Planning a move? Congratulations!
The moving process can be overwhelming, especially if you want to declutter beforehand so you can stage your home.
However, getting rid of stuff before moving will not only help you sell your home faster; it will also make your move more manageable because you’ll be more organized and have fewer things.
Decluttering and getting rid of unwanted items is easier than you think if you follow this quick guide.
Keep reading!
Give Yourself Time
Getting rid of stuff before moving and staging your home is not a simple undertaking. But you can make it painless and smooth if you give yourself enough time to complete the tasks at hand, stress-free.
Take your calendar and make milestone dates moving backward. Start at least one to two months before your move date.
The calendar notes can detail each step of the process, tackling individual rooms, selling items, taking unwanted things for donation, etc. Or, it can have more general milestones to remind you to stay on track.
Either way, marking dates in a calendar will help you stay on schedule and accountable to a timeline.
Create Categories
As you begin to tackle each room, have three categories you separate items into. This will help you make decisions and know where to put things.
Piles should include things to keep, donate, and discard. If you have some high-value items, you could also make a category for things to sell.
Make sure you have enough storage bins and trash bags or boxes while you work. Otherwise, you’ll just be making piles of stuff in different areas, and it won’t feel like you’ve made any progress.
Go Room by Room
Don’t try to get through the whole house in one day. You’ll not only exhaust yourself, but you’ll be moving so quickly you may not do it properly.
If the goal is to get rid of unwanted items and declutter, plan to tackle one room at a time and go through every single item.
When going through the kitchen and bathrooms, look at expiration dates and to see if anything is leaking. If so, throw them away immediately. The same goes for clothes and shoes with holes or tears and old paperwork you don’t need.
Don’t forget to consider removing larger items in your home like furniture. Downsizing and getting rid of oversized items can make your home feel bigger to potential buyers and give them the chance to envision their own furniture in the space.
You can also put some of your furniture in storage if you want to have it in your new home but know that it won’t help sell your current one.
Use up What You Have
During the weeks leading up to your move, put a stop to new and bulk purchases wherever possible.
Aside from items you absolutely need, try to go through the ones you already have.
If you typically buy items like toilet paper and paper towels or cleaning supplies in bulk, go through your stockpile and then buy smaller individual versions if you need more.
This will help minimize the number of items in your storage areas so you can use it for other things and will also be one less thing you need to take on moving day.
Getting Rid of Stuff Before Moving: Start Today!
With the guide above, start getting rid of stuff before moving to stage your home and make moving day a breeze.
Give yourself plenty of time to avoid the stress and chaos of moving.
Check out the rest of our blog for more tips, and be sure to contact us for all your moving needs!