If you were moving, what would you rid of?

[Janeway]

Let's say you were relocating. What would you rid of before the movers got here?

 

I just assumed we would rid of everything from left over paper towels, groceries, brooms and mops, all cleaning supplies, etc.

 

But then I started thinking, it could cost a lot to replace all that. But for sure any and all chemicals would need to go.

 

Also..what about boxes from things like cell phones and computers? I have always saved those. Diapers that are too big for the baby so he cannot wear right now, would you donate or pack?

 

Books..what if you had several baskets worth of picture books, would you reduce those even though you already removed the less liked ones? Or would you keep all? 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

We only got rid of stuff we had not looked at in a very long time and knew we'd never use.  I did bring my cleaning supplies because I definitely use those and they aren't cheap.

 

I usually tried to get rid of some books.  I have so many and those are freaking heavy.

 

 

[Zinnia]

It sort of depends on who is paying for the move, how much space you have, and where we are going.

 

In our last move, we downsized from 1800 sq feet plus a full unfinished basement  and garage for storage to 1100 sq feet, no garage, no basement.  We got rid of a lot.  I tried to use up all the cleaning things I could tried to use up all the groceries I could.  I did buy a new trash can, broom, and maybe mop.  Cause I like to splurge on those when we move, which tends to be every 5-6 years. 

[HomeAgain]

Depends on where I'm going.

 

Our next move will be long distance.  I will be getting rid of much of what we don't need or I cannot pack in the car - brooms and mops will be used until the day we leave, so they'll go in the trash instead of my tiny vehicle.

[JanetC]

Some of this depends on whether an employer is paying for the movers.

 

I have moved as a childless couple with only what could fit in the back of a Mazda 323. You can replace what you have to leave behind frugally.

 

I've also moved as a young mom, with paid-for movers. I thought I'd gotten rid of a lot of stuff, but at some point during the unpacking, I was really starting to wonder why I had saved certain things. Even with movers, they pack, but you have to unpack and find a place for all the stuff you bring. Some people have moving boxes in the garage for months after they get to their new home.

 

It's hard under the stress of moving to purge when you are not forced to. I would toss the boxes, for sure. There are plenty of ways to ship your cell phone, if you need to, besides the original packaging. Diapers I would pack, since babies always grow.

[AK_Mom4]

It's been a while since we moved, but we did the following....

 

donated all the small and almost-too-small clothes from the kids. Kept things they would grow into.

ate up all the perishable foods before we moved.  

packed up the non-perishables and took them with us (canned goods, paper towels, etc)

kept all the books.

got rid of "bad" furniture and planned to just do without (couch, chairs, one bed) until we could afford to replace.  I decided I would rather sit on the living room floor than haul around that horrible couch again.

 

Basically - took everything we wanted to keep with us (tons of engines and car parts!) and dumped everything we didn't love enough to keep.

Edited December 29, 2016 by AK_Mom4

[FriedClams]

I just moved. I packed 95% myself. I got rid of 1/3 of our stuff before the move. Anything we didn't love or use pretty much got chucked/donated/given away. I pared down books, clothes, linens, games, kitchen stuff, appliances, and the "some day for the grandkids" stuff. I think packing it myself made me do it ruthlessly.

 

Since we moved ourselves, I kept all the trashcans (I washed then all), cleaning products, etc. I was fairly organized about it all.

[QueenCat]

The movers typically won't pack up liquids so only keep those if you can move them in your own vehicles. We've had to drain things like the lawnmower before, in order for the movers to load it. This was a professional move, where they pack it, load it, move it and unload it.

[bettyandbob]

Moving everything adds to the cost of the move.

 

Then consider where you are moving. If your new place will be smaller you can't keep all your stuff.

 

I live fairly high COL. My friend moved to Palo Alto. She got rid of 50% of the family's belongings before her move. Then after a year of renting she got rid of 50% more stuff when they bought a house there. That sounds awful, but 5 years later they love it there.

[Spryte]

Aside from the obvious (movers don't move liquids, etc), I don't move anything that we would pay more to move than replace. So it depends on who's paying for the move, maybe.

