven't made the mental shift to put myself into that group of people and constantly be surrounded by those folks, as good as they are. I just like where I am and I like the diversity of it and I like the energy of some of the, the younger folks I'm around, and again, it's not a slam against these communities because they're, they're needed and they're wonderful and people love them.

[29:06] Speaker 2: It just has not been for me, but I am over doing a job now, we've been doing this for a couple of months, for some people who, who live there, a, a couple that live there, they're from Taiwan, they lived there, then the gentleman got sick, they moved out, it may have been during COVID, they moved out back to California to move in with the daughter and son-in-law, with family, and then after moving out, the father gets ill, I think goes back to Taiwan and passes away in Taiwan, so the mother is not gonna come back to Maryland by herself, so this apartment or condo or whatever has been, um, not used and vacant for six years It's fully furnished, it is packed with stuff, and it's basically as though somebody went on vacation and just didn't come back. That's kind of what happened, I think, actually, and now six years later, the good members of the family have e- have encouraged the surviving spouse to go ahead and get it cleaned out..... and put it on the market.

[30:28] Speaker 2: So, we have had fun working with a realtor. I'm, uh, he, I've been, I actually invited him to be a guest on the show one of these upcoming weeks. His name is Mike Parent, and he's with Weichert Realtors in the Gaithersburg, Maryland area, and he's terrific. He's the one that got us involved, and he's been great to work with on this whole thing. I will tell you that sometimes in life, the best things that you end up using are the things you never thought you'd use. Case in point, in one of the bedrooms in this condo, they had a hospital bed, you know, a heavy metal hospital bed that would rise and fall, you know, and et cetera, you can... adjustable. But they also had a chair, a hospital chair on wheels that reclines, kind of a big chair, kind of a big, wide chair on wheels.

[31:26] Speaker 2: Well, we've ended up using that big, wide chair as our dolly or hand truck to haul stuff down the hallway, take it down six flights of stair, er, s- down the elevator six flights, and then into the garage area to load it in our truck. And this chair, m- it just moves so smoothly, you know, forwards, backwards, turns on a dime, all that kinda stuff. But it's wide, it's big, and you can recline it, which gives you more area to just put boxes on the chair and then haul the boxes down the hallway into the elevator. Now, I think we're pretty innovative with this kinda stuff. I thought that was a brilliant move, and when I saw the chair originally, I thought, "Gosh, that thing could haul a lot of stuff down to, you know, down to the elevator," so we've used it. And my buddy, you know, was using it this morning and he's used it the last few times we've been there to do exactly what I'm telling you, haul stuff down there and get it to the elevator, then take it down to the truck.

[32:32] Speaker 2: And it's amazing how many boxes you can, you know, psh- I don't know, seven or eight boxes of stuff you can put on this, on this reclining (laughs) chair on wheels, and it just moves so fluently, so easily that it, it is such a joy to use. One of the reasons we like to use it is because the apartment that we're cleaning out is at the very end of the hallway. I counted it one day, it's 84 steps from the elevator to the apartment one way. You know that thing where the, the app that on your iPhone, for example, it'll count how many steps you take in a day? I don't know how many steps I've taken on some of these days 'cause I didn't have a phone in my pocket when I did it, but it's thousands, if not tens of thousands, when you make a bunch of trips back and forth to an elevator, and then another bunch of steps to get through the garage to the covered area outside the garage where your truck is to load the stuff.

[33:31] Speaker 2: So, it is a godsend to have a chair like this that is broad, is long, is smooth, and basically we use it as a dolly to haul stuff down to the truck, and we've been d- doing that for a couple of months, and it's brilliant. I just love it. Now, speaking of brilliant, back to... So, I guess my point on the junk removal business is sometimes you end up using something you weren't planning on using, but it's just a common sense move that says, "Hey, don't carry, you know, 10 boxes down to the elevator in 10 different trips. Put it on the chair and let the chair carry it, and just push the chair and, and save yourself nine more trips," right? That's kinda what we're doing. Um, I wanna tell you a little bit more about Mike. When, when he's a guest on the show, we'll talk more about this, but this is a guy who I'm gonna guess is in his 60s, um, is a veteran realtor here in the Washington, DC area. We've done a number of jobs for him in the past, and he's just terrific to work with.

