How to Purge Before Moving Day

There are several important steps that come with any major moving process, and one of these is purging and downsizing the home you’re moving out of. This is a process that often takes significant time, from the initial planning stages through actual packing and moving, and there are a few important things to think about before moving day and your moving truck arrives.

At Sullivan Moving & Storage, our full-service Phoenix movers are here to help with numerous parts of the moving process, from initial planning and decluttering through any packing, moving, unpacking and even storage needs you may have. We cover local moves, international moves and any other move type you’re taking part in, for both homes and office buildings alike. What are some important tips we often provide to clients on purging their space ahead of a move? Here are several top tips to keep in mind.

Room-by-Room Decluttering

First and foremost, as you’re just getting started with the earliest stages of purging and decluttering, it’s important to take things slow. This is a task that shouldn’t be rushed, as you don’t want to make any hasty decisions you’ll regret later on down the road.

Instead, start by picking one room at a time to focus your attention on. Move through the room, and ask yourself some basic questions for each item: How often is it used? Does it have sentimental value, or is it simply functional? Do you have something similar that can replace it ?), chances are good that you won’t miss it once it’s gone.

Asking these questions can help you to more easily narrow down your belongings and decide what needs to stay and what can be donated, thrown away or sold.

Sorting into Various Groups

As you’re moving through your rooms and items, you’ll want to split them into a few basic categories. Here are a few common categories:

• Donations to organizations: Many people will find during this process that they simply have too many belongings and will look to utilize donation centers as a way of getting rid of some of these items. This is a great way to declutter, and you may even be able to get a tax deduction for your donations depending on the organization you choose. Groups like the Salvation Armyor Goodwill (we’ve linked to local locations here in Arizona) are excellent choices, and you can donate everything from clothes to furniture to electronics.
• Donations to friends or neighborhood groups: In other cases, you may have items that are still in good condition but simply don’t fit your needs anymore. These can be donated to friends, family members or even neighborhood groups like Little Free Libraries.
• Items to sell: In some situations, you may have belongings that are still valuable but that you no longer need. These sorts of items can be sold through resources like Craigslist, Next-door, Facebook Marketplace and many others, and you may be surprised at just how much money you can make from selling off some of your unwanted belongings.
• Items to throw away: Unfortunately, not everything will be able to be donated or sold, and you’ll have to throw some items away. This is often the case with broken or damaged items that simply can’t be repaired, as well as things like old food from your pantry or expired medications. These items will need to be taken to a local dump, or perhaps handled by a junk removal specialist if you have certain bulky or oversized items.

Temporary Storage

In many cases, such as if you’re staging your home for sale or need to be out of your current residence before your new one is ready, you may need to put some of your belongings into storage. This can give you the chance to go through your things at a later date and determine what you really need and what can be donated or thrown away.

At Sullivan Moving & Storage, we offer storage solutions to help with this very situation. Our state-of-the-art storage facility is clean, secure and temperature-controlled, ensuring that your belongings will be well-protected while they’re in our care. We also offer a wide range of other moving services to help make your move as smooth and stress-free as possible.

Have a Plan, Stick to It

Throughout this process, we want to highlight the importance of setting goals and having a strong timeline and plan in place. This will help to ensure that you’re able to declutter your home effectively and efficiently, without getting bogged down or overwhelmed along the way.

Start by setting some basic goals for yourself, such as how many rooms you want to declutter and when you want to have the entire process completed by. Once you have these goals in place, you can start to break them down into smaller tasks that need to be completed each day or week. For example, you might want to focus on decluttering one room per week, or perhaps one drawer or closet per day.

Whatever timeline and goals you set for yourself, it’s important to stick to them as much as possible. This process can be tough, but it’s important to push through and get rid of the items that you no longer need.

For more on the process of purging and downsizing your belongings before any move, or for help with any of your moving or storage needs, speak to the team at Sullivan Moving & Storage today.