 

We moved recently. Then an accident meant we had movers pack us up again and move us back out while our house was fixed. So twice in 18 mos.

 

I took the opportunity to clear out homeschooling supplies, clothes, linen closets. And more. I only moved what we love.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah I don't know much about movers.  We only used movers for the big stuff.  We packed and moved our own dishes, etc. 

[Hilltopmom]

We're starting the packing process. I've been purging stuff for about a year & yet still find myself picking something up & deciding it nots worth moving.

Had to rent a small storage unit for a few months (mostly extra homeschool books, supplies, small furniture, games) & realized I'd be ok if everything there was stolen. I mean, bummed, but ok.

[regentrude]

Depends on HOW you move, and how much space you will have in the new location.

For our overseas move, we could not take any liquids or foods. But we took every single book, because we had to pay for the entire shipping container regardless of weight, so there was no point in weeding out possessions since that would not have saved any money. We even bought stuff before our move. We packed all boxes ourselves.

 

If I had to drive and were limited on space, I would get rid of everything that is only kept for "just in case" we might need it. Any outgrown clothes and toys would be donated.

 

If I had to seriously downsize I would weed out with an iron fist.

 

But I don't understand why you think you have to discard cleaning supplies - these you will most definitely need again. I would strive to use up opened containers and discard almost empty ones where it's not worth the hassle. But why throw out brooms? or groceries? 

 

Edited December 29, 2016 by regentrude

[Ravin]

It depends on how far I'm moving. Across town is different from a couple of states away, which is different again from Alaska, kwim?

[Lawyer&Mom]

I see moving as an opportunity to purge. Even when I had an all expense paid move to a larger house, I still tried to get rid of stuff. You'll be glad when you are unpacking on the other side!

[regentrude]

Also..what about boxes from things like cell phones and computers? I have always saved those.

 

I would take those, in case you have to send a device back for repair. Definitely for everything that is still under warranty. And they are the best way to package the devices for transport.

[prairiewindmomma]

So much of this depends on your personality, preferences, and where you are likely to end up. We got rid of outgrown clothing, baby things (our youngest was 2 and we were done), broken/disliked items, and things that didn't get a lot of use. We kept only what we loved. We got rid of half of what we owned, and it was so mentally freeing.

 

We had a full relo paid for by the new company, but what we kept we would've paid for to move ourselves because we loved it--we would've fit in a 28' truck.

[FriedClams]

Some questions I asked myself:

 

House stuff:

Did I use this in the last year? Enough to keep it?

Does it have a duplicate?

 

Clothes: Does it fit? Do I love it? Can I reduce the number of these items buy a half? Do I have to keep this? (The last one is for the stuff I don't love but need to keep - the office holiday party outfit, etc...). Same questions for kid's clothes.

 

Heirlooms:

Do I love this? If I don't, can I send it to family who would love it? Can I preserve the memory another way (like a photo of the item, or donating it to someone who would love it)? Do I have"nice" stuff I don't use that I can start to use and love and chuck a cheaper duplicate?

 

Craft/Art stuff:

Decrease by half. Or more. Get it to a point I can use and love what I have.

 

School stuff:

Chuck, chuck, chuck. Donate. No more hoarding. Get rid of it.

 

General:

Do I want to pay to store it?

Do I love this enough to move it twice more? (We're renting, building, and moving again over a couple years).

Can I replace this with little effort (stuff like your device boxes, etc) and emotion?

[itsheresomewhere]

When we have moved, I got rid of stuff we didn't use.  I kept the groceries and cleaners as I used up the half used bottles cleaning the house.  May I suggest loading a box with cleaners, toilet paper, paper towels, etc for when you get to the new place.  I put that right in the car with us. 

[lllll]

nm

Edited January 2, 2017 by ..Kathy..

[scrapbookbuzz]

Everything but my cast iron pans, my glass pots, mason jars, and my books.

And a few select clothing items.

Pretty much every other nonliving thing can be left behind.

[mommymonster]

We thought we were moving across the country this summer, and we just purged like crazy. Our plan was to reduce our house size by half, so we were brutal. We basically engaged in an unlimited "Kon Marie" -- if it didn't spark joy, it was gone. And everything had to spark a whole ton of joy. We got rid of 10+ van loads of things (DH is a bit of a collector... ahem). 

