16 May Decluttering Before Moving: How to Minimize Stress and Maximize Space
It’s estimated that nearly 13% of the United States population moves every year. Moving can be a source of dread for a lot of people, and for good reason. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and stressful.
However, it’s important to remember that there are things you can do to make your life significantly easier before the move. Specifically, decluttering before moving can help you get rid of things that don’t need to be transported while also organizing everything for the packing stage.
Unfortunately, decluttering isn’t always easy. While certain people might have no problem parting with some of their belongings, it doesn’t come naturally to everyone.
That’s why we put together this guide of some helpful tips to make the decluttering process easier when downsizing for a move.
Why Is Decluttering Before Moving Important?
When we stay in an apartment or home for a long period, it’s natural to accumulate lots of stuff. This is especially true if you’re a big online shopper or thrift shopper.
Whenever you move, it’s a good opportunity to look through your stuff and decide what’s worth keeping. This process of decluttering is helpful for two reasons. The first one is practical.
When you reduce the amount of stuff you need to move, you make the process a lot easier. It simply doesn’t make a lot of sense to move junk that you either don’t need or could easily find where you’re moving.
The second reason is more personal. When you move you’re entering a new phase of your life. As such, it makes sense to question your relationship with some of your belongings.
How will you be living in a new location? How can you reorganize or revamp your possessions to fit in this space?
These are all important questions to ask yourself. Decluttering can be hard, but it has the potential to greatly improve your relationship with objects.
Start Early to Avoid Procrastination
In the past, it was believed that if someone procrastinates, often the fault lies solely on the individual. However, new research is changing this. One study found that stressful situations or tasks can make people procrastinate even more.
This, in turn, leads to more stress. Unfortunately, few things can be more stressful than decluttering and moving. That’s why it’s so important to start decluttering well before your move date.
Begin much earlier than you think. At the very least, we recommend two months in advance.
That being said, if you have a large home, or you’ve been at a property for years, you likely have a lot more stuff. In these cases, you should start six months or even a year in advance.
Plan Things Out
If you can, visit the new apartment or home you’ll be moving to. Bring along a tape measure so you can get accurate size dimensions. Or, get a copy of the floor plan.
This is important because it will inform a lot of your decluttering process. For example, if you’re moving to a smaller property, you might not have space for all your current furniture.
So it makes sense to think about what will go where so it’s easy to decide what furniture you can get rid of. Having a decluttering plan is important because the last thing you want is to move something only to have to throw it out because there’s no room.
Put Aside Time for Decluttering
As we mentioned, decluttering is easy to put off. Often, you’ll save it for the weekend. Then, when the weekend rolls around it will be the last thing you want to do.
To prevent this, we recommend putting decluttering time into your weekly schedule. Choose a specific date and time that you can put some work in.
We recommend putting in one to three hours of work per week. That way, you don’t get burned out from doing a marathon decluttering session that lasts all day.
Begin in Rooms That You Don’t Use Much
Decluttering can take up a lot of space and time. So instead of starting in high-traffic areas like your kitchen or bedroom, focus on rooms that don’t get as much use. Ideally, you have one or two of these for storage.
They might include your garage, basement, or attic. These areas tend to have the most stuff you’ll need to declutter. It’s a good practice ground to figure out your decluttering system.
That way, when you do move on to more used rooms, you can be more deliberate. This will help you minimize the time when everything is strewn about and being sorted.
Start Making Piles
Piles can help you stay organized during the decluttering process, which is essential. Otherwise, you could end up getting rid of something you didn’t mean to. At the very least, you want two piles: keep and get rid of.
However, many people benefit from additional ones. Some other good options include shredding (if you’re going through documents), donating, selling, recycling, and storing piles.
The only rule when it comes to making piles is to be decisive. That means no ‘maybe’ piles. These will just prolong the process and require more decision-making. Instead, make a choice and stick with it.
Sell Your Things
When you’re decluttering you’re going to find things you don’t use or need that might be worth some money. Old clothes, vinyl records, appliances, toys, and books can all hold some value.
If you have enough stuff, we recommend throwing a yard sale. Tell your neighbors about it and put up some signs around town. This is a great way to get rid of things while making a buck or two.
Alternatively, you can also try selling bigger or more expensive things on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Both these options allow you to place listings for people in your area.
Even if you don’t think something will sell, it’s still worth it to give it a shot. It doesn’t hurt to try, and if no one buys it, you can always just donate it.
