To Make Your Move Easy, Do This
Moving can really, really suck. It's a lot of work, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of energy, it makes you really sweaty. It's not fun.
I’ve moved a few times in my day, and as a professional organizer, I’e also helped a lot of my clients move. There are a lot of things you can do to make the actual day of the move easier, which I’ve covered here, but there is one thing you should do before your move to make the whole process so much easier:
Declutter as much as possible before you move. I would even go so far as to say you should be absolutely ruthless in getting rid of things before you move.
Here’s why. The trouble starts when you get to the other end of a move and you start unpacking in your new home. After you get through the basics - I unpacked the sheets and I made the bed so I can sleep, I unpacked the kitchen and I put away the pots and pans so I can cook - you get into all the other boxes and start asking yourself, what even is this? I didn't know I owned this, I don't want this, and I don’t know what to do with it. And I’m so out of energy after this move that I don’t want to do anything about all this extra stuff that I moved.
This, my friends, is how busy people end up with moving boxes in a basement, garage, or attic two, five, seven, or more years after the original move. I’m not saying that to judge anyone, by the way. There’s no moral value attached to how well you moved and unpacked your stuff! You’re a human being, and you ran out of time and energy, and you just felt done.
That’s why the biggest gift you can give yourself as you’re approaching a move is to declutter. Make sure to give yourself plenty of time, at least a couple of months so that you can do an hour of work here and there and not feel like the decluttering process is taking over your life. Plus, the more time you give yourself, the less likely you are to make panicky last minute decisions that you’ll later regret!
And if you want to speed up the decluttering process or need some support with ruthless decluttering, reach out to a professional organizer! I can help you virtually, or in person if you’re in my service areas of San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and Santa Barbara/Ventura.
Happy moving!
LMW
