Packing is a tedious, yet unavoidable part of every relocation. It can be very overwhelming to go through your rooms and pack your entire household in boxes. Luckily, many moving companies are providing packing services that can get this burden off your shoulders. Still, whether you are packing on your own or using professional packers, there is one task that no one can do instead of you – declutter your home before relocation. While this seems like a very hard task, if you follow these simple steps, you will realize that is actually much easier than you imagine it to be.
Why it’s necessary to declutter your home before relocation?
While you can move your entire household to your new home, that doesn’t mean that you should. As time passes, homes accumulate a lot of things. Many of them are useless. Eather you don’t like them anymore, they are broken, or you simply forgot that you even have them. The bottom line is the same – if you didn’t use them in your current home, you won’t be using them in your new home. As simple as that. That’s the crucial reason why it’s necessary to declutter your home before relocation.
Other benefits of home decluttering before the move are:
- Lower moving costs – If you hire reliable movers for your long-distance relocation, the weight of your shipment dictates the price of your relocation. The more items you have to relocate, the heavier the shipment and more expensive the relocation. When you are moving locally, a bigger shipment will require more manpower and a bigger moving vehicle. If you are preparing your household for storage, you will need to rent a more spacious storage unit. All of that means higher moving costs.
- It will save you a lot of packing time – The fewer things you have to pack, the less time you will waste on the packing process.
- It will make packing less stressful – The thought that you will need more money to transport your items and that you will lose a lot of time to pack your home is bad enough to raise your stress level to a risky point. When you declutter your home before relocation and let go of all the things that are only collecting dust, you will feel more liberated and relaxed.
Decluttering your home also has a therapeutic effect.
Sort out your things with easy decluttering tricks
When you start to declutter your home for relocation, it’s a great tip to use moving boxes and create order.
You will need three boxes to separate your things into the following categories:
- Keep box – The first and probably the biggest box will contain the things that you want to keep when you move to your new home. As you’re going from room to room, place inside that box the items that you are definitely sure that you want to bring with you.
- Sell/Donate box – Put in this box all the things that you no longer need and that are in a good overall condition. Still usable belongings shouldn’t be thrown away. You can make a few bucks selling them at a garage sale, or by donating them to someone who can use them.
- The trash box – You really shouldn’t waste money on transporting any item that is broken beyond repair. Those and other items that have no use to anyone belong in the box that will end up in the dumpster.
Don’t hesitate and start early
Let’s be honest – decluttering will consume a big chunk of your time. Still, it will significantly decrease the packing time, so it’s a win-win situation. In order to save some time and organize your move better, start to declutter your home for relocation as soon as possible. That is a task that you can do even before the decision about your relocation is final. Don’t hesitate and start early with decluttering. If you wait until the last minute, that will delay the biggest moving task that is ahead of you – packing.
Decluttering and packing are stressful, emotional and sometimes overwhelming, but when you add the time crunch into that mix, it can result in creating unbearable pressure and anxiety.
In order to avoid this unnecessary stress, start to declutter your home before relocation ASAP.
Switch off your emotions
Over time, we create an emotional bond with our belongings. That’s why it’s hard to get rid of the things that have been around for a long time, even when they don’t have any practical use.
When you are decluttering your home, you’ll have to be ruthless and get rid of the things that only clutter your home. Photo albums and special moments will always have a place in your new home. A broken mixer from the nineties just doesn’t belong there, even if you have a nice memory from purchasing it.
It is necessary to switch off your emotions when you start to declutter your home for relocation. If you can imagine yourself dumpster diving for it, then it may deserve a special place in your new home.
Only keep things that are useful or have great emotional value.
To declutter your home before relocation, follow the “one year rule“
Another good way to decide what items to keep and relocate to your new home is the “one year rule“. That’s a really simple one – if you didn’t use the item in question for more than a year, there’s a huge chance that you won’t use it ever again. It should certainly be in the trash box or in the box with things that you wish to sell/donate. When you wish to reduce the moving costs, the attitude that you will keep something just because you might need it one day is totally wrong. That day will never come, and no – if you have not used it for a year, you won’t be using it in the future either.
Apply this rule to your appliances, gadgets and especially your clothes and shoes. If you have not worn something for over a year, it only makes clutter in your wardrobe.