Moving involves countless decisions, and sometimes getting rid of most of your possessions might be the right choice. But how do you know if it’s the right approach for your situation? Let’s explore when decluttering extensively before a move makes practical and financial sense.
Table of Contents
You can also listen to a Deep Dive podcast about this article:
When Getting Rid of Everything Before Moving Makes Sense
The decision to purge most of your belongings before a big move isn’t one to take lightly. While minimalism has its appeal, a major declutter should align with your specific circumstances and goals.
I’ve moved house 13 times as an adult, and another 7 times as a child. I’ve been around the block when it comes to moving, and even done it transatlantically!
Trust me on this: when you think to yourself “half my stuff needs to go,” it’s probably time to develop a systematic approach.
Whether you’re moving soon or considering a move within the next year, deciding what to keep and what to throw away is the first step in the moving process.
International relocations often make the strongest case for starting fresh. When moving overseas, the cost of shipping furniture and household goods can easily exceed their value. In these cases, selling or donating most items and using the proceeds to rebuild in your new location often proves more economical.
Similarly, if you’re downsizing significantly, perhaps moving from a house to a small apartment or transitioning to a furnished space, getting rid of excess stuff becomes a practical necessity rather than a lifestyle choice. Consider the math: moving companies typically charge by weight or volume, so relocating items you’ll struggle to fit in your new place wastes both money and effort.
Climate differences can also influence this decision about what to get rid of when moving. Moving from Minnesota to Florida? Those heavy winter coats and snow gear might better serve someone else. Heading to a drastically different environment often provides natural criteria for what to keep versus what to let go.
However, starting completely fresh isn’t always the answer. If you’re moving locally or have carefully curated possessions that would be expensive to replace, maintaining most of your household might make more sense. Quality furniture, specialised equipment, or items with significant resale value often justify moving costs.
Consider these practical questions when deciding how to get rid of everything and move:
The key is matching your decluttering approach to your specific situation. While some moves warrant a complete fresh start, others might benefit from a more moderate pare-down. By evaluating your circumstances honestly, you can make choices that serve both your immediate moving needs and long-term goals.
It helps to keep in mind that the goal isn’t to get rid of everything just because you’re moving. Instead, use this transition as an opportunity to thoughtfully evaluate what deserves a place in your next chapter.
Start Early: Planning Your Pre-Move Purge
When you’re getting ready to move, having time to declutter is your greatest ally. Starting earlyâideally 2-3 months before moving dayâmakes planning a move easier and prevents rushed decisions and moving stress. A methodical approach helps you sort items while maximising potential profits from selling unwanted stuff.
Begin by gathering your supplies: plastic bins, storage containers, garbage bags, and sturdy boxes for donate, sell, and keep categories. For items too heavy to carry in regular boxes, consider renting specialised moving containers. Create a room-by-room schedule, and allocate extra time for areas like closets and storage spaces that typically need more attention.
The decluttering process involves emotional and practical challenges. Start with easy decisionsâitems you clearly don’t need or useâbefore tackling the tricky stuff. This builds momentum and helps develop your decision-making muscles for tougher calls later.
Keep a list of items you plan to sell, noting potential values and best selling platforms. This prevents the common mistake of leaving everything until the last minute when you might need to give away valuable items due to time pressure.
Remember to label boxes clearly as you go and maintain separate spaces for different categories. The whole packing and moving process goes way smoother when every single thing has a designated box with a label, and this organisation also serves you well when it’s time to list items for sale or arrange donation pickups.
And by the way, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by how much stuff you have, consider hiring a professional organiser to help you get rid of things! They can help make the process more manageable.
How to Get Rid of Everything and Move: A Step-by-Step Process
A systematic approach helps simplify the process and make the move easier. To save you time and prevent chaos, focus on things to get rid of one room at a time, working in short sessions of 2-3 hours to maintain focus and energy.
Start by pulling everything out of its current space, whether that’s a drawer, closet, or entire room. This gives you a clear view of what you actually own. Sort items into four distinct piles: keep, sell, donate, and trash. Be ruthless with your “keep” pile, especially for items you haven’t used in the past year.
Some questions to guide your sorting:
If you’re struggling with certain decisions, set those items aside temporarily. Then revisit them with fresh eyes the next day. You’ll often find the choice becomes clearer after some distance.
For every item you review, make your decision process simple: either it serves a purpose in your new life, or it’s time to let it go.
For larger furniture pieces, measure them against your new floor plan. Many people waste money moving furniture that they no longer need or won’t fit in their new space. If an item doesn’t have a designated spot in your new home, it belongs in the sell or donate pile.
As you decide what to keep, remember that every single item you choose to move will cost you time and money. Looking at things this way makes it easier to let go of stuff you don’t actually need.
Create a simple inventory of valuable items as you sort. This helps track what needs to be listed for sale and ensures nothing important gets lost in the shuffle. Use your phone to photograph items immediately as you decide to sell them. This saves time when creating listings later.
What to Do With All Your Stuff
Once you’ve sorted everything, it’s time for the logistics of removal. As covered in our guide to getting rid of stuff after decluttering, you’ll want to work with multiple removal channels simultaneously to clear items efficiently.
When it comes to decluttering, you have several options for items you’re going to donate or sell items online. Many items can find new homes through local donation centers, helping you make some extra cash while clearing space.
For more valuable items, online auction houses typically offer quick results, while Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace work well for furniture, bikes and other larger pieces. Consider timing, too. Listing items early in the month often catches people who are also planning moves.
Small items can be bundled together to save you time when selling. Many items that might seem worthless individually can attract buyers when grouped thoughtfully.
