There are times in life when a sudden move or a change in circumstances means you’re moving to a smaller space. If you’re downsizing because your children have flown the nest, it may be difficult to know how to begin clearing out that excess furniture, clothing and other stuff.
Follow these steps to minimize your belongings. When you’re ready, call Victory Van to get a move on getting them packed, shipped or stored.
1. Get it Out
Here are three tricks that we recommend to our customers that help them pack up their home. Use all three, or the one that you like best.
The three-box methodTake three boxes or contractor bags and label each one. Name them:
- Keep
- Trash
- Donate
Now open up every drawer or closet one at a time and start removing items. As you touch each item, decide which box it goes into.
Don’t spend too much time on each thing. Act quickly on your gut instinct.
The photo trick
If you have items you can’t bear to let go of for sentimental reasons but know you don’t have room for, take photos of them.
Store those photos on a blog, in a scrapbook or wherever you can honor those feelings now and in the future.
Save copies of those photos in a secure location or in a cloud-based system so you never have to worry that they’ll be lost.
Think “magnets”
Many people believe that you can’t make room for new experiences in life until you physically clear out the old things that tie you to your past. Think of your empty spaces as “magnets” that will attract wonderful new people, events, and memories into your life.
2. Get it Packed
Once your bags or boxes are filled, you can decide what to do with them.
Box or Bag #1 - KEEP
These are the things you’ll need to reorganize in your new space. Set them aside for packing.
If everything doesn’t fit, or you think it’s too much to move, you may want to consider storing some of these items.
Now that you’ve whittled everything down, you can start planning to move what’s left.
At this point, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. Call Victory Van and we’ll take it from here.
We’ll get everything quickly and expertly packed and get it moved to your new home while you take care of yourself and your family.
Box or Bag #2 - DONATE
Take these bags or boxes to your favorite local charity. You can also call a service that picks up boxes from your home. Among these are the Salvation Army and the Vietnam Veterans of America.
Box or Bag #3 - TRASH
This is self-explanatory. Recycle as much as you can. Take the rest to the curb or the dumpster.
Get it Stored
If your plans to downsize include plans to move to another town or another country, you probably want to store some of it to save time and money on your move.
For secure, long-term storage of all your belongings, contact Victory Van. We’ll pick it all up and take it to one of our conveniently located warehouses.
You can rest easy knowing that your belongings have state-of-the-art protection from theft, fire, flood and pest damage.
Whatever your reasons for downsizing, you can count on Victory Van for expert consultation on moving and storage logistics.
Call us at 1-800-572-3131 and speak with one of our expert relocation consultants to plan your next move. Or, click below for your free online quote.
