Moving home - the perfect opportunity to lighten the load

There’s no better time to take stock than when you’re moving home.

Firstly, you’ll be turning your house over and packing it into boxes so you’ll know exactly what and how much you have. It’s all laid out for the taking or the tossing.

Secondly, you’ll be in a cleaning mode. There will be extra bins about the place and friends and family around happy to take unwanted items off your hands. Take advantage of the disorder to put order in your life. 

Thirdly, being hard on yourself and your family members about hanging on to unwanted items will enable you to save on moving – always a big expense – and make the process a lot easier.

Make the most of your fresh start

Lightening the load will also make a huge difference at the other end.

One of the great pleasures of moving home is the opportunity to give your interior space a make-over.

This doesn’t mean tossing away all your furniture. Simply think about the bits and pieces that have been lingering in your life a little too long, taking up space and providing little pleasure.

And, course, moving often means downsizing, or at least drastic rearrangement. So lightening the load means you will have more storage space at the other end, enabling you to have an uncluttered start to your new life.

Top five tips for lightening the load

1. If you haven’t used an item in the past year seriously considering tossing it, selling it or passing it on.
2. Be hard on technology. You think you’re going to need that old phone or TV “just in case” but that day just never comes, and if does who wants an old phone or TV?
3. Virtually every item in your home will be loved by somebody more than you. It’s time to let less-than-loved possessions find a new home.
4. Dial down the sentimentality. Do you really need to keep your child’s year five school assignment on the threat of the cane toad? Treasure the important things and let the rest go.
5. Be hard on books. They eat space, age badly and are more often than not neglected. So unless the book changed your life or you actually intend reading let it go. You can download it later for a small cost.