[34:35] Speaker 2: In this case, he's working with the daughter of the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse is in her mid-80s, out in California. He's working with the daughter, who is in turn working with the, her mom to get this, this thing cleaned out and sorted and, you know, decide what are we gonna ship out to California to these folks? What are we gonna toss? What are we gonna donate? All that kinda stuff. Mike's just really good as a patient realtor to, to co- to be the quarterback here and coordinate all this stuff. And so our job is to help Mike get the place cleaned out, so it can be put up for sale. So, we've been working on it for a few months. Um, couple of things that I've learned or relearned about this. Number one, it pays... and maybe this is an AI thing, actually, it pays to be creative in your marketing. Let me tell you what Mike Parent does, and you can look him up on Facebook just the way it sounds. Mike Parent, realtor at Weichert Realtors in Maryland.

[35:40] Speaker 2: He is taking Olympic photos of today's Olympians in various, you know, um, sports that they're competing in, putting his face on the body, and then talking about, you know, as he's, as he's now seen, you know, as a downhill racer, he'll, he'll (laughs) he'll post a picture of that, you know, mid-air on skis coming down the slopes, and then he'll talk about how excited he is to get to work on selling you a piece of property. Or, I don't know, pick a winner. A figure skater, you know, doing a triple axel, and there he is. Makes it look like he's doing the triple axel, and then he talks about, you know, how great it is to...... spin in the air with joy because he's your realtor. Stuff like that. Creative, fun stuff. And I mentioned it to him this morning and he just kind of said, "Yeah, it's a fun thing to do," right?

[36:45] Speaker 2: Well, it's a brilliant thing to do because it sets you apart in your business, and that's what you're trying to do in your business, is set yourself apart as the best option and to get people's attention, and getting their attemtion- attention is not easy. So that's number one, be creative in your marketing. This guy, Mike Parent's really good at it and he's having fun with it, and it's working. Second thing, I wrote down this little quote. This is an important quote to remember if you're trying to declutter your home or help someone else declutter their place or get it cleaned out. "It's not a question of if the item is good, it's a question of what is it good for?" That's worth a million bucks, if you remember that statement, because people tend to hold on to things because they're good or they're in good condition.

[37:42] Speaker 2: This is the guy who, in his garage, has 40 pieces of various lengths of wood that has been cut or used or is leftover from a prior job, but he didn't throw it away or get rid of it or recycle it because it was a good, quote, "good piece of wood," close quote. It's not a question of if the item is good, it's a question of what is it good for. And 20 years later, after he's done the project, all of these pieces of wood are still sitting in his garage unused. Right? It's not a question of if it's good, it's a question of what is it good for? Now, when I come back... We're gonna take another break here for a minute. When I come back, I'm gonna apply that statement to this condo we're cleaning out in Leisure World and use it as an illustration to help make your junk removal jobs go a little bit smoother and easier. You're listening to The Junk Refund Show on the BBS Radio Network. We'll be back in a minute. I'm your host, Alan Cook.

[38:46] Speaker 1: (instrumental music) Have you ever hired one of those expensive junk removal companies, then wondered what they did with the stuff? Especially the good stuff. At 1-800-JUNK REFUND, we junk the junk! Recycle stuff, like metal and wire, donate items, and get you receipts, and put up for sale the good stuff. And if it sells, you get some money back. Cynthia paid $375 for junk removal and got $3,200 back. Would you like to know how she did it? Tune in to The Junk Refund Show with your host, Alan J. Cook, every Thursday at 3:00 PM Eastern Time to get the junk not only out of your home, but also out of your life.

[39:47] Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to the Junk Refund Show. We're talking about a condo we're cleaning out in Leisure World in Silver Spring, Maryland right now. We've been working on this for a few months because, not like every day, but you have to schedule the elevator. You can't just block it off for a whole week. So we go in there for one or two days a month, I mean a week, and clean out this condo. We have hauled away, um, what do we call it? Like, a- an accountan- a- a, um, a file box, cardboard file box, like an accountant's file box, you know. We have hauled away maybe a dozen of those where what was inside are loose, folded... I'm gonna call them napkins, but, uh, paper towels really is what it is, but they're not wrapped in cellophane. We hauled some of those away too. These are loose.

[40:41] Speaker 2: These are the- these are like you walked into a McDonald's restaurant, went into the bathroom, and grabbed all the paper towels that were in the disposal cylinder in the bathroom and then took them out and stuck them in a box. And then you went to the next McDonald's, and the next one, and the next one until you filled up the box with loose, folded paper towels. Make sense? We've hauled away 10 boxes of those out of this condo. We have hauled away... In fact, my buddy took home today (laughs) a, a small box of four large containers of detergent. Now, I think what happened is that when we got into COVID, these wonderful folks kind of stocked up on some stuff, like, you know, you naturally would, because you don't know what the future holds. And then because of health reasons they had to leave, and all this stuff got left behind. That's probably what happened. I don't know. I just know that my buddy took home today four large containers of laundry detergent that were never used.

