Packing and moving is no easy chore! The longer you’ve lived in a home, the more stuff you accumulate over the years. Clothing, cookware, tools, kids stuff, and more fills your closets, basement, and garage. Trying to figure out what to do with it all can feel overwhelming!
To get started, go room by room and organize into the following four piles listed below. Once you have the piles, you can distribute the items and start packing. Choose one location to store boxes and bags as you clean out each room. A garage or basement storage area often works well. Get started by using these four categories.
Trash – go through all the items in a room. Have large, heavy-duty trash bags ready! Anything that you don’t use and isn’t suitable to donate, throw away. You will be surprised by how much trash is sitting around taking up space. Don’t feel bad. Just throw it out and move on.
Giveaway – As you go through unused items, choose things that are still in good condition to donate to local charities. This could include clothing, cookware, tools, bedding, and dry goods. Pack according to items. For instance, place all food items in the same bag for a food bank. Place all clothing items in the same bag for your local Goodwill.
Keep – In each room you will have items you want to keep, but don’t need for the next few months. This could be off-season clothing, photos, office supplies, etc. Pack away anything you don’t need in the near future. Group together items, such as kitchen items, and clearly mark each box. Place the box in the designated storage area.
Use – There will be things you need to keep out to use – toiletries, clothes, banking, cooking, etc. Keep these things to a minimum so that it is very easy to pack them up last minute. These items will remain in place until a day or two before your move. Try to keep out as little as possible. Use suitcases, backpacks, and travel bags to pack these things up. That way they won’t get mixed in with the general packing boxes.
Moving can be a lot of work, but you can simplify the process by using these four categories to clean out and pack. Start early in the process so you don’t end up in crunch time, stressed and trying to get packed up quickly. Organizing your packing can make your move easier!