Pack as You Go
As you begin making piles, you’re going to start amassing a lot of trash, donations, and recyclables. That being said, a good deal of the stuff you’re likely going to want to take with you to the new place.
As such, it makes sense to pack as you go. As your pile of stuff you want to take gets bigger, begin organizing it into boxes. Notice we said organize. That doesn’t mean throwing all of your stuff randomly into boxes and then calling it a day.
Instead, carefully group by items and room. This will make the process of unpacking it a lot easier. Packing things into boxes can often feel a bit like Tetris. So check out this guide to learn the proper way to pack boxes.
Also, in addition to packing you should be cleaning your things. If you stored things in the garage or attic, there’s a good chance they’ve been exposed to mold or mildew. The last thing you want is to bring mold to your new home, so give everything a quick once over with some sanitizer.
Think About Furniture
The more stuff you need to bring with you, the more expensive your move is going to be. That’s why it’s important to know what items are not worth moving.
Furniture is important here. Some furniture pieces might be easy to part with. For example, the thrift store couch you keep in the basement probably doesn’t need to come with you.
Others can be harder. You might have an antique dresser that’s been in your family for a long time, or an old loveseat that you haven’t gotten rid of since college.
The process of wrapping furniture and moving it can be a real pain. So if you can part with it, we recommend doing so.
Get creative. If you have old family furniture, consider seeing if anyone else in your family wants it. Or, put it into long-term storage.
Remember the 20/20 Rule
When you’re decluttering, you’re going to come across a lot of items that feel wrong to throw away. It might be old office supplies or spices in your kitchen cabinet. Why throw these things out on the off chance you might need them one day?
If you stick with this attitude you’ll have a lot of junk in your life forever. Instead, consider the 20/20 rule. This minimalism rule states that if something is under $20 and it only takes you twenty minutes to get a replacement, then you can go ahead and throw it out.
While this rule might not count toward objects with emotional value, it’s a great way to decide whether or not something is worth keeping.
Avoid Nostalgia
Nostalgia can have a lot of benefits. It produces mental well-being and social connection. Unfortunately, it’s not very helpful for decluttering.
As you declutter, you’re likely to find a lot of stuff that will make you want to go down memory lane.
Old photographs, letters, journals, videotapes, and more will likely interest you as you work. We’re not saying you need to get rid of these things. However, you should set them aside until you’re done decluttering.
That’s because going through old photo albums or notes can take up minutes or even hours of your time. Not only that, but they can also bring up old, potentially painful memories that can further distract you.
All of this prolongs the process of decluttering considerably. So whenever you come across something nostalgic, fight the urge to dive deep into it.
Have a Removal Strategy for All the Trash
If you’ve been living in a house for years, you’ve likely built up a lot of stuff that needs to be thrown away. Now, if you do this gradually over months, you might not need a removal strategy for the inevitable piles of trash.
However, if it’s close to the moving date you’re likely going to have more trash than your collectors can handle. In these situations, you’ll need to come up with a strategy.
If you live close to a dump and have a car that can transport it, you can just take the trash there on trips.
Alternatively, you can rent a roll-up dumpster specifically for your clean-out. Remember you don’t need to throw everything out. A good portion of it can likely be donated or even sold.
Make It Fun
We know that decluttering can feel like the least fun thing in the world. However, it doesn’t need to be this way. There are things you can do to make the experience enjoyable.
For example, you can turn it into a moving party. Invite some friends or family over. Provide them with drinks and food, then give them a task to do.
When you make it a group activity while throwing some music on it can quickly lighten the mood.
Consider Hiring a Professional Packer
Decluttering can take a lot out of you. Unfortunately, that means that when it comes time to start packing, movers are often burnt out by getting ready. If you fall in this category, you should consider hiring a professional packer for your move.
Numerous benefits come with this. For starters, you have to do little to no work.
More importantly, professional movers are good at packing. That means that your things have the best chance of being packed securely during the move.
This will help prevent damage. Just remember that your professional packer can’t declutter your space for you.
Only you can decide what you want to keep and get rid of. So make sure that all the decluttering is done before they arrive.
Need Help Moving? Contact Ralph’s Moving and Storage
We hope this guide helped you learn more about decluttering before moving. Here at Ralph’s Moving and Storage, we know that some people need a little extra help when it comes to decluttering and packing.
That’s why we offer everything from self-service options to hands-on packing help.
During our nearly century of operation, we’ve learned some of the best strategies for decluttering. So if you want to learn more about them, get in touch with us today.
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