Decluttering for House Move

[HopeDog10]

So far, I have taken 5 black bin bags filled to the brim to the skip, donated 8 black bin bags of toys, clothes, misc to charity and sold about a bags worth.

It still seems like my house is filled to the brim with clothes and toys! I need to be more ruthless. Help?!

It's amazing how much crap you can accumulate over the years.

Just try to get rid of anything no longer used or loved. Sounds like you are off to a great start. Be brutal. The more you get rid of the less you have to clutter up your new home.

Don't choose what to throw away. Choose the best to keep.

Do a second sweep! And then a third of each room. I did 3 declutters before we moved and still had loads i got rid of once we moved.

Thank you! Definitely going to do another once over tomorrow, and I love the idea of what I want to keep, oppose to what I want to get rid of.

Do you know where you are moving to? Having a clear vision of what is going where in the new (or hoped for) house is soooo helpful. Everything else can just go.

Great idea! Thank you. To come into my current home you wouldn't think I had so much, but every nook and cranny has more clutter hidden.

I am determined to have a fresh new home.

I found it helpful to imagine ‘would I put this item into my beautiful new home?’ Whether the new place is beautiful or not (yet) otherwise I found I was keeping things ‘just in case’ or they’ll do’

I’ve moved twice in the last three years. The most recent was in the last year so the horror is still fresh in my mind.

I thought I’d decluttered before we moved but I’ve still been to the tip and charity shop an extraordinary number of times.

If you’re paying for movers (even if you’re just hiring a van and doing it yourself you’re still paying in time and fuel) it helps to think ‘would I pay x amount to move this/have this delivered to the new house?’

Absolutely right - keep only the things you would want to take with you when you move. Everything else is a goner. I am the complete opposite of a hoarder. Can't bear clutter and pointless shit. There is nothing in our attic as I have always refused to put anything in there. My favourite thing/special treat is renting a skip!

We massively decluttered before selling our last house. Skips, charity shops collecting hundreds of boxes etc. We really wanted the house to look uncluttered and gorgeous so we also put a lot of ‘good’ stuff in a storage facility as a temporary solution.

It all worked, our neat, beautiful house sold quickly and we moved into the new house within about 3 months. Super speedy for the U.K.

Roll on 8 months and we excitedly visited the storage unit to collect all the precious items we had paid £100 a month to store.....only to discover a load of stuff we had forgotten we owned and didn’t miss. Luckily it was all boxed up so it was easy enough to take it straight to yet more charity shops or eBay it and arrange collection direct from the locker. I would say we kept less than 25% of what had once seemed important.

So,that’s your answer, box it, store it and realise you didn’t actually need it or want it, you were just clinging to it out of habit.

I did a massive declutter when moved to current home when marriage broke down but now, 4 years on and I'm needing to move again (can't afford current house which ex made me buy but he has, in his defence, paid the mortgage for it), the mere thought of packing everything up and de cluttering yet again is making me feel very down.