What to Get Rid of Before You Move
You are about to pay to transport everything you own. That single fact is a better sorting criterion than any decluttering method, because it puts a price on every undecided object.
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Two tests that settle most of it
The first is fit. Measure the new place, then measure the large furniture. Anything that demonstrably will not go is not a decision, it is arithmetic — and applying it removes a surprising share of the difficult items before anyone has to feel anything about them.
The second is the replacement test: would you buy this again, delivered to the new address, at what it costs to move it? Applied to a garage or an attic, that removes most of the contents. Applied to good furniture, it keeps almost all of it. It works because it prices the sentiment rather than dismissing it.
The four places the volume hides
These are consistently underestimated, and they are the spaces people leave until the final week.
- The garage — almost nothing in it is coming
- The attic — boxes nobody has opened since the last move
- The shed or outbuilding
- The spare room that became storage
- Under the beds
- The top of every closet
- The cupboard under the stairs
- Anything already in a storage unit
What is worth moving and what is not
Worth moving: anything you use, anything genuinely good quality, anything irreplaceable, and books if you actually read them. Solid furniture in good condition almost always survives the replacement test.
Rarely worth moving: old mattresses, particle-board furniture that has already been disassembled once, exercise equipment that has not been used in a year, appliances that came with the house, and paint you will not use in a property whose walls you have not seen.
Definitely not worth moving: anything broken you have been meaning to fix, duplicate kitchenware, and the contents of the "miscellaneous" boxes from the last move that were never unpacked. If two moves have not made them relevant, a third will not.
Two to three weeks before the move
That is the window where clearing changes what the moving company quotes, rather than just easing the last week.
FAQ
Related questions
- How much does clearing first actually save?
- It depends on the move and how it is priced, but the garage and attic are frequently a large share of a household's volume. On an interstate move priced by weight, removing heavy unwanted furniture is where the saving concentrates.
- What if I cannot decide about something?
- Apply the replacement test — would you buy it again, delivered, at what it costs to move? If the answer is no and it is not irreplaceable, it has answered itself.
- Should I clear before or after the moving survey?
- Before. A survey of a house that still contains everything prices a move you are not making, and most movers will re-quote a reduced inventory anyway.
Ready when you are
You point. We haul. That is the whole arrangement.
Choose a window from the live Arlington calendar, or send a few photographs and get the number first. Homes or businesses, one item or a whole property.
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The Arlington branch
Junk Koala Arlington
1140 W Pioneer Pkwy, Ste 1144E
Arlington, TX 76013