A SIMPLE GUIDE ON HOW TO DECLUTTER AND ORGANIZE YOUR BELONGINGS BEFORE AND AFTER MOVING

A Simple Guide on How to Declutter and Organize Your Belongings Before and After Moving

Organizing your items into piles of Keep, Donate, and Trash

Feb 03, 2023 By Guy Fuchs

Moving into a new home can be both exciting and exhausting. If you’ve accumulated a lot of stuff over the years, you’re probably panicking about how to get organized.

Not only do you have to pack up all your lifely belongings and ship them to a new location, but you also have to unpack them once they arrive. Fortunately, your moving company may be able to help you.

Just the fact that you don’t have to worry about packing, transporting, and unpacking your belongings should take plenty of weight off your shoulders. But, we also want to let you in on the secret to decluttering and organizing your belongings like a pro so that you can transition into your new life with ease.

How to Get Started

We all know that the worst part about moving is making that first move, or rather deciding where to start. Should you just jump into things, or should you take the time to create a master moving plan? More importantly, should you declutter or organize your belongings first?

If you want things to run as smoothly as possible, your best bet is to start by decluttering. In fact, this is a great way to ensure that the packing and moving process goes as quickly and efficiently as possible.

An organizer beginning to sort through the boxes

How to Get Started

Decluttering Your Home Like a Pro

Needless to say, we all have possessions that we don’t use anymore or clothing that our children (in case we have them) have grown out of. It would be incredibly unproductive to pack them up and take them to your new home.

First of all, that would mean packing and transporting more boxes. Secondly, you would likely end up throwing these needless belongings out in the end. Here’s our recommendation for how to get started.

Declutter Room-By-Room

Our first piece of advice is to declutter your home room-by-room. Some people decide to declutter item by item, which can be counter-productive. For example, if you choose to dispose of all the paper-related items in your home, you’ll end up spending your entire day pacing back and forth, needlessly exhausting yourself. And when you check your progress after a few hours, you’ll probably end up with a half-empty trash bag.

Empty Out Everything

Bear with us on this one. When decluttering, make sure to empty every single container, box, bag, and drawer in your room. Get everything out in the open, and take a look at what you’re dealing with. Most people are afraid of doing this because they think it will make them feel overwhelmed. However, it will actually give you a clear picture of your progress.

The good idea is to make three piles: a pile for things to keep, one for things you’re not sure about, and a pile for things you plan on throwing away. It’s completely up to you if you want to declutter the items by category or not.

If you decide to do so, then consider starting with paper items, as paper usually accumulates the most. Separate your documents, manuals, books, notebooks, and other things into the three piles we mentioned.

Dealing With Clothing

Decluttering your closet may seem like an endless task. However, with the right strategy, you can get rid of all the needless items from your closet in a day or even less.

Start by separating all your clothes into piles. One pile is for clothes you wear all the time, the second one is for clothes you rarely wear, and the third one is for items you haven’t worn for quite a while.

From there, you only have to declutter two piles, and you can immediately pack the clothes you wear all the time.

Also, before you decide to keep a clothing item, take the time to really think about whether you’re actually going to wear it. Anything you’re not 100% happy with should be donated or sold.

And to be honest, this system is useful for other items as well, not just clothing.

Benefits of Using a Packing and Moving Company

Some people have second thoughts about letting movers pack up and transport their items. But if only they knew how much time and energy they could be saving!

First of all, a professional moving company will treat all your items, whether they’re big or small, with the utmost care. Movers should always use high-quality packing materials, as well as furniture, wall, and floor protection.

Free Quotes and Promotions

Another important aspect of moving is your budget. There’s no way for you to know how much money you’ll need to set aside. So how can you find out?

Some of the best moving services offer free quotes. If you’re interested, all you have to do is fill out a quick online questionnaire, and you’ll get an estimate. Furthermore, you can even find some useful promotions that will slash the price even more.

A family unpacking themselves in an organized fashion

Decluttering After You Move

Once you arrive at your new residence, you’ll have all the freedom in the world to decorate the walls with family pictures, move in your old furniture or buy some new furnishing, and fill your closets with clothes you’re going to wear.

But now, you need to prepare for round two of decluttering. It’s safe to say that no one can get rid of all the clutter in one go, which is perfectly fine. When you start opening all the boxes you’ve packed, you’ll probably see a few things you don’t need, so set them aside. And, if you start noticing more and more items you don’t need in your life, use the three-pile method again.

Declutter Your Way Into a New Life

Once you’ve done two rounds of decluttering, there’s no doubt you will feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

Remember, most people will decide to declutter after moving into their new home, especially if they’d like to create a different kind of ambience. With that in mind, getting rid of all that useless junk during your first round of decluttering will really make a lot of difference!

Hi, my name is Brennan Reid. I am the founder of Aristotle Organizing and the primary writer of this blog.

We specialize with young successful individuals looking for help when it comes to unpacking and organizing their busy lives. By incorporating beauty and function into each project, clients are able to not only see the changes, but feel them. Learn more about what we do…

Aristotle Organizing

Aristotle Organizing is a professional Organizing company founded by Brennan Reid. Aristotle specializes in Decluttering, Unpacking, and Organizing. Discover how to get started here!