From Cleanouts to Community Treasures: How a Des Moines Small Business Is Giving Homes, and Items, a Second Life
What happens to a lifetime of belongings when a home changes hands? For many families across Greater Des Moines, the answer has become surprisingly simple. They call Simple Clean Out.
Preparing a Home for Sale with Simple Clean Out
Based in Urbandale, Simple Clean Out helps families, banks, attorneys and real estate professionals navigate one of life’s most overwhelming transitions. Whether settling an estate, preparing a home for sale or clearing years of accumulated possessions, my team manages the entire process with professionalism, speed and respect.
But along the way, something else kept appearing.
Treasure.
Every home has a story. You open a drawer or walk into a basement and realize these items meant something to someone. It never felt right to just haul everything away.
Launching Simple Treasures
That realization led to the launch of a second venture. In 2025, I partnered with Alex Kos to open Simple Treasures, a vintage and estate resale shop located in Des Moines’ historic Sherman Hill neighborhood at 697 19th St. The space hosts semi-regular pop-up sales featuring curated items discovered during cleanouts across Greater Des Moines (DSM).
Furniture with history. Lamps with character. Decor from another era. Everyday pieces ready for another home.
The concept closes the loop between cleanout and community. Instead of belongings disappearing, they are rediscovered.
Sherman Hill proved to be the perfect fit. Known for its historic homes, creative residents, and appreciation for preservation, the neighborhood embraces the idea that older items still hold value. Each pop-up draws neighbors, vintage enthusiasts and first-time visitors who often leave with both a purchase and a story.
The retail side brings a new kind of energy to the business built on logistics and service.
I love getting out, telling the story and bringing in the sales. It connects everything we do.
Together, Simple Clean Out and Simple Treasures represent a distinctly local cycle. Homes transition. Items find new life. Neighborhoods gain unique retail experiences. Families feel relief. Buyers discover character pieces. Nothing meaningful is wasted.
It is a model rooted in practicality and heart, and one that reflects the Greater Des Moines spirit of resourcefulness and community connection.
In a region that values both growth and heritage, Simple Clean Out and Simple Treasures show how small businesses can turn life’s biggest transitions into new beginnings for homes, neighborhoods and the objects that connect them.
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