The document provides tips for organizing a move, including planning, decluttering, and clearing out space. It recommends starting the process early by scheduling tasks on a calendar and labeling items to keep, sell, or donate. The author also suggests decluttering now by purging unnecessary items, evaluating each possession, and donating or selling things you no longer want. Proper preparation makes the initial stage of a move time-consuming but ensures only wanted items are moved to the new home.

1. Vol. 33, No. 27
Organizing for a move this summer
By Tatiana Knight
M
oving is a big project with so
many things to do that it is easy
to get overwhelmed if you are
not well organized. Luckily, I specialize in
guiding my clients through the process of
selecting what to keep and what not to keep.
Here are a few suggestions for planning, de-
cluttering and clearing a space in prepara-
tion for a smooth transition.
Plan:
One of the main factors in being ready for
a move is the amount of time you put into
preparing. As the time gets closer for you
to vacate the space, use a calendar to sched-
ule in the daily or weekly appointments that
you will need to spend getting ready. Once
the move is imminent, mark the bigger
items such as furniture and art with "keep",
“sell” or "giveaway" signs or colored dots
so that you have time to look over your
choices and make changes if needed. If you
know where you are moving, create a floor
plan of your new home. Consider each
piece of furniture you have and create a di-
agram of where it will go. If you are mov-
ing but the new home is not decided, only
choose what you love and say goodbye to
the rest.
De-clutter:
If you know that you are moving at any
point in the next year, I suggest you start the
de-cluttering process now and commit to
making the important decisions about
which possessions you value most. Use the
move as a way to have a fresh start at being
organized in your new home. Remember
that the less stuff you own, the less you
have to take care of. A lot of times shedding
your excess possessions is hard at first but
helps you feel lighter and freer in the end.
Because you are looking to remove items
you do not want, you can start anywhere.
Some ideas are the utility/wash room, the
linen closet, the pantry, the shed, or under-
neath the bathroom sink. My favorite
method for purging is to separate things into
categories so you can see the total amount
of what you own and decide from there. For
example, if you are looking at picture
frames gather all of the ones you have in
various areas of the house and then look at
the entire collection together to decide what
to keep. Inspect each item and ask yourself
a series of questions: Do you really use or
love it? How many do you need? Where
will it go in the new place? Is it replace-
able? What is the worst scenario if you let
it go? Donna Smallin, bestselling author of
Organizing Plain and Simple, suggests that
you consider whether an item is worth the
time and expense it will take to pack, move,
and unpack it before agreeing to move it. If
you have difficulty making decisions invite
a friend who can be there to talk you
through it or a Professional Organizer who
is trained to help.
Clear Out:
The cast offs should be bagged or boxed
to be given away, donated to charity, sold
or trashed. For giveaways to a specific per-
son, such as a friend, contact them to ask if
they are interested in picking it up by an
agreed upon date. Donate the items after the
deadline. The easiest method for purging is
to make a bulk donation to a charitable or-
ganization that can come with a truck and
take everything away. Just confirm that they
accept the items you are hoping to donate
and remember to get a receipt. If time al-
lows, try selling items on consignment, on-
line, or at an estate/moving/yard sale,
depending on the value of the items. A great
way to sell large furniture or appliances is
to ask the new buyer or neighbors if they
are interested. If you have an excessive
amount of trash and need to dispose of it
quickly call a bulk pick-up service that can
take virtually anything for a fee. When a sit-
uation arises where you decide to pay for
public storage set a firm deadline for when
you will empty the space. I suggest that you
seriously consider the monetary value of the
items you are paying to store to decide if
you are not better off letting them go now.
Another idea is to try and negotiate with a
friend or family member who might accept
less money for temporary storage on their
own property.
The initial stage of preparation for a move
can take a lot of time and effort, but once you
are done you can safely say that everything
you move to your new home should to be
there and will help you feel comfortable in
your new space. Please see next month's arti-
cle for moving stage two: packing and un-
packing.
Knight is a Miami-based Professional Or-
ganizer. Visit neatwithknight.com or call
(305) 502-6391 for information.