Junk Removal in Boise: Old Christmas Trees and Holiday Decor

A lot of our fall junk removal jobs in Boise start the same way. Somebody walks us into the garage, points at a stack of plastic totes with faded red lids, and says, "Honestly, I don't even know what's in half of these."

Then they pop one open. Inside are three strands of lights that haven't worked since 2017.

If that sounds like your garage, you're in good company. Holiday decor only comes out once a year, so nobody looks at it closely until it's time to decorate again. By then there's no time to sort it.

Fall is a good time to deal with it. Here's how we'd sort it, what you can get rid of on your own, and when it makes sense to have someone haul it.

Why holiday decor piles up in the first place

Most people don't buy too much decor on purpose. It just happens.

You buy a new pre-lit tree because half the old one went dark. The old one goes "in the garage for now." A few years later you've got two trees, a box of ornaments from your mom's house and a giant inflatable snowman with a hole in it.

We see this all over the Treasure Valley. Bigger garages out in Meridian and Star just give it more room to hide.

Smaller North End houses push it into the attic or the crawl space, which is honestly worse. Nobody wants to go up there in December.

Sorting your holiday decor before junk removal

Pull everything out into one spot. The driveway works fine on a dry fall day.

Then make three piles: keep, donate and toss.

Keep is easy. If you used it last year and you'd miss it, it stays.

That means the family ornaments, the stocking with your kid's name on it and the nativity set from your grandma. Nobody's going to talk you out of those.

Donate is for anything that works and that someone else would actually want. Think of a fake tree with all its branches, ornaments that aren't chipped, or a wreath that still looks like a wreath.

Thrift stores around Boise and Nampa do take seasonal stuff, though some get picky about space at certain times of year. Call ahead if it's a big load.

Toss is where most of it ends up, if we're being honest. That's the half-dead light strands, and the trees that drop plastic needles every time you brush past them.

Inflatables with torn fabric or a burned-out fan go here too, along with cracked ornaments and anything missing its hook.

Don't overthink this pile. If it's been broken for two seasons and you haven't fixed it, you're not going to.

Heads up: Don't put old string lights in your curbside recycling cart. The wires wrap around the sorting equipment and cause real problems at the recycling facility. Lights either go to a place that takes them as scrap or they go out with the rest of your junk.

The stuff that's harder to get rid of

A few holiday items give people more trouble than they'd expect.

Artificial Christmas trees

A fake tree is mostly PVC wrapped around a metal frame. Your recycling cart can't take it.

If it still works, donate it. If it doesn't, it's trash, and the big ones won't fit in a cart.

You can cut one down with bolt cutters. We've done it, and it's a miserable way to spend a Saturday.

Yard inflatables and light-up figures

These are bulky, they have motors, and they usually got packed away damp after the last snow. That means mildew.

Once the fabric smells musty or has spots on it, nobody wants it. That one's a toss.

Bins and totes

People forget about these. Half the time the bins are worth keeping even when what's inside isn't.

Empty them out and use them for garage stuff. The cracked ones can go with everything else.

Haul it yourself or book junk removal?

Yes, we'd love your business. But if your toss pile fits in the back of an SUV, you can probably handle it yourself.

Bag the small stuff, break down what you can, and drive it out to the Ada County landfill. If you're in Canyon County, Pickles Butte is closer.

It stops being worth the trip when the holiday stuff is just one corner of a bigger mess. Maybe you're clearing the whole garage, and behind the old tree and two inflatables there's a treadmill nobody's touched since 2020. That's usually when people call us.

Here's how it works on our end. We come out, look at the pile, and give you a free estimate based on how much room it'll take up in the truck.

You get a firm price before we touch anything. Most loads like this take under an hour, and if the schedule's open we can often do it the same day.

Before anything goes to the landfill, we pull out what's worth donating. A working tree is better off in somebody's living room than buried in a landfill.

When's the best time to clear out holiday decor?

Before the holidays or right after. Both work, just for different reasons.

If you go through it in October or early November, you'll know what you've got before you shop. A lot of people buy duplicates because the old ones were buried behind the lawn mower.

Right after New Year's works too. Everything's already down, and you know exactly what broke this year.

Just keep in mind that early January in Boise means icy driveways and short days. Plan any dump run around the weather.

Bottom line

Keep what matters, donate what works, and let the broken stuff go. Next December you'll actually be able to find the good ornaments.

If you'd rather not haul it yourself, give us a call at (208) 593-2877. We'll come take a look, give you a price, and you can decide from there. No pressure either way.