Donation-worthy items should be separated by destination. Many organisations offer pickup services, but schedule these early as slots fill quickly. Books could go to libraries, professional clothes to career centers, and furniture to local housing organisations.
For items that can’t be sold or donated, it’s possible to rent a dumpster for a day rather than making multiple trips to waste management facilities. E-waste requires special handling, by the way. Many electronics stores offer recycling programs for old devices and accessories.
Your digital life needs attention too. Back up important files, organise things online, and let your respective providers know about your change of address.
How to Handle Sentimental Items When Decluttering
Sentimental items often create the biggest roadblocks during a pre-move purge. While it’s natural to feel attached to objects with emotional value, moving provides an opportunity to be selective about which memories deserve physical space in your new home.
For items with true sentimental value like family heirlooms, you could create a dedicated “memories” box with strict space limits. This constraint helps prioritise what’s genuinely meaningful versus what’s simply nostalgic. Photograph items you’re letting go of. You can look at the images any time you like and often you’ll find the image holds the same emotional value as the object itself once did.
When dealing with inherited pieces, remember that honoring family relationships doesn’t require keeping every physical item. Select one or two pieces that best represent your connection, and let others go to family members who might appreciate them more.
For collections or knickknacks, consider keeping a carefully chosen sample rather than the entire set. A single item can serve as a representation of that period in your life without requiring extensive storage space.
If certain items feel too difficult to part with now, it’s okay to pack them with your “keep” items, but label the box for review after six months in your new place. Often, the distance of time and space provides clarity about what you really value.
Practical Tips to Help You Declutter Effectively
Even with a solid plan, the physical work of sorting and removing items needs practical structure. Breaking tasks into manageable chunks prevents overwhelm and maintains momentum throughout your moving preparation.
I always start with the closet; it’s often the easiest place to make quick progress. Most people wear 20% of their clothes 80% of the time. If that’s you, it can make wardrobe decisions relatively straightforward. Pull everything out, sort by category, and be honest about what you actually wear.
For furniture, measure each piece and compare it to your new floor plan. Large items that won’t fit your new space should be listed for sale first, as they’ll take longer to sell and remove. Consider the cost of moving versus replacing. Sometimes leaving behind bulky furniture makes financial sense.
Another good idea is to create a paperwork station with a shredder, scanning app, and filing system. Most documents can be digitised, while important papers should be organised in a single, portable file box. This prevents last-minute panic about missing documents during the move.
It helps to use the “one-touch rule,” too. Handle each item only once by making an immediate decision about its fate. Temporary storage areas often become permanent limbo zones for items you’re hesitating to process.
Making Money While Getting Rid of Stuff
Turning your unwanted items into cash requires strategy and timing. As detailed in our comprehensive guide to making money from decluttering, success depends on choosing the right platforms and pricing strategies for different types of items.
List high-value items first since they typically take longer to sell and attract more serious buyers. As mentioned above, Facebook Marketplace works well for local furniture and household goods, while specialty items might fetch better prices on niche platforms.
If you have the time, you could also host a garage sale for mid-range items during your final month before moving. When pricing items to sell, aim for quick turnover rather than maximum profit. Group similar items together and create multi-item deals to move inventory quickly.
For specialty equipment or collectibles, investigate dedicated buying groups or consignment shops. Small electronics and current accessories usually sell quickly online. Bundle similar items together to save time on listings and shipping.
Schedule donation pickup services for whatever doesn’t sell, and remember to get receipts for potential tax deductions.
Moving Day: Making Your Fresh Start
Moving day arrives with fewer possessions but requires careful coordination to maintain your simplified approach. To make your move smoother, pack a well-planned essentials box containing everything you’ll need for your first 24 hours. This prevents the urge to keep “just in case” items during your final pack.
If you’ve hired a mover, provide them with clear instructions about your organised system. Label boxes with both contents and destinations to streamline unloading. Keep important documents and valuable items with you rather than loading them onto the truck.
Use this transition time to implement organisational systems from the start. As you unpack, assign specific homes for items immediately. This prevents the formation of “temporary” storage spots that often become permanent clutter zones.
Take photos of your new empty space before unpacking, too. These serve as a helpful reference point for maintaining your streamlined setup and resisting the urge to clutter things up. When unpacking, it’s also good to maintain the same decisive mindset you used while decluttering. If you question whether something belongs in your new space, it probably doesn’t.
Maintaining a Minimalist Lifestyle in Your New Place
That’s pretty much my rudimentary framework for how to get rid of everything and move. It’s worked for me over the years throughout many moves.
Moving is super stressful, but I love the fresh start it gives you. A new space offers the perfect opportunity to establish new habits. You could set up simpler organisation systems from day one. Think clear storage solutions and designated spots for everyday items. These foundations make it easier to maintain order without extra effort.
Digital minimalism plays a role in modern moves, too. Set up paperless billing immediately, scan any new documents as they arrive, and create digital folders that mirror your physical organisation system. This prevents paper clutter from accumulating in your new space.
Before you buy things for your new living room or other spaces, take time to look at how you actually use each area. This helps prevent accumulating stuff you don’t need.
Before buying anything new, implement a waiting period. This helps avoid the common pitfall of rushing to fill empty spaces. When you do make purchases, focus on items that serve multiple purposes or significantly improve your daily routines.
Lastly, a big thing that helps me keep my closet streamlined is following the one-in-one-out rule. Each new item requires removing something similar. This simple practice prevents the slow creep of excess stuff.
Your simplified space should work for you, not create additional maintenance. If you find certain areas consistently collecting clutter, adjust your systems rather than fighting against natural patterns of use.
Have a smooth move!
Leave a Reply