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Decluttering home - beginners guide

The first piece of advice which any mover will give you is to declutter before moving house. Hence, as local movers in St. Paul we want to give you a beginner’s guide to decluttering home before a relocation. Hence, here is all of our experience as reliable Minnesota movers poured into an article. Of course, this all comes with our suggestion of moving services Twin Cities which can make a relocation completely smooth. So, we hope that everything we advise in the article helps you embrace the minimalism a little bit more before your move…

Where to start decluttering home is the first question any homeowner needs to answer

We’ve had a lot of our customers ask us how to begin their downsizing. It is kind of like spring cleaning, after all. You’re not certain where to begin, but when you do, you simply keep going. Hence, here are our tips regarding decluttering home before a move. The first thing to do is, to begin with, the most difficult room – the kitchen. Of course, you won’t be able to finish everything here at once, though, it’s the perfect beginning for decluttering a household. The kitchen had plenty of breakables and items which you don’t use too often. Hence, as experienced local and long-distance Twin Cities movers, we suggest this as the starting point.

Two people cooking together in their kitchen before downsizing it.
The kitchen is the most difficult part of downsizing – start there.

Before you begin to take a look at the floorplan of your new home and decide what you will place where. It will help you choose which items you will be bringing with you and which you will need to re-home. So, the first things to pack in a kitchen will be those things you don’t use very often. Start with seasonal or belongings for occasions. If you have fancy dishes for a festive dinner, they should be packed first. In case there are any appliances you don’t use too often, those should also enter the MN moving boxes as soon as possible.

Then, with this method in mind, keep going. Decluttering home before a move should definitely be done room by room. This way, you will easily partially pack for your relocation. And, you can already start marking those boxes as containers from certain rooms. It makes unpacking that much easier.

Another dilemma when decluttering home before a move is which method to use

In our years as residential MN movers, we’ve had a chance to see numerous downsizing methods applied. But, we’ve found out that minimalism home decluttering methods simply work the best. Hence, we want to give you these few ways to deal with unnecessary items in your home. Unlike other minimalist methods, they aren’t time-focused, but rather item-oriented. Here are the decluttering home ways which have proved quite effective.

A stack of clothes and bags waiting for decluttering home time.
How many are too many? Try one of these methods for decluttering home before a relocation.

The KonMari method is a go-to for any minimalist

This is the decluttering home way invented by Marie Kondo. She is one of the most well-known names when downsizing is the topic of the conversation. And, this method means that you will have to decide what you want to keep. Take each and every item in your hands, think about it and consider how much you use it. If it’s something you need and love you simply won’t be able to let go. If the item you’re holding is making you hesitate or think about the last time you used it, it should go into a decluttering pile. Of course, you don’t have to get rid of all the discarded items at once. Instead, use a storage unit to help you out. But, we’ll get to that a bit later.

The Four Boxes method is among the favored decluttering home methods

This is a decluttering home before moving house method which we definitely prefer. Why? Because it’s quite flexible. While it may be called four boxes, it doesn’t really have to be. And, it provides you with clear decisions at all times, unlike the KonMari method. Here is how it works. You need to have at least four boxes where you will be sorting items when decluttering home. They are:

  • Put away box – these are the items which you will be bringing with you to your new home
  • Give away – these belongings you should either sell, donate or offer to friends and family
  • Throw away – items to be disposed of
  • Undecided – this is the box to come back to during decluttering home before a move process

The Packing party is another home downsizing method you can use before a move

This is a way to declutter a home which invites your friends over to help. Unlike the two former methods, it will require more hands on deck and some packing supplies. The general idea of this way of decluttering is to pack everything up in boxes. Then, when you need something, you will have to unpack it. After a few months, check out the boxes which have yet to be opened. These are the items which you don’t use. Generally, this is a great decluttering home method. Though, we would suggest using it after you relocate. First, use one of the two listed above in order to downsize before a relocation.

A wardrobe ready be downsized before a relocation.
Decluttering a wardrobe is difficult – choose a method and stick with it.

Finally, you can use storage as a cheat when decluttering home is the goal

All of these methods we’ve mentioned above are minimalist methods. Hence, they do tend to be quite harsh when decluttering home is concerned. So, what we like to suggest as experienced local Twin Cities movers to our customers is a mix of services and minimalism. By renting affordable MN storage you can keep everything you have decluttered for some more time. The unit will keep your items safe in warehousing. During this time period, we suggest that you use the idea of the Packing Party. If you haven’t come into the storage unit to get anything, you probably don’t need it. The time frame which we advise here is eighteen months. If you don’t need something in eighteen months, you don’t really have to own it. Remember, with a good MN moving company, you’ll surely get a great deal on both your relocation and storage. Hence, this is the perfect cheat to the harsh minimalism methods listed above.