One of the best times to have a good clear out is when you are planning to move home. No one wants to waste time and money on packing, transporting and unpacking things they don’t really want or need in the first place, so it makes sense to get rid of it beforehand. And as you’ll be going through all your stuff in any case it won’t take very much extra effort to separate what you don’t want to keep from the rest. Here are some suggestions to help you with your pre-move clear out.
Start Early
The best advice we can give is that you start as early as you can. So many people leave their packing until the last minute and it ends up being so rushed that everything just gets chucked in boxes regardless of whether it’s wanted or not (to sort out when you unpack – but we all know that’s not going to happen either!)
As well as giving you enough time to properly sort through your things so that you only need to pack what you actually want to move to your new home, starting early could also be an advantage in selling your home. The less clutter you have around your house the more easily potential buyers will be able to picture the house as their own. If things are well organised and neat buyers are also more likely to assume that you have taken good care of the house in general.
Have a Plan
Rather than just randomly trying to decide what to keep and what to get rid of, make a plan regarding how you’re going to tackle your clear out. Taking one room at a time is the most obvious. Go through each room thoroughly, including cupboard and stored contents, before moving onto the next.
It’s often recommended that you sort everything into 3 piles – one to keep, one to sell/donate and one to throw away. Once you’ve finished with a room then it helps to have somewhere to put the piles that you’re not keeping while you move onto the next room, so it might be worth clearing a space in a spare room or garage beforehand for this purpose.
Bear in mind that areas like your garage or loft are probably going to take longer than other rooms, so plan accordingly, perhaps allowing a full weekend to tackle each of them. Consider getting hold of some boxes that will fit through your loft hatch to make it easier to pass things down too. Although these areas will be hard work, it will definitely be worth it when you see how much extra stuff you can get rid of. Once things are in the loft or garage they tend to be forgotten about and you’re likely to find things you can’t believe you still have and wonder what made you keep it in the first place. By getting rid of it in advance, at least you won’t be spending time and money moving it to your new place only to put it back in the loft or garage there.
Getting Rid of the Junk
Of course once you’ve sorted everything out, you will need to get rid of all the junk you’ve decided not to keep. There are several options for this.
You could spend your weekends making lots of trips to the tip to get rid of it yourself, but depending on the type of vehicle you have this may not be practical even if you don’t mind taking the time. You could also hire a skip but this can be costly and you also need the space to store it.
The easiest option is to get a junk removal company to get rid of everything for you. You’ll have spent a lot of energy sorting things out, so having someone else do the hard work of carting your unwanted items away is the least you deserve!
Take a look at Junk Hunters house clearance service to see how we can help you with your move.