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Published on Feb 26, 2024
•6 min read
By Mike Stackable,Founder
Are you planning a house move in the near future? You’re in good company. In fact, around 40 million Americans each year move homes. If minimalism isn’t really your thing, then moving house is a great time to declutter! But what is the best way to declutter a home before a move? How do you decide if things should stay or go?
Read on for 5 ways to declutter your home before a move.
One of the most important moving strategies is to have a decluttering plan.
You need to know what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. First of all, start by researching things that you probably don’t need to take with you. Make a list for each room and then stick to it.
It’s also going to take longer than you probably think. You’ll need to go through your diary and block out sections of time that you can devote to decluttering.
Also, empower family members to do this too. Even children can be trained to be ruthless!
Help them to go through their old toys, clothes, and books. Let them choose items to ditch or donate (just give their pile a quick check before proceeding).
If you’ve been quite a hoarder, this task can be a little overwhelming. Don’t worry, call in the cavalry. Get friends and relatives over, let them know that items need to go, and let them give you a helping hand.
Many of us have furniture in our house that we like, but we just don’t need.
At the start of the decluttering process, moving these items on to a new home is a quick win. Plus it frees up much-needed space to put boxes neatly out of the way.
It’s also important to measure your furniture at this point and decide what you can take and what you can’t. If you’ve got a lot of bulky items, using professional movers will help to avoid any pulled muscles!
If you have bulky furniture and are not sure what to do with it, donate them to charity. Some charities will come and collect it for free.
You can also put it on a local classified ads site such as Facebook Marketplace. Some eager neighbor will no doubt be happy to take it off your hands.
Do you have a spare bedroom? A den? An office room that doesn’t get a lot of use these days?
That would be the perfect place to start. Those are the rooms where we tend to store the most clutter. Things that might come in useful one day, but somehow never have.
The great thing about starting in this room is that you’re pretty sure you won’t need anything in there before you move.
We know this is hard, but you need to be ruthless. If you move things you know in your heart of hearts you’ll never use, you will waste money. You’ll have to pay to move, store and then move them in your new place.
Each room is different and has different requirements.
Rather than moving from one room to another when decluttering, focus on one room at a time. Take out your plan, and see what items you’ve earmarked for disposal.
For example, it’s kitchen decluttering day. Where will you begin?
Start with appliances and gadgets. Are there some that you’ve never goten around to using? Do you think in all honesty that you ever will? If not, put that in the ‘donate or dispose’ section.
Next, go through your cupboards. Even the most fastidious of us probably have a jar of spices somewhere that is past its expiration date. Be ruthless and throw away everything that you no longer need.
Another good idea is to take a quick inventory of the food items you already have in stock. Try to use these up in meals before you move. That will make the best use of your resources, as well as save money transporting food items to your new home.
Also, don’t forget your storage room, loft, basement, or any outbuildings!
When you start decluttering, it’s easy to simply think ‘I’ll donate that soon’. What will happen is that it will get covered with other stuff, and you’ll be back to square one.
Get yourself a few sturdy cardboard boxes and mark them for donations. Get everyone in the house involved. Let them know that anything they want to give away goes straight into this box.
As soon as the box is full, put it in the trunk of your car. Oh, and don’t drive around with it for a month. Drop it off asap at the charity of your choice – after all, there’s probably plenty more where that came from.
Disposal doesn’t just mean putting things in the garbage. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as the saying goes!
Sites like Craigslist and eBay are just waiting for you to list your unwanted items. It’s a great way to turn your trash into dollars – every little bit helps. You can even enlist a friend, or incentivize one of your kids to do this for you!
This final strategy takes a lot of self-control but it is well worth it in the end.
When you are out shopping, resist the urge to buy items that you don’t need. It doesn’t matter how good a deal it is, or if it will never be on sale again. Don’t unintentionally add more clutter to your home while you are trying to declutter it.
Reassure yourself that once you’ve moved, and know what you need, you can hit the shops for anything that you really need.
Make a plan of action. Declutter room by room. Be ruthless, but try to cash in on anything you can.
If you follow our 5 ways to declutter a home you’ll be ready for a nice easy move before you know it. A fresh start in a nice, tidy home!
At Muscleman Elite, we’re ready to help you with your home move. From packing to moving and everything in between, we’ll help you every step of the way. We have no hidden charges and are focused on customer satisfaction.
Get a free quote today!