How to Downsize While Packing Without Feeling Stressed

If you’ve been meaning to downsize your collection of furniture, knick-knacks, and home decor, there’s no better time than when you’re moving. It might feel like you already have a lot to do, but taking the time to downsize now can help you with every step of your move. Keep these four tips in mind as you start to downsize while packing:

1. Mark it before you move it.

Don’t pack and declutter at the same time. Instead, pick up a pack of stickers so you can mark what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. Combining the two chores creates a lot of drag, and you’ll stay to keep things just because of drawn-out decision fatigue.

2. Make decisions quickly.

The longer you think about keeping or getting rid of any particular item, the more likely you are to keep it. So ask yourself when you last used it or, for sentimental things, when you last thought about it positively. That one answer should guide your decision so you can move onto the next thing.

3. Don’t try to imagine a use for it in your new home.

If you can rationalize keeping something, it’s harder to let it go. So don’t justify the smallest possible reason to keep it. You can probably create a ‘what-if’ scenario for every item in your home, and that’s not going to help you declutter. Instead, think about if it was really useful in your current home.

4. Schedule your donations and junk removal for the day after your moving van arrives.

Just like how you don’t want to combine picking and packing, don’t give yourself the opportunity to change your mind about what you’ve decided to get rid of. Schedule your moving van first so you can send off everything you want to keep. Then there’s no way to sneak a junk box into the moving pile.

Keeping these two goals separate is even easier if you hire a moving service that also handles junk removal. Contact our team at Brown Box Movers to make it happen.