Planning Your Move to a New Home

Are you thinking of moving and getting super stressed about where to start? During my career as a Professional Organizer,  I have helped dozens of clients prepare for their move, unpack, and set up their new homes. With that experience in mind, here are four things you should consider when planning your move to a new home.

Four Points to Consider

1. 1. Start editing and purging a year in advance of the move. If you have a limited amount of time each week and a large home, start decluttering long before that. It took me a year in my own house. I went through every closet, cupboard, room – and garden shed – to evaluate what I would take when I downsized.
   2. Avoid these three very dangerous words as you declutter, “just in case.” The Minimalists have a great suggestion if you struggle with this scenario. If you can replace an item in 20 minutes for less than $20, you can let it go. 99% of the time, you will never purchase it again. As I went through my things, I discovered I could keep everything if I allowed “just in case” to be the rule. Asking the $20/20 minute question helped me immensely.
   3. Look closely at everything you own and consider whether you love it enough to move it to a new home. In many cases, you will pay movers by the hour to take the stuff out of your old house and into your new one. Are those items worth it? Consider everything from furniture to artwork to pots and pans to linens.
   4. Once you have chosen your new home, re-evaluate everything you kept during the first round of editing. I hope the goal for your new home is to have only what you use and truly enjoy around you and ensure that absolutely everything has a place. I have had clients drag boxes and bins of stuff to a new home only to pile them in the basement or a storage locker and leave it there for months or years. Please don’t do this!

Start Now and Enjoy Later

If you start planning your move to a new home now, you can enjoy your beautifully decluttered current home before you move. Why not let go of all that stuff now, “just in case” you don’t need it in the future?

Please share these tips on your social media pages. After all, we all know someone who is moving, and they might need a little help getting started.