Why It’s Important To Declutter Before You Move

04 Mar Why It’s Important To Declutter Before You Move

When’s the last time you made it a point to declutter your house? Like, really decluttered, not just shoved some things off a table and into a closet before your in-laws came for a visit? A spring cleaning last year? Two years ago? Maybe 10 years ago? Never? Well, as they say, there’s no time like the present! And if present-you is getting ready for a move, then there is truly no better time than now to do a serious decluttering. In fact, you should do your decluttering before the packing countdown really begins so that you aren’t tempted to just box the useless things up with the must-keeps to deal with them later.

Here’s why you should declutter before a move.

It’ll save you time and energy during the move. If you have ever moved out of a home after 10 or 20 years, or seen someone else do it, you know it’s a little terrifying. It really is amazing how much stuff we can amass just going about our daily lives. If you go through all of the rooms in your house, including the garage, basement, attic and other storage areas (especially storage areas!) and get rid of things that don’t serve a purpose for you anymore, you’ll make the packing easier when the time comes. You’ll also save yourself time when you’re down to the wire because you won’t have to make on-the-spot decisions about what stays and goes.

Even if you are a renter who moves every few years, you might be surprised at how much trash, recyclable and donatable stuff you come up with if you declutter before each move. What may have felt impossible to part with two years ago might seem like a waste of space for you now.

You’ll feel less stressed in your new space. Science says mess causes stress and you’ve probably experienced it whether you realized it or not. Here’s just some of how clutter can mess with your head:

• A cluttered space tells your brain that you have more work to do, so you can’t totally relax.
• It can make you feel anxious and guilty because you “should” be taking care of it instead of doing whatever else you’re doing.
• Clutter can make you feel frustrated because you can’t find what you need.
• It can unnecessarily pull your attention to it, when you would be better served by focusing on something else.

Who wants to bring all this baggage to a nice, new home?! You’ll have plenty of unpacking, arranging and settling in to do, so ditch the stress where you can!

You can start off on the right foot with your new home — showing it love and respect. Being overly stuffed is never a good thing and that goes for your home too. When you declutter first and leave the mess behind, you show respect for that space and what it’s meant to handle.

You bring in a good energy full of possibilities when you come into the space with room to grow.

As Peter Walsh, a professional organizer and author of “Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life,” puts it, “If you overload the space that you have … you’re not treating the space with honor and respect. In the same way a relationship goes bad, if you overload your space, you will never be happy in that space.”

If you only bring what your new home can reasonably handle, it’ll also reduce your stress because you won’t have to spend a bunch of time looking at boxes of stuff, wondering where it will all go.

Now are you ready to set yourself free by getting rid of the clutter? You’ll thank yourself later — trust us! And when you’re ready for the next steps and getting the moving process underway, call Binefit Moving and Storage at 248-519-2344 to find out how we can help make the experience smooth and stress-free.