7 Tips for Decluttering Your Home Before a Move

Planning to relocate to a new home soon? Great to hear! As enticing as it is to start a fresh chapter of your life, you’re probably more than a little overwhelmed by all the tasks you have to do leading up to the big move. 

From contacting utility companies to coordinating with your child’s school and your workplace, there are a lot of things you’ll have to juggle to successfully get the entire move sorted out.

One important activity you have to do before the move is sorting out your belongings. You’ve likely accumulated years’ worth of clothing and paraphernalia throughout your stay. And as sentimental as these items may be, a handful of them will probably find better use than taking up space in your new home.

In this article, we’ll give you seven actionable tips to help you declutter your home effectively. Let’s explore these decluttering techniques in more detail.

Tackle One Room or Section at a Time

Before you start decluttering things, you may have a few key items in mind that you want to throw away immediately. But instead of zipping past the garage and the kitchen and back again to get these items, consider clearing your space one room at a time.

Taking an organised cleaning approach and cleaning rooms one by one promotes efficiency and thoroughness. 

A single room is significantly easier to navigate and clean compared to multiple rooms simultaneously. By tackling one room at a time, you’re making it easier for yourself to plan an effective cleaning approach and get into the cleaning groove without going back and forth across different rooms.

Besides being faster and more convenient, it also prevents cross-contamination of harmful pathogens. You wouldn’t want kitchen gunk to make its way to your attic, which can cause insect and bacterial outbreaks. Cleaning one room at a time allows you to pause and freshen up, reducing the risk of cross-contamination.

Lastly, by focusing your cleaning efforts in one room at a time, you’ll be less prone to falling for distractions—helping set yourself up for cleaning success. That said, be sure to employ the next couple of cleaning tips too for the best outcomes.

Sort Belongings By Boxes

Don’t just throw your items in a single box with no rhyme or reason. It’s essential to categorise these decluttering boxes to ensure that your items are properly handled after decluttering.

In particular, you should have four specific box types during your cleaning sessions. Each should be labelled to keep, to donate, to sell, and to dispose of. 

Your to-keep box should include things that you frequently use and don’t want to leave behind. These are valuable items that are meaningful to you. The donate box generally includes items in good condition that don’t resonate as much with you anymore.

The to-sell box is for useful, saleable items that can net you a quick buck. You can gather these items and sell them in a garage sale or list them on online marketplaces. 

Lastly, the to-dispose box should be reserved for items to be thrown away. Be sure to dispose of items legally—you can find a rubbish removalist in your area to help you with your disposal needs.

As you go through each item in the room you’re cleaning, figure out which box suits it best, and chuck (or gently lay) them in there. Do this for all items across all rooms. If you need multiple types of boxes, get them from stores. Sticking with this process can help make the relocation more manageable and easy to track.

Dispose Methodically (and Ruthlessly)

When you declutter, it’s important to do so with logic and reason in the forefront. It can be tempting to browse through old mementos and photographs and enjoy the nostalgia from them—but if you’re on a time crunch, then you should reserve the reminiscing for a later time.

Instead, focus on assessing the item’s worth and disposing of the ones that don’t meet your standards. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t see or use the item in a year, then you likely don’t need it and it can be thrown away.

That said, if you hold onto things with a sentimental heart, it can be tough. If you want to make things easier for yourself, then we suggest focusing on the least essential things first. 

For instance, you can focus on throwing away actual rubbish like expired canned food, last year’s test papers, torn clothing, and broken decorations. Throwing these items can give you a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction—and can put you in the decluttering mood.

From there, move on to dealing with more precious items. If you have some space in your new home to store sentimental items, then by all means, keep them. However, it’s important to remain rational when you approach the decluttering process. This is especially true if you have a hoarder’s mentality. 

If you don’t want to completely remove them, you can hand out some items to relatives for safekeeping. This way, they can enjoy the item while you can also still have the satisfaction of being able to access it when you want.

Enlist Additional Assistance

It doesn’t need to be said that decluttering can be an arduous physical task. 

For people with physical limitations or busy timetables, decluttering an entire house by themselves can be next to impossible. This is especially true if it’s a big house with decades worth of stuff.

In such situations, enlisting the help of third parties can be a good saving grace. You can go the easy route and call up some family members and friends to help out.

However, if you want to ensure that you’re disposing of your belongings properly, then consider hiring professional removalists to get the job done for you.

Not only do they have specialised training to help clear your home and dispose of rubbish safely and correctly, but they also have the best tools in their arsenal to perform all sorts of decluttering tasks.

Whether you hire a professional or some friends, they can both help shoulder the burden of moving, freeing you time to do other things.

Give Yourself a Generous Timeline

As much as possible, avoid leaving cleaning duties to the very last minute. 

Postponing it to days before moving day can leave you scrambling and stressing about the entire decluttering process. This isn’t only mentally taxing, but it can also make you more prone to making errors when decluttering.

Instead, be sure to set at least two months before the big move-out day to declutter. This way, you can space out your decluttering process and make it more manageable to handle alongside the rest of your moving duties.

Ideally, you should be decluttering about 10 to 30 minutes a day for multiple days instead of one big deep clean day. This gives your mind enough time to reset before cleaning, which can be beneficial in allowing you to declutter the right things.

Dispose of Hazardous Waste Properly

When cleaning your home, you’ll likely come across chemicals and items that don’t fit your standard general waste category.

In such cases, you should dispose of hazardous waste properly. Collect items like batteries, pesticide packages, and flares and place them in their respective council drop-off points. 

For recyclable items, drop them off in their respective recycling facility spot as well. 

By being proactive in managing these types of waste, you’ll help contribute to better environmental and human conditions for the local community.

Avoid Buying New Stuff in the Meantime

We know how tempting it can be to buy that new dress or that fancy new jewellery piece. 

But if you’re about to move to a new home, hold off on that purchase for just a little bit longer!

You should, as much as possible, stick to your downsizing goals when you’re weeks away from making a major move.

By doing so, you can remain disciplined and stay committed to seeing your goals through to the very end. 

This can mean having an inviting and cosy new house with minimal clutter, so definitely try to stick to your goals if you want to see those dreams come to fruition.

*This is a collaborative post