Moving is already a difficult task on its own, with packing up all of your belongings, packing them into a truck, and then hauling them to wherever you’re moving. So how can you make moving a more manageable process? Many things can help with the process, but today we’ll be talking about the decluttering process. You have so much stuff in your current home, so how do you decide what to keep and bring with you to the new house versus what to get rid of by throwing away or selling and then buying new when you’re in your new place? Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss today.
First things first, if you’re thinking about bringing your appliances from your old house into your new home, I think that might be one of the most challenging things to do. Of course, this is not a situation that everybody is in, but if you happen to have to make this decision, I think the easiest thing to do is sell those old appliances. If you sell them, you can take any money you get and put that towards new appliances. Then, you don’t have to go through the difficulty of moving those big old things. Plus, you’ll have some cash to put toward the new ones.
Something else to discuss is clothing. Now, you obviously don’t want to get rid of all of your clothing, but you also shouldn’t keep it all either. You have a few different options here. First, make sure you’re going through your clothes in a way that makes you get rid of some. If you haven’t worn an article of clothing in months, it’s time to go. Then you can decide which clothing pieces are worth it to sell or if you should donate them. Clothes take up a big chunk of space, so moving all your clothes can be a difficult task.
Something that you should be keeping is your kitchenware. Once you move into your new home, you’re not going to want to buy all new pots, pans, utensils, glasses, etc. So make sure you’re packing everything and bringing it with you, carefully of course, because if you’re not careful, you might end up in a position of having to buy all new plates and glassware anyway!
Furniture can be a tricky one. I’d say to make sure you’re making smart decisions on which furniture to keep. Large furniture pieces are challenging to move, so you’re committing to keeping them. If you have an old couch or bed frame or something and you’re planning on buying a new one anyway, definitely sell it BEFORE the move, because then you can take that money and put it towards a newer, nicer couch or bed once you get to the new house. Plus, you won’t have to put in all of the effort to move those things.
If you have 15 bath towels from your college apartments and any other previous homes, then I think you need to go through those and get rid of a large chunk of them. Keep the towels you use the most and that are the newest and nicest, and then get rid of the rest. Keep enough for the people living in your home and then maybe a couple for a guest bathroom. Plus, if your towels are that old, I think it’s time for some new ones anyway. So throw away your old towels!
Along with the last one, the same goes for bed sheets. You don’t need three backup sets of sheets for your bed. One is enough, and if you are thinking about bringing more than that with you to your new home, maybe think again about how you could use that packing space more efficiently.
Now, let’s talk about all of the things in your bathroom. You don’t need to be bringing all of your almost empty Shampoo and Body Wash containers with you. Unless you’re using a super expensive shampoo, I’d say leave those behind and buy new ones because those will take up more space than it’s worth. Take the essential things with you, such as any medications, toilet paper, expensive face creams, toothbrushes, and whatever else is necessary for your bathroom. Don’t waste your precious space in your moving boxes on things that are very easily replaceable.
Now that you’ve gone through all of your things and have decided what to sell, where are you going to sell all of these things? So, there are many different ways to sell your things. One of the most popular right now is Facebook Marketplace. So many people use it and can make a good amount of money from their items.
There is also eBay, which is one of the sites that has been around a long time that people are consistently using. For clothing and some smaller home items, you can use the websites Poshmark and Depop. These are easy-to-use sites that help connect with people outside of just your area that you can sell clothing to and make some good money from. Another way is the old-fashioned garage sale! These are great, especially if you’re trying to get rid of some stuff quickly and aren’t concerned about the money as much. People love garage sales!
I hope this post was helpful to anybody in the process of moving and in need of some decluttering help! Come back soon to check out some more posts dealing with Real Estate, moving, and the Kenosha area!