Declutter before you move

Moving home is can be overwhelming and time consuming however moving house is the perfect to time to declutter and minimalise your life. Often seems easier to cart a box of useless items to your new house than it would be to sit down and take the time to sort it out.

Here are some examples of things to get rid of before you move to make it easier:

Multiples

If you’re cleaning up your home and you realise you own four identical items, ditch the excess. It can feel wasteful to get rid of things that are in good condition but if you never use them, or you’re unable to use more than one of the item at the same time, you need to cut down. Let’s face it, you don’t need five CD players.

Unused Items 

If you can’t remember the last time you used an item, it shouldn’t come to the next house with you. This includes things like baking trays, kitchen appliances, bathroom gadgets and sporting equipment. If you haven’t used something in over a year, chances won’t be any time soon.

Clothing 

The year-long rule applies to clothing as well. If you’ve gone through an entire cycle of seasons and not worn an item in your wardrobe, you should clean it out.  It seems harsh but if you’ve managed to get through both warm and cool weather for an entire year without needing that item, it’s unlikely you’ll need it the following year. A good way to clean out the wardrobe is donate your pile of unwanted clothes to charity.

Non-functional Furniture

If you have any random tables or chairs that have just been taking up room in a corner of your house, now is the time to sell or give them away. This applies to empty cupboards, sets of drawers with nothing in them and coat racks you never use.

Pantry Items

When packing up your kitchen, it’s important to make sure that you’re only packing food that is still edible. Check all of your sauces, cans and bottles and throw away anything that is expired . There’s no point packing food items that you’re just going to throw away at the other end.

Out Of Date Bathroom Items

Make sure you carefully check all bathroom items before you pack them and throw away anything that’s past its used by date. This includes any old cosmetics or medical items. Tip: If you can’t remember when you opened a product and you don’t use it regularly, you should throw it away.

Redundant Paper Work

According to the Australian Taxation Department, you are only requires to keep the last seven years of your payment slips, bank statements and tax return documents, the rest can go. If you’re too nervous to do that you can electronically scan them and keep digital copies instead. This can also include newspapers and magazines. Unless you are keeping them for a specific article you don’t really need a newspaper that is 6 months old.

Broken Items 

If there are any items in your home that have been broken for a little while it’s time to throw them away. If you haven’t taken the time to get it fixed you should either get it fixed immediately, or get rid of it. This also goes for your mending pile. If there is a basket full of clothes that need mending that have been in your laundry for a while, get rid of them. If the items were essential, you would have mended them before now.

Old Kitchenware

If you have a cupboard full of plastic containers that are unusable or baking trays that are beyond cleaning, now is the perfect time to throw them away. Ditch anything you no longer use or anything that has worn out from years of use.