[41:50] Speaker 2: I know there are another 25 that have never been used in the apartment complex. He also, um, took home a box, meaning a, an accountant's box, full of unused Ziploc bag, um, containers, you know, boxes, boxes of zip- Probably, what? A dozen boxes of unused, unopened Ziploc bags that came out of this place. Um, you know how you put a piece of furniture, like a bookshelf, down on a piece of carpet and you don't p- I- i- if you're kind of extra cautious about protecting the carpet...You, you try to want to pre- prevent it from indenting, you know, on the, on the carpet that's underneath. These folks got strips of carpet, put it under the bookshelf on top of the other carpet, and then put the bookshelf on top of the strips of carpet. I don't know why, but we have hauled away the bookshelves.

[42:56] Speaker 2: Now we're wrapping up and hauling away the strips of carpet, and now we're actually pulling up the old carpet, and I'm here to tell you that the old carpet, even with a strip of carpet on top of it, still had indentations in it from the bookshelf that was on top of the strip of carpet. I don't know what it is. Maybe there's an, a reason, a psychological reason here for putting that extra strip of carpet in there. I do not know what it is. Dozens of these are lining the walls in the bedrooms, the, the living room, et cetera. It was just a practice that they did. It's just what they did. So, we've got lots of extra carpet. Now we're pulling up the old carpet, and thank heavens, it's coming up. Underneath the old carpet, there's padding, and underneath the padding, there's a cement floor. So we have pulled up the, the tack strips that run around the edge of the bedroom. We have swept up the cement floors.

[43:56] Speaker 2: Today, I pulled up all the carpet and the padding and the tack strips from the master bedroom, uh, um, the, the, and then, and then one, two, three closets and a hallway, right? That took about three hours. But it's part of what we do, and s- you know, sometimes the realtor will say, "Can you pull up the carpet too?" In this case, yes. We charge extra to do it, but we can do that. We're a little more than a third of the way done with pulling up the carpets in this, in this condo. But it's working, and they've gone from a cluttered master bedroom. They had four, no five, boxes, and when I say boxes, I'm talking about... This is, gives you more insight. They have five boxes of jewelry under their bed, but the boxes are the kind of shape and size boxes that you would, th- that, that would contain a large keyboard for a computer, like a large Apple or Macintosh keyboard.

[45:02] Speaker 2: They have pulled all of that stuff out and filled up those boxes with jewelry, and then stuck the jewelry under the bed. So we're finding it's almost like y- nobody would get rid of anything. You know when you order, let's say, Chinese food, and it comes in plastic containers with a, a lid on it and a plastic container underneath. Those, um, those kind of things are, um, kept, and you end up with 30 or 40 of those, um, up in the, up in the, the cupboards of the kitchen shelf, right? Used plastic dinner containers from a, from a restaurant that you ordered out. Those are still there, right? Sometimes people just hang on to stuff, and we're finding stuff like this all across this condo, and the reason I'm talking about it is not to point the finger at the former owners of this con- or the current owners of this condo. It's to just illustrate some things you can do to make your life easier. Don't hang on to something just because you think we might use it later.

[46:25] Speaker 2: The word might is taken from the word may, which is associated with the word maybe, which means probably not. Okay? So if you say to yourself, "We might use this later," you might mentally feel like we're doing a smart thing, but all you're doing is cluttering your house, and the odds are you're not gonna use it later. You're just not, because you're gonna forget that you kept the first item so you could use it later, and you're gonna order, you know, more Chinese food in new containers or something. I mean, you know, you're just, that's what you're gonna do, and it're gonna keep stockpiling and, and growing, and, you know, getting more and more. So, just be aware that y- you, you know, there's nothing wrong with throwing something out (laughs) and, and decluttering along the way. It is not the natural thing to do. The natural thing is to hold on to something, especially these older generations of folks.