 

Now that I went back to work and DH is staying home, our house looks pretty ridiculously bare. But it has caused us to consider moving to a smaller home in our existing town, so... that's something. And with DH's shopping... well, it should be full again soon. 

[lynn]

Anything I don't want to see on the other end of the move. Anything I have not used in a year or 2. Anything that takes more than a couple of minutes to decide if I will ever use again. We've made 8 major moves over the years but we've been at one location the past 11years and we've just now got serious about de cluttering.

[Moonhawk]

We haven't moved in 8 years, and no intention of moving. We were joking the other day though, that this would be the perfect time to move because we are getting rid of so much stuff via the Konmari method.  My husband was saying that most people probably use moving as the unintentional Konmari.  We've gotten rid of 50% of clothes, 60% of books (!), 75% of CDs/DVDs, probably 50% of our kitchenware. (that's as far as we've gotten). And, I know there is furniture that will be on the cutting block, when we get there.  And the "misc" will definitely see a lot go.

 

All this to say, what you "need" to be rid of is going to be different from what we are getting rid of and so I can't really say "get rid of 50% of your clothes, it worked for me!", but this could be an opportunity to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

If you really love all the picture books, then you really love picture books. But, if they are partially chewed, no one looks at them, half the time you forget about them and get slightly irritated when you have to put them away...well, maybe pare it down to the ones that you know you will look for in the future.  Personally, if I didn't love something, I wouldn't want to take the time to carefully pack it, pay for it to be transported, then unpack it, then spend time figuring out where it goes.

 

As far as groceries go, though, I'd probably start eating through the pantry so that you don't really have anything to throw away by the time of the move. 

[fastforward]

 

Btw, I have always done the decluttering while my dh was gone, except for one move.  My dh finds it painful to part with just about anything, although he never misses it when it's gone if he hasn't seen it leave.  Plus, it was enough stress for him to contemplate starting a new job without adding to that stress by watching me declutter the place.  Your dh might be different.  Maybe it would help him to be less anxious?  Don't know.   

 

My DH is similar.  If we decluttered together, it took him forever to fill a box because I would remind him that he didn't need to pack *everything* (report cards from when he was in 4th grade???), so then he couldn't decide what was reasonable to get rid of -- he wanted to keep it all!  Deciding what to keep was far more effective if I got down to business by myself or with the kids, who ended up being far less sentimental.  

 

Restocking a pantry is far more expensive than what I would have thought, so maybe I would have not been so ruthless with getting rid of everything for fear of taking some rogue pantry moth with us.   :o  Keeping our cleaning supplies was super helpful because I cannot find one of the cleaning fluids I prefer in my new location.  Halving our books to about half of what we used to own has one of the best decision, and in the new year, I'm going to pare down even more.  Those suckers are heavy and take up so much space!

[Sherry in OH]

I would inventory the pantry and freezer and plan meals around those ingredients.  When grocery shopping, I would resist sales and buy only what is necessary to complete meals.  Closer to the moving date, I would consider the remaining items.  Anything close to or beyond the recommended use-by date, I’d toss. This includes spices and seasonings.  I would toss opened packages of food that my family did not care for and donate any unopened packages of the same item.  Unless I was moving overseas or storing household goods for a length of time, I would pack the remainder of the pantry items. 

 

With cleaning products, I would use up what I could.  I would toss worn mops and brooms last thing before the move but keep those in good shape.  I would pack the cleaning supplies I wanted to keep in a bucket and transport them my own vehicle. I would be sure to include trash bags, paper towels, toilet paper, and hand or dish soap.

 

I would purge paper.  Paper is heavy to transport.  It is also tedious to refile.  Find a list of essential documents online and compare it to what you’ve been saving.  Then start shredding.  Create a separate file for any documentation relating to appliances and maintenance on your current home.  Leave that file in the home when you leave.  Be ruthless with old school and artwork.  Pre-high school, you are saving for sentimental purposes. 

