When you decided a few months ago to move to a new home, you were wildly excited. It’s fun to arrange furniture in your imagination and go shopping for fresh furnishings to decorate your new home.
Now moving day is looming and it’s time to start packing. You wander around opening cupboards asking yourself how you ever managed to accumulate so much stuff. Where did you get some of these things and why are you even keeping it? Suddenly moving sounds more like hard work than fun.
Tempted to stuff everything in boxes and sort it out after the move? Don’t even think about it. If you are in two minds about the necessity of decluttering, consider that it will be just as much work to sort and toss before you move as after. Plus, if you leave it for after you will have the extra effort of packing and unpacking, the additional cost of packing materials, and cost and effort of transporting everything to your new home. Having a good toss-out before you relocate is a smart move.
Gain momentum by starting with the big things. Large pieces of furniture will be the smallest category of items in your move. Use the floorplan of your new home and a measuring tape to determine which pieces of furniture go where. You can dispose of anything that won’t fit or that you will replace. Try selling unwanted furniture through smalls ads and online. Selling items could even help to fund your move.
Now that you’ve made a start move on to things that you won’t need again until after the move. Sort your sports equipment, hobbies, collections, and bookshelves. Small appliances and fancy gadgets tend to be left forgotten at the back of cupboards. Haul them out and decide whether they will be useful in your new home. Have two boxes and a bin bag next to you as you work. Either pack it for the move, or donate to charity, or throw it out. Remember to label your moving boxes so you can easily identify them later. Stack the boxes you have packed for moving in one area of the house. If you haven’t done so already, this is an excellent time to make a moving day checklist. You will feel motivated and in control when you see how your plans progress, and it will help you to estimate how much time you still need to prepare before the move.
Next, move on to personal items such as documents, clothing and toys. This is an area where you need to be ruthless. As you go through cupboards, ask yourself whether you will feel happy to see these items when you open the boxes in your new home. If the answer is no, don’t bother taking them along. Do all those old letters and birthday cards you haven’t looked at in years still serve a purpose in your life? Why keep the clothes at the back of your cupboard that don’t fit anymore or have become unfashionable? What to do with the toys your children have outgrown? Donate it to charity or toss it in the bin.
As moving day approaches, go through bathroom cabinets and kitchen cupboards. Check food in the fridge and freezer. Dispose of food and medicines past their use-by date. By now most cupboards in the house should be empty or contain the bare necessities to last until moving day. You should have a stack of boxes containing only your favorite things, labelled and ready to start a happy chapter in your new home.
Now that you’ve done all the hard work sorting and tossing out, there’s probably much less to move than you feared. Hiring a moving company to do the relocation to your new home might be more affordable than you think. Metropolis Moving is a privately owned and operated New York City Moving Company. We’re dedicated to being the fastest, friendliest, and most trusted movers in NYC. Ask us for a quote today.
