Before moving, don't make the mistake of not decluttering before your move. You should only pack what you need and what you will use at your new home. Decluttering also makes things easier because the less you have, then the less you have to pack and unpack. So, get rid of items that you will not be using in your new home. Here are ten tips on how to declutter your home before moving.
1. Start Early, Don't Procrastinate!
Decluttering can be overwhelming, but you will feel less of the stress if you start early. Procrastinating won't do you good, especially because you may have a lot of things in your home. So, come up with a decluttering plan or schedule and start early.
You may not be able to declutter your home for an entire day. In fact, decluttering can take more than a day. So, start as soon as possible. Allocate time to go through your belongings and don't be in a rush. You need to think carefully about the items you will be keeping and items you need to let go of. So, start early.
2. Begin with Easy Places and Go Room by Room
Don't feel pressured about decluttering your entire house in one day. You can go room by room or area by area and start with the easy places. For instance, you can start with rooms that are not often used or areas with numerous items you no longer use.
You can start small and begin decluttering, for example, your closet first. Sort your clothes and decide which ones to keep and which ones to let go of. Then, you can proceed to decluttering your entire bedroom. Finish a single room before moving on to the next.
This way, you can make sure that you have gotten rid of items you no longer need in that room before moving on to another. Going room by room is also a way of taking an organized approach while decluttering.
3. Before Sorting, Trash What Needs to Be Trashed First
Decluttering involves figuring out which items to keep and let go of and creating piles for them (our next tip discussed below). But before you sort your things, start with the most obvious items first.
Trash what needs to be trashed first, such as expired products, broken items, or other belongings that are clearly beyond repair. After you trash the most obvious items, you can then proceed to create piles for items you intend to keep, sell, donate, or throw away (for items you may have missed).
4. Evaluate Your Things and Separate Items Into "Keep", "Donate", "Sell", or "Throw Away" Piles
Go room by room and evaluate everything. Go through your things and decide which ones to keep, donate, sell, or throw away. Make "keep", "donate", "sell", or "throw away" piles and put an item into a pile that determines its fate.
When evaluating your things, keep items that you still need and are still in good condition. These could be items you use every day or regularly. Donate items that you no longer want to use but are still in good condition. Items that you have only used once and are still in very good condition can be sold.
Additionally, you can also create a "throw away" pile for things you want to get rid of. These may be things you missed when trashing the most obvious items (as discussed earlier).
5. Take Your Emotions Out of It: Learn to Let Go
Now, it's difficult to let go of things, and maybe that's why you have kept things that you haven't been using for years. However, when decluttering, it's important to take your emotions out and learn to let go. If emotions are involved, you may end up bringing almost all your items into your new home. Maybe, there will be too many things in the "keep" pile and less on the other piles.
So, think carefully about sentimental items. These are the most difficult to let go of, but if you're no longer using them, maybe you can gift them to loved ones.
6. Consider the Condition of Your Items
If it's really hard to let go of items, you can take a practical approach and simply just check the condition of your items. Only keep items that are still in good or excellent condition. You may be keeping items for "just in case" reasons.
Maybe you feel like you can still use items in poor condition for other purposes. But if the items are already in poor condition, then it's better to just get rid of them. Worn-out clothing, for instance, is something that you can let go of.
7. Picture Where the Item Goes in Your New Place
Still holding on to items you no longer need? One thing you can do is to picture where the item goes in your new home. You've seen your new place, now try to picture where you can put the item in question. If you can't picture a place for your item, then it's a sign that you should no longer be bringing the item into your new home.
8. Use Up Opened Items
A great way of decluttering before moving is to use up opened items. Finish up opened items such as cleaning products and toiletries. This will be useful especially when the products are near their expiration date. It's easy to get rid of empty containers, and you will have fewer things to pack if you just finish up opened items.
9. Get Your Family and Friends Involved
If you're having difficulty letting go of items, family members and friends can help. They can offer unbiased opinions and help you decide whether to keep or give away the item. They can help you with the sorting process, so give your relatives or friends a call.
10. Rent a Storage Unit
A storage unit can help when you are decluttering before moving. In case you have a "maybe" pile (and it's okay to have one), you can store those items temporarily in a storage unit until you reach a decision. A storage unit is also useful for storing seasonal clothes or seasonal decorations, and you only have to bring these items into your new home when it's the time of that season.
Are you interested in renting a storage unit? Are you in need of professional moving services? Contact us today!