Want to know a GREAT way to organize your entire home? Move, or pretend that you are moving. Whether you are moving or not, ask yourself whether you’d pay to pack, store and move this item into a new home. Watch this video for more organizing strategies.
(Click here to watch on YouTube if you can’t see the embedded player. Or watch the video at http://bit.ly/tcdpack.)
Transcript:
Hi I’m Lorie Marrero, creator of the Clutter Diet book and on-line program, and today we’re going to talk about organizing yourself for a move. And that is because I am moving right now. We are downsizing into a home that is one-third the size that we currently live in. And recently, I made another video about staging your home for sale. As I was getting the house ready for sale, pulling all the smaller knick-knacks and personal items out of the house, it was very easy for us to go ahead and just pack those up into boxes so that we get a head start on the packing way prior to moving day. So, you should take that idea and just go into each cabinet and drawer and closet with that in mind, taking anything that you don’t use very frequently and packing it ahead of time. So why not do that? Set up a packing station, like I have some supplies right here to show you. We have an assortment of different sizes of boxes, we have some packing materials, packing paper, really nice chunky markers, and some packing tape in a tape gun. Actually, I want to say, that is very important – go ahead and invest in a tape gun, because if you’re trying to just tear off with your hands or cut with scissors, that’s going to slow you down. Just get a good tool that you can use for the move.
So, when you have this packing station, you can set that up in your garage, someplace where you have a flat surface to quickly put a box together whenever you feel like it. And when you have a few minutes, just go ahead and go through a drawer, go through a closet, and put some things away.
Now, what you want to do is take this opportunity to make some decisions. We always say that moving is a fantastic opportunity because you’re touching everything you own. And you can make a decision about whether you want to take that to the new house or not. You can make a decision about whether it’s worth it to spend money moving this and storing it and generally taking a lot of hassle with this item. So, you know, if it’s worth it, then great, but if you can’t picture yourself in your new house and your new life with this item, then go ahead and find a way to dispose of it now. Obviously donating is the best option for that. You may also want to sell some items. And I have a few tips for you on that. I love using Evernote – and I’ve talked about that many times before, I’m sure with my other videos that you’ve seen – but I have my Ipad here and when I am packing things, and when I’m just kind of generally going through my house thinking about the move, I’m taking a lot of pictures with my Ipad, using Evernote to make notes about the things that I have that are in storage, and also there is an add-on application that’s free for Evernote called Skitch, I’m finding that so useful. I’m taking pictures of some of the larger pieces we have to make sure they fit into the new house, and with Skitch I can take my finger and draw on them and write the dimensions in and have all those measurements really handy. Also, I’ve been using Skitch to take pictures and write measurements on them for selling items on Craigslist, so that the purchaser already knows the measurements. They can see really easily in the pictures that are posted in the ad, and make sure, you know, that’s going to work for them.
So take note of everything you can, colors – you can take pictures of anything you want, you can make notes about lots of things for the move and use that as your personal notebook instead of carrying around a lot of stuff or trying to keep it in your head.
If you’d like some more tips, we have a whole book full of them. I wrote a book that’s 97 pages long about all the moving experience I have, working with my clients, and then of course my own personal moves – I’ve done several of them – and this is available at https://www.clutterdiet.com/movingbook. It’s called The Improve Your Move Workbook. It’s almost all checklists, and timelines, and really chunky tips that you could use today if you’re going to be moving.
So check that out, and we’ll see you next time. May you always be happy and grateful for having more than enough.
You may have been searching for how to have a smooth and stress free move or tips to simplify moving.
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