By Chuck Resnick
Moving to a new home is an exciting and stressful time. Think: a new space, a different layout, a blank canvas!
But before you move in, you’ve got to move out of the old. Lots of stuff means many boxes, which means lots of work. As they say about new beginnings: to make room for more, sometimes you’ve got to let things go.
In anticipation of the move, purge your belongings. There is value in decluttering your home before you move. The process itself forces you to itemize and organize your belongings, which is always helpful before tackling moving day.
Take note of what are your must haves, what will work in your new space and what you want to leave behind.
Know that when you hire a mover, you pay for space and time. Items for which you have no use or don’t need, if packed, take up valuable space in the truck that could be used to carry something else. Also, the labour and effort of properly packing and carrying those items costs you time. Don’t pay to transport something you don’t need. Moving needn’t be expensive if you plan properly. Consumers can help subsidize the cost of hiring a professional mover by selling unwanted items. Luckily for savvy savers, all it takes is a few keyboard clicks. In these tech-driven times, there are plenty of digital destinations that allow for easy and free advertisements. Use online classified websites or social media platforms to help spread the word and watch how quickly your goods get sold. Prefer the old fashioned way? Spread the message that you’re selling some items by word-of-mouth or posting posters in your neighbourhood or condominium bulletins.
A rewarding alternative to selling your items is to donate them. Find a home for those belongings by giving them to people in need. Donate your comforters and couches to your local women’s shelter. That old office desk you were going to leave behind could be someone else’s place of inspiration. That old jacket you haven’t worn in years could keep someone else warm today! Across the country there are shelters in need of donations.
Other alternatives could be donating to the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity and The Furniture Bank, as examples. Give someone else a fresh start from belongings that don’t make the cut for your new space.
For most, moving is an emotional time, in part because of the stress of packing but also because of the sentimentality of saying goodbye to a place they lived. Decluttering your home before a big move is valuable. Not only does it help with packing efficiency, which lends to it being financially helpful, but it also helps with the emotional stress of moving out and moving on.
Decluttering helps start the process of “goodbye” and gets you ready for all those “hellos” in your new neighbourhood.
Chuck Resnick is vice president marketing and operations, Two Men And A Truck Canada, a division of Herity.