When you’re organizing a relocation, there are some crucial steps that you just can’t skip. Some of the inevitable things you need to do are packing, looking for Louisiana movers, finding your dream home, and so on. But before all that, there’s one more thing we suggest doing. Taking the time to declutter your home before moving is a great way to start your preparations. By doing this before you start packing and loading the truck, you’re doing yourself a favor for a few different reasons. For one, you’ll lower your moving expenses. Other than that, you’ll have less stuff to pack so it will be a much faster and easier process. These are just some of the great things that come with downsizing your home before moving. So, if you want to reap all the benefits, let’s see how you can get it done in five simple steps.
Deciding what to say goodbye to
For some people, saying goodbye to their belongings can be very tough. Some items hold sentimental value, others you want to keep even though you don’t actively use. And, of course, there are those things that you’re keeping ”just in case”. All this makes decluttering your house before relocating hard to do. That’s why you need to come up with some rules that will help you decide what to get rid of and what to keep. Don’t worry, we’ll help you out. We’ll give you some ideas to help you create your decluttering criteria.
- If it’s broken or torn – it’s time to part ways.
- You can probably do without the things you’re keeping just in case you need them in the future.
- Consider getting a new home for the things you don’t like anymore.
- If medicine, toiletries, cosmetics, or food are expired – get rid of them.
- The books you didn’t like and you’re not planning on re-reading don’t need to take up space on your shelves.
- We guess you’re ready to say goodbye to the things you don’t even remember owning.
Start with the big stuff – you can handle the rest later
If you want to thoroughly clear out your home and get rid of everything you don’t need, you probably want to go through all of your things. But, before you get into the nitty-gritty and start going through all your shelves and drawers, how about you declutter the big stuff first?
We know that decluttering your home before moving seems like a big job and it can feel pretty intimidating and overwhelming. But it doesn’t need to be difficult, you just need a good system. Well, one of the best things to do is to start by decluttering your furniture, for example. Leave your books, dishes and clothes for later. First, focus on getting the bigger items out of your home if you no longer need them.
This is a good starting point and it will be much easier to tackle the rest of your belongings if you take it step by step. Once you downsize your furniture, you’ll have the motivation to move onto other things. Plus, getting rid of bulky furniture you don’t need will make your shipment lighter and your moving services much more affordable!
Decluttering your closet: follow the 1-year rule
We’re all familiar with staring at our closet and thinking that we have nothing to wear even though our wardrobe is full of clothes. This happens because we’re holding on to things we no longer like, need or enjoy wearing. And little by little, we’re left with a closet full of clothes that are just collecting dust. Well, when you start to declutter your home before moving, it’s time to finally take care of your wardrobe.
Even though we have clothes we no longer wear, it can be hard to get rid of them. But if you’re trying to downsize your home, you need to be a little stricter with yourself. Luckily, there is one question you can ask yourself to make it easier to throw out some of your clothes. Have you worn it in the past year? If the answer is no, it’s probably time to donate that piece of clothing. After all, if you’re not even wearing it around the house, does it really need to take up space in your wardrobe? You can even consider really streamlining your closet and creating a so-called capsule wardrobe.
Categorize your things into piles when downsizing your home before relocation
Decluttering means that your home needs to get messy before it becomes clean. When you’re going through all your stuff and deciding what to keep, it can be pretty chaotic. To avoid the stress that comes with a messy home, you should separate your things into piles depending on what their destiny is. Here’s how to make decluttering more systematic and easier.
- Donation pile. If you have things that can make someone else happy even though they don’t serve you anymore, you can donate them or give them away.
- Trash pile. The things that are broken, falling apart, non-functional, etc. are better off in the trash. Make sure to recycle the things you’re throwing out, though.
- Sale pile. In case you’d like to earn some money in the process of decluttering your house before moving, you can sell some things online or in a yard sale.
- Keep pile. Finally, there must be some things you’re keeping. You can further organize those things into two categories: the things you’re putting in a storage unit LA and the things you’re taking to your new home.
Remember why you have to declutter your home before moving
Finally, when going gets tough and you feel like you can’t deal with going through everything you own and deciding if you want to keep it, you need to push through. Remind yourself why you’ve decided to declutter your home before moving in the first place. Remember that this step will make moving to New Orleans cheaper, packing will be easier and quicker, and your new home won’t be cluttered with things you don’t need. Your new space will look fresh, tidy and clean thanks to the time you devote to downsizing.
