For most of us, moving house can take up a large chunk of time and effort. From selecting the best furniture removal option to suit your needs, to individually packing possessions into boxes ahead of a move.
So how can you effectively save time and money while streamlining your house move? By downsizing of course!
If you’re looking for ways to downsize your belongings to save time or to move into a smaller home, we’ve got you covered. Read on below for our favourite tips on downsizing your home.
Get Started
One of the hardest things to do when it comes to decluttering your belongings is to actually get started. By giving yourself at least two or three months before your moving date to fully declutter, you’ll have ample time to go through all your items and make better decisions when it comes to sorting your things.
Don’t forget, you’ve spent years and years accumulating all of your things and will need as much time as you can ahead of your move to sort them out.
Start With A Small Room
The thought of going through every single item in your home in order to declutter can be rather daunting at first. To avoid feeling overwhelmed before you even begin, start by decluttering a small room first.
Starting with a small room such as the laundry or a small storage space can be easier because it’s an area with little emotional attachment and you won’t have to think too much about whether or not to discard the objects in those spaces.
Room By Room
Work your way through decluttering your entire home by cleaning up one room at a time instead of going from room to room. You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment by working in this way and finishing what you start.
Working room by room will also help with keeping track of what areas you’ve completed for a more efficient declutter. When sorting through your things, make three piles: “keep”, “donate” and “sell” for a quick sort.
Moving Into A Smaller Space
If you are downsizing your home to an apartment or smaller home, you’ll have to consider a heavier declutter. Will your new place have fewer rooms or less storage space than your current place? If so, you’ll have to decide what to do with all of your things that won’t be moving to your new place.
Get Rid Of Unwanted Things
Scaling down your possessions ahead of your move will make for a faster, easier relocation and save you time and money as well along the way.
Here are some things to consider when decluttering your belongings:
- Scale down your large items – create some more space by removing larger, bulkier items first. This should clear up some additional floor space which will help when going through your belongings.
- Pack The Keepers First – once you’ve made a decision to keep an item, carefully pack it away into a moving box so that it’s out of the way and ready for your move.
- Remove Dupes – eliminating duplicate items, is a quick way to reduce the number of items you take with you to your new place.
- Give Away Your Things – giving away some of your unwanted belongings to family, friends or to a charity is a great way to declutter your house in a short space of time.
- Sell Your Stuff – listing your unwanted belongings on eBay or an online marketplace is another way to declutter your belongings and make some money back in the process.
- Shred Old Paperwork – carefully go through all paperwork such as bills, bank statements and shredding what is no longer needed is a great way to declutter.
- Purge Your Collections – if you’ve spent many years collecting things that take up a lot of room such as dolls, figurines, collectable cards, toys, tools etc. moving into a smaller living space may be the nudge you need to let these items go.
Hire Storage Space
Following a decluttering, you may realise that you still have a lot of items you may not want to take with you to your new place. A potential solution for this is to consider hiring temporary storage.
A temporary storage space is a great way to keep your excess belongings in a secure, centralised location while you focus on your actual move. Choosing this option will buy you some time to decide what to do with your excess items.
Looking To Save Time On Your House Move?
If you’re looking for a bit of help with downsizing your home, talk to the specialists at Giffen Removals. We offer a convenient furniture pre-packing and removal service to take the stress and effort out of moving house.
Trusted by Brisbane locals for almost 30 years, you can count on Giffen Removals to deliver quality services at reasonable prices. Call (07) 2162 6783 or contact us online to discuss your furniture removal or storage needs.
