Decluttering for a move.

Thank you Claire for last week’s blog on Home Staging – continuing on with the theme of moving homes, I am going to pick up what I think the most important part of Home Staging is which is, of course, decluttering (well, I was unlikely to say anything else wasn’t I?!).

Decluttering for a house move has a different feel to decluttering for normal life. I’ve moved a lot in my life, first following my father around the world, then my husband. At the last count I had lived in 23 houses in 9 countries on 5 continents and it was the frustration of moving things that I then didn’t need that really got me in to decluttering and organising.

If you are moving home, I really urge you to declutter before you move as it will make all the difference. If you are considering moving home in the near future, do start the decluttering process before you even get your home on the market as it will make it much easier to keep it tidy for viewings and to sell. One of my 12 Weeks To Tidy participants on this course joined in order to declutter for a move and has been raving about what a difference it has made.

Start by considering what you would like your life to look like in your new home. Are you moving into a bigger home, or downsizing? Vision is very important for both, but particularly if you are downsizing as it can be hard to let go of things if you don’t have a strong vision.

Then start working through your belongings – if you are unsure where to start, this is a free handy guide to decluttering your home.

I am usually totally anti using storage units, but I do make an exception when decluttering for a move. On our last move we were selling our cottage in Berkshire and moving up to Aberdeenshire, and knowing how important staging can be, before we even put our home on the market, I had started to pack away some things that I knew that we could do without for a few months, particularly off-season clothing. Rather than stashing these in the shed (which was our only storage space as we lacked a loft or garage), I rented a storage unit. When the time came for us to move (having sold the decluttered and staged cottage quickly), we were able to put these boxes directly on the moving truck.

Next week I am going to talk about organisation for the actual move itself, and we’ll finish April with Top Tips for Moving Day.