 

I would use the computer boxes to transport desktop computers and printers.  I would toss laptop and cell phone boxes.  I would also toss any other boxes not needed for transporting the original contents.  Movers prefer standard sized boxes. They stack neatly and thus there is less likely to be damage from shifting.

 

[Carrie12345]

In a DIY situation, a good 95-99% would be boxed up and coming with me.

 

The 1-5% would be stuff I just haven't gotten around to trashing or donating.  Old nail polishes, outgrown clothes, a few school supplies/books, kitchen gear that's on its last legs...  Now that I stop to look at the big picture, we've been doing a fairly good job with decluttering.  Two years ago, we brought in a dumpster.  This summer, we finished clearing out storage.

 

I like my stuff.  Including my cleaners, my stocked freezers, and the fact that I almost never run out of toilet paper!

 

(Paying someone to move it would be a whole other story.  I'd have to research whether it'd be cheaper to pay to haul or to replace items.)

[Bootsie]

Are you paying for the move or is someone else?  I would try not to move anything that costs more to move than it is to replace.

[kiana]

Depends on how much room there is left in the truck. I trashed some stuff that cost me a bit to replace because my truck was so full there wasn't room for it and making an extra trip cost more than replacing it. 

[Emba]

We're looking at a possible move in a few months, but only 2 miles away. I am looking at this time a time to declutter massively, since we've been here 10 years and stuff has accumulated. For a short move I would take all unexpired food, cleaning products, etc. but for a cross country move it would be different. Either way decluttering means less work moving stuff you really don't want.

[J-rap]

I would pare down everything.  I have way too many sheets, blankets, towels, pots and pans, old coats and winter accessories, tools, art supplies, books, and pretty much everything else, collected over 25+ years of raising children.  

 

[City Mouse]

We moved ourselves 14 hrs away with two different trips in a rental truck. Because of where we moved to, the cost of movers was outrageous and we are too far out for one of those pod services. We also downsized, so a lot of our furniture wouldn't have fit anyway and we have very little space for storage in the current house.

 

We got rid of so much stuff. It was easier and cheaper to replace all the big items.

I saved 1 small box for each kid of baby stuff. Everything else that was "outgrown" was given away.

 

Every once in a while, I will think of something I wished I had kept, but then I realize that if I have only missed that item 1-2 times in over 5 years we didn't really need it.

[Guest]

Well, in theory, I'd like to leave all my furniture and replace it! We have a new kitchen table and a nicer TV. All other furniture is on my 'would like to someday replace as it's all hand me down furniture' list. I know, probably not feasibly possible for most people (myself included).

 

As far as actual stuff, I consider myself somewhat of a minimalist, inasmuch that I throughly purge my house 2-3 times a year and it only take me a few hours. I keep what I use and I use what I keep. :) I did actually purge this week and have 5 boxes of books that I'm having friends come over tomorrow morning to take what they want before it going to Goodwill. Books are the one thing I have serious issues with parting with. This has needed to get done. So, if I were to move, yes, I'd probably bring everything. I just went through the gift packaging box - I pretty much dumped it - keeping the tape, some tissue paper, gift labels, and a few bags. Rolled gift wrap is in one of those gift wrap things. The kids each have a box of "too big" hand me down clothes, but we always use those and have saved my butt many years when we couldn't buy new clothes, so I really value when people give us clothes. 

 

Empty phone and computer boxes - recycle those - they gotta go, girl! If it were me, I'd go through your house and purge what you normally would, and then go from there. Keep cleaning supplies - you'll probably want to clean the new place, and they are pricey! 

[LucyStoner]

My husband keeps pretty much every thing he uses or might use or once used and everything he has some sentiment towards or might have sentimental feelings for. I tend to keep nothing and shed things without regard to if I need them or my grandkids might want them. So we balance each other out. I keep him from keeping every little doodad or broken speaker he might fix and he keeps me from accidentally dropping my grandparent's wedding photo off at Goodwill or throwing letters from my dead mother away.

[nrg]

Autism and depression. I would leave these at home. We are a quirky lot, so I would keep all the fun weirdness, but the autism and depression must be left behind.  Sadly, we have not moved for 30 years, so these troublemakers have had plenty of time to set down roots and thrive. Yep. Out they go.