Getting Ready to Move

At this time of year, many people are thinking about selling their homes. If you plan on selling this summer or even in the Fall, it’s a good time to start preparing for your move.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Step One - Organization

The first step involves organizing things into what you will be taking with you and what you won’t. In some cases, the decisions will be easy. You want to move to a condo apartment, so you won’t need a lawnmower or garden tools. You’re planning for fewer bedrooms or bathrooms, so you may have entire rooms of things you will no longer need.

Sometimes, the decisions aren’t easy so you’d be well advised to leave yourself a lot of time for this step.

Step Two – Disbursing of Things

The second step is to get rid of the things you aren’t planning to take on your move. (The side benefit of this is that, at the same time, you will be de-cluttering your home in preparation for any staging you may want to do before putting the home on the market.) You may want to gift some of the more valuable things, either to individuals or organizations that could use them. You will likely want to sell some things, which could mean a garage sale or a classified ad. You will be able to donate many things to various churches and charitable organizations. I will hazard a guess that you may have a few things that simply need to be thrown away – things you thought might come in handy, but never did.

The second step is an important one. You don’t want to pay to pack and move things that you don’t really need or want.

Step Three - Pack

The third step is to start packing. Obviously at this stage you won’t want to pack things you still need for everyday living, but you can begin to pack some things such as family photos (its best to remove these when the house is for sale anyway) and excess decorations. If it’s possible, store the packed boxes out of sight in the cellar or consider renting a storage locker for a month or two.

When this step is done, you will be de-cluttered and much closer to being ready to move.

Sometimes, downsizing and de-cluttering can be overwhelming. Keep in mind that there are companies that specialize in helping people to move.

For more tips from my personal experience downsizing, please ask me to send you my “Tips on Downsizing.” It provides more detail on how to sell and donate goods. I can be reached at 905-822-6900 or at Stephanie.hebb@royallepage.ca.