Time to declutter before you move!

I am going to admit right now that I like stuff.  I am a COLLECTOR. However, about 5 years ago we decided to buy a house. I quickly realized that a lot of our stuff wasn't going to work in our new house, and to be honest there was lots of things we just plain didn't want to take with us. Where our old house had very few windows, our new house has windows everywhere. Where our old house had an entryway hallway, the front door of our new house opens right into our living room. Our old house had two bathrooms and a closet in each room. Our new home only has one bathroom and doesn't have enough closet space to go around.

Once you recognize the need to downsize your things, where do you even start? I suggest sorting through one room at a time, and pace yourself. When deciding what needs to go, I like to use a couple of methods. The first thing I do is decide if I NEED it, if I LOVE it, and if it MAKES ME MONEY.

NEED

There will always be items that you need-dishes, toiletries, clothing, etc. But you probably don't need a table setting for 25 and a closet that rivals Mia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi (the PrinCESS of Genovia-IYKYK). When sorting through the things you need, make sure you are being realistic. If you have a washer and a dryer, maybe the linen closed doesn't need to store your 20 favorite bath towels. You could probably downsize there pretty easily. So feel free to go through your closets, cupboards, drawers, and other storage areas and ask yourself if you actually use it. We don't need clothes that don't fit, more blankets than a family would ever need to keep warm with, and bags full of other bags in the basement. If you haven't used it in the last year, it's probably not a need.

LOVE

I said earlier that I am a collector. If you understood that to mean that I have one collection of something, that is...false. I collect lots of things. Vintage things, things I think are pretty, books I've read, books I am going to read, books I'll probably never read...I could go on and on. I love to surround myself with pretty things that I love to look at and use. I have some things that I collected and loved for a while, but then they no longer held an interest for me. Those things can go. If I don't love it anymore, then I don't need it. Does it matter if someone gave it to me? No-they gave it to me to enjoy and I did. I don't believe people who give me gifts want me to be weighed down by things that I no longer love or find useful. There are some things that I just love, and that is the only purpose they serve-they make me happy just to own them. There's no need to part with those things as long as I have a place to put them. 

MAKES ME MONEY

This is the category that uniforms, items for my business, office supplies, etc will go. Does it make me money? Then it stays. Does it no longer serve that purpose in my life right now? It can go.

The next thing you can use to decide is "Does it work in my new space?" As I said, my new house doesn't have anywhere near the wall space my old house did. So I put all of the things I used to hang on the wall in front of my family, and we decided what was important to us to hang up-the things that just made our house feel like a home. We discussed, debated, arm wrestled, and employed the use of Rock, Paper, Scissors until we felt everything important was represented on the walls in our new home. Some of our storage systems didn't work in the new house, and I had to get rid of some storage that I had relied on for two decades. What will work in your new space?

Now that you have sorted your stuff, there are a number of ways to get it out of your world. Let's be honest, some of this is going straight to the garbage. How did I live with this broken wooden spoon for so long? Why did I keep this bedsheet with the rip in the corner? You need to decide how much of this pile is garbage. Is there a lot? If so, you may want to look in to renting a dumpster. Rental is usually a few days and those things fit a LOT. 

A garage sale is a viable option if you have lots of things that you would like to make a little money from. See if any of your neighbors are having a sale, and coordinate with them. If you live in a town that has any festivals or parades, coordinating with those events will often time push some foot traffic your way. Anything large can also be listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. 

If a garage sale isn't something you are comfortable doing, or you just don't want the hassle, there are lots of places that will take your donation, and some of them even provide a pick-up service. Some towns have a clothing bank you can donate to. Do some research for charities in your area that take donations. 

No matter how much or how little you decide to purge before you move, any downsizing you do will help. It was my experience that getting rid of extra stuff was much easier to do before our move than after. It meant less boxes to move across town and into our new home. It meant feeling a little lighter as I set up our family's new space, and it gave me a chance to make this new place a fresh start for us. Although, I would still love a closet like Mia's-I think I'd look great in the royal jewels!


                                                                                                                ~Jenni Wahl





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