Moving can be one of life’s most stressful events – but a well-considered approach will be your secret weapon to tackling the overwhelming job at hand.
It’s all about some careful planning and focusing on reducing what you take with you to lighten the load. Leave behind what you don’t want (or need) and give yourself a fresh, new start.
By applying three simple actions – clear, sort and dispose – you’ll ensure every item has a need and a place in your new home.
Over the 10-plus years I’ve helped people organise their lives, I’ve discovered most homemakers want to pack up and move out asap.
It’s only natural to want to bypass the ‘clear, sort, dispose’ process to what can often be experienced as a mild form of trauma.
Visualising your new space and having clear ideas about how you want it to look can be helpful.
Tools like Pinterest and Instagram are great ways to start creating ideas to imagine your new home well in advance of it becoming a reality.
This process is also useful to help steer decisions around what to get rid of before it ends up packed in a box.
So, what’s next? Here are five tips to get you started.
1. One step at a time
Concentrate on getting one area done at a time. This may be one room, one cupboard or even one drawer. Start in the space or room that you use the least.
2. Sort and clear
If you still have any stored boxes that are full, start with these and donate, dispose, recycle. We often keep items that we never use (or need) and hide them away. Pull them out and get started there.
Read more: 9 clever tips to make moving house a lot easier
3. Declutter
Long before the actual move date, start deciding what comes with you and what gets tossed using the ‘clear, sort and dispose’ actions.
Still struggling? Just remember you’re paying people to carry only the items you need, love and want.
Read more: Keep vs throw: Decluttering the bedroom
4. Treasures and keepsakes
Create a keepsake box for each member of the family. This will keep all their special items that we love and want to look back on all in one place.
5. The clothes stash
Pull together all of those bags of too-small, decades-old clothes and items to pass onto family and friends. Diarise an afternoon to deliver them or drop them into the charity bins. This will feel great.
Congratulations, you’ve done it! Be sure to toast your efforts and your new start.
This article was originally published as 5 organising tips to consider before moving by www.realestate.com.au and is written by Carly Jacobs