One of the best gifts you can give yourself when you’re about to move to a new house is the gift of a clutter-free home to pack up. Imagine unpacking at your new home, and everything you pull out of your moving boxes is something that you regularly use!
Packing is usually a stressful activity for most families. That’s because our houses fill up with junk we have accumulated over the years. Whether it’s old DVDs, tiny trinkets, or well-loved toys that are no longer played with, most of us have items lying around that we’ll probably never use again.
Before you move house, do a massive clear-out and rid your home of all these possessions. This will make your boxes lighter and your packing time shorter. Don’t delay – you’ll be kicking yourself if you don’t bother decluttering before the big move. Keep reading to find out our top 6 home decluttering tips to streamline your belongings.
Tip 1 – Start with Your Closet
One of the biggest offenders for items we never use is old clothes. Most of us have fancy dresses, old suits, or other clothing items around that we haven’t worn in years. The first thing to do is check whether these even fit you, so go ahead and try them on. If the clothes are too small, then pop them onto your pile of stuff to donate. If they fit, consider whether you may actually have a use for this garment in future. Even if you do get invited to a fancy event, in all likelihood, you will end up wanting to purchase a brand-new outfit anyway.
Tip 2 – Deal with the Linen Closet
Most families have entire duvet and sheet sets that don’t even fit the beds in their homes. Whether it’s because your child outgrew their single bed or you have downsized your own, it’s time to get rid of these. You can always donate them to families in need who require more warm blankets for their homes. Go through every single sheet and duvet in the cupboard and if it doesn’t fit on a bed in your home or it’s torn, get rid of it.
Also, check your towels – you likely have older ones that you never use but keep around as a last resort. Are you really going to have a towel crisis? If you don’t use it regularly, get rid of it.
Tip 3 – Clean Out the Spare Room
If you are lucky enough to have a spare room in your home, it’s more than likely that over time, anything you don’t know what to do with has made its way into there. Slowly, one item at a time, many people’s spare rooms become the ‘junk room’. The time to tackle it is now, before you move. Go through everything in your spare room; if it’s been sitting there for a long time, consider whether you realistically think you will ever use it. If not, add it to that ever-growing pile of donations.
Tip 4 – Rid Your Kitchen of Chaos
The kitchen is yet another room in the home that often gets filled up with things that we never use. Maybe you bought a certain baking dish for a recipe but never had a reason to pull it out again. Or perhaps you still have the mismatched cutlery from your flatting days along with your nicer utensils, ‘just in case’. It’s time to let go of what you no longer use. If you haven’t used a baking dish in the last year, it’s time to say goodbye. When you move, having fewer kitchen items can make your boxes much lighter and save you time and money in the process. Plus, if you are thinking about moving soon, you may want to buy new kitchen items to suit your new home.
Tip 5 – Rid Your Fridge of Expired Foods
While you’re clearing out the kitchen, make sure that you give your fridge a good clean-out. Do you have expired food items in there? Most of us do – from chutneys given to you by a well-meaning relative to old sauce bottles, check the used by date on everything. If it doesn’t have one, throw it out. Check older containers for signs of mould, as this will help you to avoid accidentally eating food that has turned bad. This way, you’ll be able to more easily find the ingredients you’re looking for when you open your fridge.
Tip 6 – Organise Your Garage
Doing an overhaul of your garage is a huge undertaking that’s extremely time-consuming. So, it may seem like a pain to do it right now, but you’ll thank yourself when it comes time to move. Once you are moving, you will have a million other things to do, so get your garage sorted out now.
Most of the objects in your garage can likely live in boxes permanently. You may want to invest in some plastic storage containers so that you can sort items into categories and keep similar things together. For example, you could have a box of loose cords, one for power tools, and one for spare bike parts. Ensure that you label each container so that you can easily find the pieces you need when you’re looking for them. As you will keep these things in boxes permanently, you can just load them onto the moving truck and unload them straight into your new garage at the other end – no packing or unpacking required.
If you are considering moving to a new home sometime soon, it also pays to research good moving companies ahead of time. Often, the best ones fill up far in advance, so make sure that you book in as soon as you know your moving date. Some movers will even pack up your home and clean it for you, so you don’t have to lift a finger. Move the easy way by decluttering your home before you even have a new place to move to. This will make it so much easier for yourself when the time comes to shift.