[47:25] Speaker 2: You hold on to something because you never know what the future's gonna hold, and maybe it's a useful item. We might use it later. That, when you say the word might in talking about the stuff around your home, you're probably holding on to something that you're never gonna use, and the probability is high that you will never, that the occasion to use this thing is never going to surface, and even if it does surface, you're going to forget that you have something already in your home that could be used for that situation. It's this mental game of, "I'm holding on to it because I'm protecting myself for the future." And then what happens is you never use it, and then you end up paying guys like me to come in and haul it all away and throw it away and, and declutter it because you never used it, but in the meantime you're cluttering up your life. So look out for that word might, and just because if you, you could possibly use it again in the future doesn't mean you're going to.

[48:29] Speaker 2: It's not a question of if it's a good item. It's a question of what is it good for, and what are the chances we're going to need this item in the future? I hope that makes sense.Um, a quick comment about our radio vouchers. If you're in the Washington, DC area and you're listening to this show, if you call into the show, we won't put you on the air, just call into the show and leave your name and number with our producer. He will contact me afterwards, give me your information, and then I will send you a link that allows you to buy a pickup truck of junk removal for $79 that is normally $219. It's a special deal, uh, only available through the radio show. You call the show at 888-627-6008. One more time, in the DC area, only available in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, but it's 888-627-6008, and you'll, you'll be able to buy... You can buy two of these, and you'll be able to get a great deal on pickup trucks of junk removal at a great price.

[49:44] Speaker 2: I want to do a shout-out to a lady named Ingrid. Ingrid is the daughter of the people who own the condominium in Leisure World that we're cleaning out. I had a great talk with her on the phone today. She's out in California. She's the daughter of the mother that owned the condo and lived in the condo, and she is just doing a terrific job as a daughter working with her mom to decide how much of this stuff in the former condo do they want to ship out to California, and is it really necessary. And her mom is in her mid-80s. My mom passed away recently in her mid-90s. I understand the question of working with folks who are older, and not everybody's in the same, you know, situation mentally when they're older, right? So there's different situations going on, but as I told Ingrid, I said, "You know, all the work that you do there to take care of your mom and help her out, people probably see as, like, the tip of the iceberg. You see the 10% of the iceberg that's above the water.

[50:51] Speaker 2: You have no idea about what's going on below the surface of the water that's 90% of the effort." So a shout-out to the great people like Ingrid who are taking care of their moms and their dads and their family members at their own sacrifice and their own cost to basically try to make life better for these older folks, uh, as a way of thanking their older folks for what the older folks did for them raising them, bringing them into the world, the whole deal. So those of you that are taking care of older people out there, God bless you. And as I told Ingrid, I said, "You're chalking up a lot of points up in heaven right now." You know? And it can be frustrating and it can be hard, and I've got, you know, siblings who helped my mom out for the last three or four years who know this better than I do, but still, it can be very rewarding and good things can happen, um, along the way. So God bless those of you who are taking care of our older citizens and trying to make life better for them.

[52:01] Speaker 2: You deserve a shout-out like the Ingrids of the world who are doing it, uh, in this case out in California. I want to do another shout-out to a local company here called National Lumber. They are in Baltimore and Washington, DC area. I have a great name, great friend named Scott who works for them who I've known through our church association for many years, and I'm a good friend of his dad and his mom. Um, they're just a terrific family. Um, Scott, we, we helped clean out a lumber yard for these folks a few years back. They were great to work with, and were very kind and considerate and all that kind of stuff. They were just terrific. Well, Scott is now involved with National Lumber and they're going to clean out part of an office in Bethesda. So he called me, and the reason I'm doing a shout-out is 'cause I know Scott so well. He said something to me in a text message that I don't think anybody's ever said to me before in, you know, 40 years of business.

[53:04] Speaker 2: And it was so cool that I want to just mention it real quick. He s- because I worked with him in the past, he said, he sent me photos and he said, "Here's some stuff we need to get rid of by the end of the month." And then he said, "No need to give me a quote because I know you'll give me a good price." That was not a jab in my side trying to be proactive and get himself some savings for his company. That was a straightforward, honest thought that said, "I trust you. Just let me know what it will cost. No need to give me an estimate in advance. Well, I gave him an estimate in advance anyway just so he knows, and then I gave him a discount and said, "If you guys want to pay for this in advance, you get a discount." I've always done that. And it sounds like they're gonna do that, and sometime later this month we'll go out and take care of it.

