Pre-Move Purging in 5 Easy Steps
This post was originally written on February 8, 2018, when we lived in California.
I lived in the same house from birth through college. I collected a lot of stuff back then.
After high school, I lived in four dorms in four years, then four apartments in four years. Thankfully, things slowed down after that, but the moves got longer. My husband and I bought our first house in 2010 in New Jersey. We sold it in 2014 and moved to California. In 2016, we moved to Texas. The last two long-haul moves were accomplished with one kid (the latter with the second on the way). We think we are done, but we might consider a move slightly closer to downtown if our commutes change.
To say we are gluttons for punishment is an understatement. But, we are also very experienced at moving.
I used to keep everything from move to move. To be fair, apartments in Manhattan, NY in the new-grad price range don’t offer much storage, so there wasn’t all that much back then. Upgrading from a small apartment to a big house doesn’t create much of a reason to get rid of stuff. Moving cross-country sure does.
Our move from New Jersey to California really changed my perspective on things and what’s truly important. We downsized by half – from about 3000 square feet to about 1400, and we got rid of half of our things. Despite not collecting much stuff while in California, and moving back into a larger home in Texas, we still got rid of half of our remaining things.
Here are 5 steps that summarize how we did it.
1. Identify the Large Items
If you know the size of your new home, measure the furniture. Decide what will fit. Get a floor plan with measurements and draw the furniture in, to scale. Figure out if your large mattress will fit through the door and up the stairs without being folded. Determine what will survive the journey. Choose things you still like. Compare the cost of shipping versus buying new.
2. Sell, Donate, or Give Away the Large Things
Start early. If selling, this will give the best odds of getting a good price. Don’t give away your bed months before you move, but start surveying potential new owners. Resources like Craigslist, Facebook, and NextDoor can be an excellent resource of neighbors looking for a good deal on gently used things. Goodwill can often take furniture donations, but it’s best to call to make sure they have room. If you do donate, ask for a receipt and save it in your tax folder.
3. Get Organized
Once planning for the large ticket items is under way, start on the small stuff. I used a corner of the office space as a “discard pile”. Using some empty boxes or bins for these can be helpful – use one for items to sell or give to friends, one for items to donate, and a garbage bag for trash. When any of these get full, take them out and send them to the appropriate place.
Start with an area that seems least overwhelming where you face the least emotional attachments. This may be the pantry, your closet, or the junk drawer in the kitchen. When these are done, move on to other areas, working on one room at a time.
4. Release Emotional Attachments
As you reach items with sentimental value, ask yourself:
- When was the last time I used this thing?
- Am I attached to the thing or the memory associated with it?
If the answers to these are “I don’t know” and “Just the memory”, let it go. Pass it on to a family member or friend who may enjoy a memory for a while. Donate it, or throw it out. Take a picture of it if you want a visual to associate with the memory.
Photographs are my one exception to this rule, but often you can digitize these (and back them up). This can be time consuming and may not be worth doing with all the chaos of a move. There are also services such as ScanMyPhotos (which I have never tried, by the way, so I can’t vouch for them – but if try them or a similar service, please let me know!) that will do the leg work for you, for a fee.
5. Be Ruthless
Plan to get rid of half of your things. You don’t need three rubber band balls, or a box full of “spare pens” your dad got from a conference in 1985 (they’re probably dried up anyway). Get rid of the old box of VHS movies – you haven’t even had a VCR since college. You don’t need 300 DVDs or Blu-Ray videos either with all of the streaming service availability today. (For home videos, check out this article for tips on digitizing.)
Other items for the outbox: puzzles and games with missing pieces, clothes that don’t fit or you wouldn’t be caught dead in, toys the kids have outgrown, old cell phones, 80 “tipsy shooter” shot glasses, sports equipment you bought with the best intentions and never used, expired food in the pantry, and kitchen gadgets you never use (Yellow Egg Cuber Cutting Tool, anyone?)
Once you’ve downsized by half, repeat!