3 Essential Tips To Help You Get Super Organised Before You Move House - Adore Your Home with Heather Craig

3 ESSENTIAL TOP TIPS TO HELP YOU GET SUPER ORGANISED BEFORE YOU MOVE HOUSE


So, you are planning to put your house up for sale, or, maybe you have already sold it and have a date booked to hand over the keys. Woohoo!

It’s a very exciting time, to be moving on to somewhere new & exciting, but it can also attract a huge amount of anxiety.  I want to help you avoid the overwhelm that can overcome you like a giant wave and make you wish you were staying put!

I want to help you focus your thoughts on what exactly you need to be getting on with, that will make the actual move much easier for you.

The whole moving thing is super stressful, because not only are you coping with ‘normal’ life but you have all the extras like dealing with two sets of estate agents, plus solicitors (if you are selling & buying a new place), having viewers round and because of that, cleaning & tidying-up can become your new hobby. It can feel like you are living with TV cameras in every corner of your home!

It isn’t easy.

And looming ahead is the prospect of actually organising, packing and unpacking all your family’s stuff.  This is exactly the kind of thing that can wake you up at 4am, with your eyes wide open and a loooooooong to-do list scrolling through your mind that could fill an entire pretty floral notebook (cover to cover).

The best way to stop the pre-dawn awakenings is to break the whole process down into manageable steps, which won’t interrupt your precious night’s sleep!

Dealing With Your Belongings

I want to share these 3 top tips to help you deal with all your belongings. I don’t go in for long complicated lists of do’s and dont’s when it comes to organising and decluttering, as I much prefer to keep the whole (boring) process as simple as possible – it all reminds me a bit too much of housework, which I try to avoid! I’d rather create rooms that look gorgeous any day, but to do that in your new place, you need to do this first!


TIP NUMBER 1: PLAN YOUR PURGE

By ‘purge’ I mean going through everything that is in your home and eliminating the items you won’t be taking with you. This is a hugely important thing to do as it means you are not unpacking unnecessary things at your lovely new house. Deal with all that before the move & your new home will feel lighter and much more spacious & organised & you won’t use up valuable storage with the unwanted stuff!

So, make a plan. Get a pen and paper…I suggest a beautiful notebook, which you can use for all the essential info you need to have at your fingertips.

Or, you can download and print (as many as you need) this beautiful ‘GET READY TO MOVE – Room Action Plan” checklist I have designed for you free,
by clicking >>>HERE<<<

 

How To Use it: 

  • Room: Use a new page for each room you need to sort through
  • My List Of Items: stand in the space and list all the items in the room.Actions: Write what needs to happen to each, eg dismantle, sell, donate, clean etc
  • Areas To Organise: Note the things you need to go through eg drawers, wardrobes, cupboards.
  • Time Allocated: Estimate how long each session will take eg ‘my wardrobe – 4 hours (over-estimate)
  • Plan each session into your diary and tick when done!
    How rewarding!

 

Don’t Get Out Of Control
By sticking to this, you will start and finish one task in the timeframe you decided, which will avoid things getting out of control. Because that’s the risk – stuff everywhere that you end up tripping over for weeks because you took on too much & ran out of time to finish properly.

Honestly, this might sound like you’re overthinking the whole move, but the satisfaction of ticking lists and making methodical progress is like being given an award at a ceremony where people are clapping and you are bowing!

Move In Easily
When the day comes and you have arrived at the new place, the removal men have left and you are surrounded by boxes, you will be delighted, nay, even enjoy putting things away and organising your lovely new home with only the things you actually want!

 

TIP NUMBER 2: DECISION FATIGUE

Making decisions is incredibly exhausting and I’d say that’s the main reason decluttering can become such a big, difficult chore that we keep putting off. Every single thing you pick up requires you to decide something about it…if it’s staying, if it’s going, who to, stored where etc.

No wonder people ignore the clutter around them!

So, my solution is to get a good trusted friend who is willing and very enthusiastic or engage a professional organiser/declutterer.
The saying “two hands are better than” one is absolutely right.

I have a great friend who helps me when I tackle a large declutter and the speed at which we work together is amazing. I could not do it without her…and when I have tried to, I have regretted it (bitterly).

She is great at whizzing things into labelled bin bags, or moving-boxes and dragging them to the front door where they await their departure to the car boot.

When I work with my clients during a house move, I’m the one that is in that supporting role, doing everything to make their tedious decision-making task as easy as possible, which makes the whole session (almost) pain-free and much, much quicker.

 

TIP NUMBER 3: PURPOSEFULLY AVOID PROCRASTINATING

It is so tempting when you uncover things you haven’t seen in years to sit down and start looking at them, going through books and photos, baby clothes, travel mementoes etc. but this is where your session can go right off the rails.

Resist doing this with all your might!

My tip is to have a blank page with a heading ‘Look Later” and if you really, really, really want to spend more time revisiting some things, put them where you are going to store them, in their own particular place, then write them on your ‘Look Later’ list.

That way you’re free to go back to them when the session is done.

Hope That Helps!

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PS. If you are preparing to sell, get your copy of my free ebook which has 50 Fab Tips!
Or, if you want some tips on making your home fabulous, get your copy of my other ebook – both below! x