Moving into a new house can be an exciting time. It gives you a chance to completely refresh, arrange your things in a new way, and reflect on all of your belongings. There are a number of benefits to decluttering your home at any time, but moving gives you the opportunity to look at each and every item you own. Since many of us tend to hold on to things for longer than necessary, this is a chance to ask yourself if you really need all of the things you have and have all of the things you need. Check out these tips on how to declutter your home to ensure you’re making the most of the ultimate chance to declutter before your big move.
Methodology
Streamline your efforts by putting a plan in place before you begin packing your rooms. Start by creating an order in which you want to pack up all of the rooms in your home. Obviously the rooms that are used the least should be packed first, as well as your storage spaces. Save your bedrooms and bathrooms for last because you use these spaces every day. When you’re ready to tackle a space, make sure you’re prepared with boxes for the items you’re keeping and garbage bags for the things that can be thrown away. Use hampers or storage bins to set aside items that require specific disposal or to separate out things that can be donated. Despite your kitchen being a high traffic area, it is also likely to have a large number of belongings that need to be packed. You can always buy paper plates and plastic cups to get you through this time and give yourself the ability to undertake packing up the kitchen. Consider bringing a notepad along with you to each room so you can jot down your thoughts during this packing process.
Shared Spaces
Sometimes, the shared spaces in our home can end up being the least tidy because everyone uses them, but they aren’t any one person’s to clean up. Before you begin taking things out of their place, look around the room. If it’s a living room, are throw blankets getting piled up somewhere? Are movie cases scattered around? Magazines? Ask yourself if the things that are making the room look messy or cluttered have a place they should be. Maybe you need to get an ottoman that has storage space inside so the throw blankets have a spot in your new home. This is the type of thought you might want to jot down on your notepad. Moving is expensive and time-consuming enough as it is, so keeping a meticulous list of the things you might need can help you once you start prioritizing any purchases you need to make for your new home.
Bedrooms
Our bedrooms can be collectors of many, many things. If you have children, that’s likely where they are hiding their secret rock collection of all the “gold” or “diamonds” they’ve found–or if you’re lucky just their toys. Whether your closets are stuffed to the brim or there are things all over your rooms, it can be some of the hardest to let go of. As your most personal space, there’s a reason things have made it into your room. Let the idea of not having as much to pack and later unpack, motivate you to make some tough decisions. Your future self will thank you. Go through your clothing and take this opportunity to thin out your wardrobe. If you’re finding garments you haven’t worn in months or years that are still lingering in your closet, it’s time to part ways. Use a closet clean out service to sell these used clothing items and you won’t have a bag of clothes kicking around the house while it’s already in disarray. Go through your trinkets, empty out the drawer of your nightstand, and ask yourself when the last time was you used or even looked at the object in consideration. Leave yourself a duffle bag or luggage for the clothes you leave out to wear for the last few days of packing. This way you can pack up the majority of your clothes and your hangers without limiting your options too much.
If you have kids, help them go through their rooms. They are likely to have clothes they’ve outgrown which you can sell along with yours, as well as toys they might be too old for or have just lost interest in. If their toys are still in good shape, consider dropping them off at a thrift shop to prolong them from winding up in a landfill. Their rooms are another place you might want to stop and really assess before you get to work. Do they have stuff all over their room? Do these things have an easy place to get stored in? You might want to consider updating their next room’s storage solutions to make it simpler for them to keep their room tidy. Maybe once you’re buying things for the new place, you can look back at your running list and see that they need a bookshelf, video game storage, or maybe a shelf to get their trophies displayed on the wall instead of taking up space elsewhere in their room.
The Junk Drawers
Many homes have a particular spot where stuff accumulates. You aren’t sure where this chord came from and you’re worried it is important? Junk drawer. You buy a new appliance and it comes with a manual– junk drawer. Ticket stubs? Junk drawer. Birthday cards? Junk drawer. Box of matches? You guessed it, junk drawer. We tell ourselves we will deal with it later but later turns to now and we don’t remember why some of that stuff was put in there to begin with. You have to empty the drawer anyway so you might as well get rid of unnecessary items. With the existence of the internet, you probably don’t need to keep those manuals. Any important documents that may have made their way to this spot should be moved to wherever it is you keep your papers safe. If you currently have no such storage solution, collect these documents in a folder until you can get a quality home safe where you can keep them in your new home. And unless you’re going to start scrapbooking or making a collage of ticket stubs, it might be time to toss these things.
Hidden Away
No matter what room you’re in, there could be nooks and crannies that you’ve been occupying as storage spaces during your time in the home. The backs of closets, top shelves that are harder to get to, or the deepest part of cabinets that are difficult to access, could all have stuff you’ve forgotten you even have. If you haven’t taken it out since you tucked it away, there’s a good chance it doesn’t need to go to your new home. By getting rid of these extraneous items in storage, you’re freeing up space at the next house. If there’s less stuff to store, there’s more storage space available, leaving you with more options to house items and reduce the chances of your new home appearing cluttered.
Finding Help with Moving Professionals
We hope you found this blog on the Tips On How To Declutter Your Things Before a Move useful. For more tips, check out this one blog on the Moving House: How to Move out of Your House With Ease.
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