Perhaps the hardest part about moving isn’t finding a home or selling your home. It’s moving. You never quite realize how much stuff you actually have until moving day. With so much clutter, you may, at times, want just to let the new owner of the home have everything. To help you declutter the house, Kip’s Cross Country Movers has seven essential tips that you need to know.

1. Spread It Out

One of the methods for making decluttering a lot easier is not to do it all in a single weekend. That’s a recipe for high-stress and a lot of exhaustion. Instead, spread decluttering over a series of weekends. For those who know that they’re going to move in a few months, then start decluttering the moment you decide that you’re going to move. You can start by tossing out junk, donating, and forming piles of items that you want to keep and items that you need to get rid of. By spreading the work over a few weekends or even a few months, the job is easier.

2. Have An Essentials Box

When it comes to the official moving day, one of the things you’ll need is an essentials box. This box will hold everything that you need to make it through the first night at your new place. It should have toiletries, your clothes, perhaps some food and cooking instruments, as well as anything else that you know you’ll need on that first night. This allows you to just relax once all of the boxes are placed in the home.

3. Donate

One of the best things to do with the excess of stuff that you have is to donate it. There are a ton of different organizations out there that are all too happy to take the stuff that you don’t need anymore. Some of those organizations re-sell it to those who don’t have a lot of money, while others may give it directly to the poor. Research the organization to find the one that acts in such a way that correlates with your values. Alternatively, you could sell items at a garage sale.

4. Be Practical

It can be difficult to get rid of clothes and items that have been with you for years. In order to help yourself be practical about what you need to keep, you can use a time limit. Take clothes, for instance. When was the last time that you wore a certain shirt? What is the likelihood that you will wear it again? If the answer is longer than a year, then it should be donated.

5. Using 3 Box Method

To make decluttering even easier, you should use the 3 box method. This method utilizes three boxes for keeping, trash, and for donating. Each room you go into should have three boxes in it. This can make transferring items faster and far more organized.

6. One Room At A Time

To also stay organized, you should clear out one room at a time. This also helps to keep you motivated. You’re able to see progress being made.

7. Rent Dumpster

Finally, rent a dumpster. It will allow you to just throw everything out at once. You won’t need to stockpile trash at your home for each trash day.

Planning A Garage Sale?

One of the best ways to downsize the contents of your home and to bring in some extra cash is to host a garage sale. These movers in St. Louis also point out, that decluttering before a move can save you money and stress on the move itself. For those who are desperate to get rid of their items and earn that money, you want to do everything that you can to bring traffic to your home. For certain people who don’t live in a subdivision, this may not always be easy. To help make your garage sale successful, here are seven strategies that you should consider.

1. Choose The Date Wisely

From the very start, your garage sale will either make it or fail based on the weekend that you choose to have it. You don’t want to do it on a weekend where a holiday is present. People tend to travel to see extended family during certain holidays. You should also try to focus in on days that are sunny and have mild temperatures. Extremely hot days in the summer are less likely to garner traffic.

2. Place An Ad

This is going to be an important part of ensuring that your garage sale garners a lot of attention. You should place an ad in various formats and in various places to reach a large audience. People can’t come to your garage sale if they don’t know about it. Here are some ideas for ad placements:

• Newspaper
• Facebook
• Other Social Media
• Signs
• Neighborhood Bulletin

3. Signage

Signs are actually an important part of garage sales. If you happen to live out in the woods or even in a crowded subdivision, you need to help people easily find your house. If they have to search hard just to find you, then you can be sure they’ll give up and go about their day. Place signs everywhere. You may even want to include key items for sale to entice them further.

4. Be Charming

Garage sales are social experiences. While some shoppers may be want to the left alone, others like to talk about the items and ask questions. You’re the expert on all of your items. When you speak with them, turn on the charm, be polite and warm, and they’ll take the item in a snatch.