[53:51] Speaker 2: But hats off to Scott for just coming in and saying, "No need to give me a, a quote 'cause I know you'll give me a good price." That's the kind of business we need done in the United States and around the world. Two people who trust each other and basically said... The guy that's gonna pay for says, "You don't need to give me a quote. I know you'll take care of me and you'll give me a good price." Right? Not trying to nickel me down. Just basically saying, "I trust you, and you're gonna do a good job." Um, a quick shout-out to my sister, Ann, who told me yesterday she has saved some 8,000 bucks now in her account. I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you that 'cause I think it's fine. She has worked for a couple o' years as basically a crowd control person at various events out in Utah. She gets to go to all the concerts and the Utah Jazz games and, you know, all this kind of stuff, all, a lot of the events and political events going on and stuff.

[54:49] Speaker 2: ConventionsShe's one of the people there who kind of helps the crowd get to where they need to go, and she has worked her tail off for a couple of years. Um, many times working 60-hour weeks, 70-hour weeks, you know, stuff like that. And I'm just really proud of the effort that she's done. The, the, the discipline to do what she's done, and then the financial reward that's come her way as a result of it are terrific. And she deserves... I'm really proud of her. I'm proud of what she's done. She's worked hard. She's got money in the bank now, and she's happy, and I'm just thrilled for what she's doing, and it's, uh, kind of a, a testimony to the idea that good people are needed, and there are opportunities to work. And in her case, you know, she'll work 12-hour shifts, um, doing whatever they need her to do at a, at a public event where she's gonna answer questions for the pu- for the public and, you know, just be there to make sure everything is, everything is good, you know?

[55:55] Speaker 2: So anyway, hats off to her. Another shout-out to Hertz. These guys are amazing. I've, I've... Last t- couple times I've gone to Utah, (clears throat) I've gone in on Priceline to find a rental car and have found that a Dodge Ram pickup truck, a Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck is renting for $32 a day with unlimited miles out of Salt Lake City, and it's a four-wheel drive. The last couple of times I've gone out there, I've rented this truck, or one of the trucks from Hertz, and they charge a $200 deposit, which is low, on your credit card, and I rent the truck for a day at $32 a day, and then you factor in, like, the airport taxes, and it comes out to about, I don't know, $56 a day for everything, something like that. I don't get the insurance 'cause I have my own insurance, and I try to be careful when I drive. But I'm going out there and renting brand new pickup trucks that can go anywhere for 32 bucks a day. There you go. I- m- life is good. And one last thing.

[57:04] Speaker 2: I, I've always had this desire for somebody, because I'm in a junk removal business, for somebody to call me up and say, "Hey, we've got this airplane over here, and we're not using it anymore. Could you come haul it away for us?" Well, that became a reality yesterday when a guy called me up and said, "Hey, I saw your ad on Craigslist. We have a Beechcraft Queen Air airplane over here that we need to get junked or taken out of here." Now, this baby is stripped down. I, uh... The people that have called me are in the s- some, in the, in the pilot education business from what I can tell, and this is just an old plane that's, you know... Its wings are da- detached. The engine's been taken out. It's basically the body or the fuselage of the plane. But I joked about it on Facebook. I said, "Hey, my, my dream came true. S- Uh, somebody's given me a plane," which is true, and I'm gonna go out and check it out tomorrow and see what it looks like. So anyway, I'm excited about that.

[58:06] Speaker 2: We're probably gonna haul it away and scrap it for scrap metal, but the idea of trying to get a 32-foot plane into a 16-foot truck is intriguing to me, and we will get paid for it, hopefully by getting a lot of aluminum out of it when we take it in. But I'm just intrigued by this, and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. So, that gives you a little insight into what my life's like and the fun that I'm having. I hope you can apply some of these principles to your life. Make it a fun day. Make it a fun week. And we'll be back here next week at, uh, three o'clock Eastern Time on the BBS Radio network for the Junk Refund Show, where we try to help you get the junk outta your homes and also outta your lives. Happy President's Day weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you next week.

[58:52] Speaker 1: (gentle music) Thank you for listening to the Junk Refund Show, the longest running junk removal radio show on the air. Join us next week as we discuss innovative ways to declutter your home, your business, and your life using 20 years of junk removal experience. Find out why we give out free ice cream gift cards to our clients too. In upcoming shows, we will explore how to get the junk out of your relationships, your spiritual life, your waistline, even your travel life. Plus, call in with questions and situations you would like some help with. At 1-800-JUNK REFUND, we are committed to bringing the next generation of junk removal because not all junk is junk. See you next week on the Junk Refund Show every Thursday afternoons at 3:00 PM Eastern Time right here on BBS Radio TV.