Learning how to declutter is an essential part of moving, as you don’t want to bring along things you don’t need. Whether you begin the decluttering process before you move or after you’ve already settled in your new home, tackling this challenge can help you prepare your new home for a more minimalistic lifestyle.
Whatever your style of organization, you could benefit from learning how to declutter your home and only keep the things you truly need.
What to Know When Packing
In some circumstances, you might be able to declutter your home before you pack to move into the next place you’ll live. You should keep an eye out for any items you can get rid of during this transitional process. The less you have to move, the better. If you’re hiring a moving service to help you transport your things, you might even pay less than expected if you have fewer things to move.
1. Pack Each Room Individually
You should aim to pack one room at a time. Rather than going through every room to find items at a different pace, focusing on one room will keep your head clear and give you an easy way to remember what you’ve already decluttered. As you go through each room, you can get rid of items that don’t serve you anymore.
2. Follow the KonMari Method
If you’d rather declutter by category, the KonMari method is an easy way to figure out what “sparks joy” in your life. If something makes you happy, then you should set it aside to keep. Items that don’t make you feel immensely happy when holding or being near them are things you should discard or give away. This method of decluttering has helped countless homes make space and find peace, and it can help you clear out yours, too.
3. Limit Your Boxes
You may not be able to control how many items you feel sentimental about, but you can control how much packing you do. Set a limit on the number of boxes you want to bring to your new home. Then, try to fit as much of your essential stuff into those boxes as you can.
You might be able to make exceptions for a few things, but the idea is that you’ll pack the priorities first. Everything else that comes after is just a want rather than a need.
4. Sift Through Seasonal Items
You should know how large your next place is before moving. Seasonal decorations can take up a lot of storage space, so it might be worth it to get rid of the ones you don’t need ahead of time. You’ll save a lot of packing space by not including them in your move.
5. Learn Why You Hold Onto Things
Some people hold onto things from past decades just because they have a nostalgic attachment, even if it’s something completely unnecessary, like a custom napkin from a grand event. Unless you can think of a better way to store these sentimental items, like in a shadowbox, it might be time to let them go.
You might not be able to keep every sentimental item you’ve collected over the years, but you can still have it as part of your life. Taking pictures of something sentimental can make it easier to throw something away or donate it. That way, you can always keep the items with you virtually.
How to Declutter After a Move
Sometimes a move comes quicker than you expect. You might not have time to go through all your belongings before packing up and moving away. In that case, you’ll have to declutter once you reach your new home.
You can set a goal to start decluttering the moment you move in. That way, you’ll focus on going through your belongings to get your home ready as quickly as possible.
1. Don’t Let the Clutter Inside
Your main priority should be going through your things and moving things you definitely want to keep indoors. When you don’t let the boxes inside except the one you’re currently working on, you’ll be focused on one thing at a time and won’t clutter your home while unpacking. Make sure to label your boxes appropriately so you can easily sift through them in an organized fashion.
If you have one, leave boxes in your garage to give you the space to sort through your belongings. Put necessary things in water-proof storage containers and label them accordingly so you can easily find them when needed. If you don’t have a garage, designate the boxes to an unused room in your home so they don’t take up all of your main floor space.
2. Look for Your Bad Habits
Identifying your bad habits will help you understand how clutter begins to accumulate in your home. Do you have a habit of dropping things on your kitchen table? Do you sometimes buy things even though you don’t have room for them? You should make a plan for how to deal with your bad habits to help you break them more effectively.
3. Find a Place for Everything
Once you designate a place for everything, you can create a plan for addressing clutter as soon as it inevitably comes into your home. Things like mail and bills can easily pile up, so if you have a designated spot for them, it’ll help your home look cleaner and neater. That way, you can have less stuff lying around and enjoy a more minimalist lifestyle.
4. Go Through Junk Drawers
One of the biggest enemies of minimalism is the clutter that no one knows what to do with. Junk drawers are often the drop-off points for clutter that doesn’t have a home. Going through your junk drawer, especially after you’ve been unpacking all your boxes, can help you find a home for things that would just be taking up space otherwise. It might also motivate you to finish unpacking.
5. Donate Books
Books are some of the greatest treasures you can have in your home. Still, they take up space, which isn’t ideal when downsizing. Since reading is an essential part of learning and can introduce people to new viewpoints, you can donate any books you haven’t read in a while or repurpose them as gifts to loved ones.
Organize Your Home to Your Standard
An organized home looks different to everyone, so don’t let someone else’s idea of minimalism pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do. You have a unique sense of style. If something looks busy yet nice to you, you can keep it. The concept of minimalism revolves around learning to do more with less — but you can follow your own rules for happiness.
Need organization assistance? We can help! We have professional organizers in NJ, NY, CT, MN, and FL.