5. Make That Personal Connection

Along with being charming, when you’re trying to sell an item to someone, you need to make that personal connection. Not necessarily between yourselves, but between the buyer and the item. They need to feel connected to it to buy it. A little savvy salesmanship and observation can equip you with the information that you need to forge that personal connection.

6. Baked Goods

How do you entice people over? You give them good-smelling food. Baked goods are an excellent choice for this strategy. They smell great and will get people with hungry stomachs to visit your garage sale.

7. Team Up

One last strategy is to host your garage sale during the time that your neighborhood does. It brings a lot of attention to the area as a whole and people can garage deal hop with ease. Just make sure that your signs are the most eye-catching to ensure most of that traffic stops at your place first.

You might be happy about the idea of moving into a new home. But if you’re like most people planning a move, you’re probably not so thrilled about the idea of actually having to get your stuff from point A to point B. After all, packing for a move can be a daunting and sometimes stressful task. However, this doesn’t have to be the case if you keep the following tips in mind when you’re moving.

1. Get Started as Early as Possible

Avoid the feeling of being rushed by starting your packing efforts as soon as you make your plans to move. There are many things you’ll likely be able to cross off your to-do list early in the packing process, some of which include:

• Packing non-essentials items (e.g., seasonal clothing and other things you don’t use on a regular basis)
• Sorting through your belongings to get rid of clutter or unwanted items you don’t really want to take with you
• Getting all of your necessary packing supplies together, so you’re not scrambling around at the last minute for boxes, tape, and other essentials

2. Go Room-By-Room

Avoid the temptation to do a little bit of packing here and there. The more orderly your packing methods are, the easier it will be to get everything set up in your new location. The better method is to do one room at a time. This way you won’t be mixing things from different rooms. Go a step further and use brightly colored tissue paper for breakables and other special items to reduce the risk of them being lost in the shuffle or damaged.

3. Label Everything

It’s easier than you may realize to get things mixed up when you move, so be sure to label everything. Labeling also helps the movers ID boxes that require a little more TLC and know where to put stuff in your new home. Also with labeling, it can be helpful to:

• Use quality markers not likely to fade or smudge
• Use different marker colors for each room
• Write down the specific room and a brief description of the contents of each box

4. Go with Packing Paper, Not Newspaper

Yes, newspaper may be cheaper, but it can also bleed and produce stains on some of your belongings. Instead, go with white or brown packing paper. Another option is to pack certain items within clothing or blankets for added protection.

5. Use Quality Moving Boxes

Again, it might be easier to snag some free boxes from some local stores. However, doing so might result in unpleasant surprises as you move, especially if you end up with boxes of varying sizes, or ones that are already damaged or weak. Moving boxes, on the other hand, are designed to be durable and sturdy in the right spots.

6. Don’t Overload Boxes

On a related note, just because you use actual moving boxes doesn’t mean they will be indestructible. Be mindful of how heavy you are making each box as you pack. One way to do this is by doing a self-check when you finish packing a box. If it’s too heavy or too awkward for you to carry, err on the side of caution and move some of the contents into another box.

7. Know What Shouldn’t Be Packed and What Needs Special Care

Not every item in your home can be neatly packed into boxes. With hazardous materials like cleaning products, some grilling equipment,  garage supplies, or even nail polish/remover, Great Guys Moving suggests checking with your moving company to see what can be safely transported and what will need to be disposed of. Also, you may want to either personally transport or make special arrangements for the following items:

• Valuable items or heirlooms
• Irregularly shaped items
• Important papers (e.g., wills, legal documents, medical documents)
• Electronic devices that have your personal information stored on them
• Houseplants

As for how long it will take to complete your move, use the size of your current living space as a guide. For instance, it normally takes about 3-5 hours to complete a two-bedroom move, although factors such as how many boxes you have and logistics issues will also determine how long the process will take. Still, the more prepared you are ahead of time, the more likely it is your moving experience will be pleasant and productive.

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