What to keep, donate, or trash when moving

Moving is a tedious but incredible opportunity for any homeowner to inventory their belongings. You may have accumulated a lot of things since your last move, some of which will have no business in your new home. Decluttering is a great way to honor the memories made in your old home and to ensure a stress-free move.

If you want to freshen up and declutter, you need to decide what to carry to your new space. It would help if you decided on the lifestyle you are considering for this new phase. Is it that of a minimalist, a maximalist, or somewhere in between? This will make it easy for you to organize things and eliminate those that no longer fit your current lifestyle.

Decide what to keep, donate, or trash

Preparing to move is the best time to do away with all the excess in your home. Doing away with items you no longer need saves valuable time, effort and money. In the long run, you use fewer boxes, fewer movers, and less space. If you are deciding on what to do with your belongings before a major move, you can go full Marie Kondo style on them before you pack by;

• Inventorying your belongings
• Selling and donating what you can
• Throwing away and recycling the rest
• Cleaning everything you are taking with you to the new place

What to sell

After completing your home inventory, take stock of everything you don’t need anymore, and look if there are things that may be useful to someone else. Instead of throwing these things away, you can have a yard sale or an estate sale. You can also try a thrift or antique shop where you appraise the things you want to get rid of and estimate their worth. While some items are not worth much when sold, others can be worth big bucks and help offset some moving expenses.

Some of the things that you can sell include;

• Furniture that is in good condition
• Designer clothing with high re-sale value
• Designer accessories
• Electronics, e.g., old apple products for store credits
• Jewelry such as family heirloom is very valuable
• Antique pieces
• Musical equipment
• Baby gear
• Décor
• Your car, if you are moving a plane away
• Home appliances
• House plants
• Power tools

What to throw away

When moving, it is essential to know what to keep and what to throw away; otherwise, you are stuck with the same old clutter in your new house. To understand what to throw away, ask yourself these simple questions, and if the answer is no, then out it goes!

• Does it work properly?
• Is it cost-effective to move?
• Does it hold any sentimental value?
• Has it been used in the past year?

You can throw away some things that are not worth selling and are in no condition for donation. Nobody wants expired medicine and old photographs, so you have to let go of such things. After throwing away the broken furniture, haunted appliances, and moth-eaten clothes, you need to remove all the junk. To save on costs, you can rent a dumpster and do most of the work on your own, or you can hire a junk removal company to help. These companies take most of what they remove to recycling facilities instead of landmines, a safer alternative. Other things that aren’t worth selling, donating, or keeping are such as;

• Expired foods and medicine
• Worn sheets and towels
• Old documents
• Cleaning supplies
• Outdated electronics
• Old posters
• Shower curtains
• Old bills and receipts
• Expired makeup

What to donate

Donate the stuff you don’t use too much, such as unused bedding, books, textiles, clothes, cutlery, spices, towels, and miscellaneous electronics. Be honest with yourself; if there are clothes that don’t fit anymore or shoes that you didn’t wear, donate them. Sometimes, donating things rather than throwing them away may be preferable.

What to keep

A home inventory helps you decide what to keep for your new home. A detailed home inventory of all the rooms is also a good idea in case you need to file a claim with the insurance company in case of a theft or a natural disaster. When deciding what to carry, look at the condition of the said item, how often you use it, and if it is necessary to bring along. If something has a sentimental value, consider where it will live before loading it into the moving boxes. Moving is very stressful, so keep only what is necessary and purge the rest. If you are having difficulties, you can entrust a moving company to help declutter so that you don’t carry junk to your new place.

Most people have a lot of things stored in their houses, especially in cabinets and closets that they don’t use anymore. When moving, look through the attic, basement, garage, shed, and other storage units to eliminate all the clutter. Purging is important to decrease the overall weight and minimize the general moving costs.