It’s the opportunity for a fresh start. Decluttering before you begin packing is a great way to honour all of the times you’ve had in your home before beginning a new journey.
Decluttering your home not only lightens the load you’ll have to pack up, saving you valuable time, money, and effort, but will give you perspective on what you actually need in your life.
It begins with a little organization:
Tackle one room at a time. It’s less overwhelming and helps you focus on the task at hand.
A variation on “Keep, Toss, Donate,” take the 12-12-12 challenge. Locate 12 items in each category—12 to throw away, 12 to give away, 12 to sell—and in one fell swoop you’ve decluttered your life of 36 items! Repeat as needed.
Simply take it day by day. Set yourself a certain number of days to devote to decluttering, then set a certain task for each day. For example, on Day 1, tackle everything paper-based. Books, user manuals, documents, etc. On Day 2, everything electronic in the home, and so on.
Be prepared. Have garbage and recycling bags, moving boxes, a shredder, etc. on hand so you’re not wasting time and getting side-tracked during the actual decluttering process. Creating visually segregated areas for items you’re just not sure about is also helpful. Are they broken? Need batteries replaced? Still good but unlikely that you’ll use it? Much like keep, toss, donate/sell, this will help you easily identify and take out the trash.
Moving is an emotional time. If you really can’t decide on some items now, get yourself a storage unit to house them. This gives you time until post-move to see if you’ve been able to live without, or really can’t!
Where to find new homes for your things:
Now your move really will be a fresh start, decluttered of the past.
Come get a sense of our food, friendliness, and our wealth of activities. We’d love to show you around our gracious spaces and then treat you to lunch.
