How To Declutter Your Wardrobe Before Moving

What takes up the most space when preparing to move? Some think it’s the future. Others believe it’s kitchen wear. But in all honesty, it often falls on the wardrobe. There are clothes, shoes, coats, and everything in between that you need to pack. And if you’re moving with your family, then you have multiple wardrobes to deal with. Here are a few tips on how to declutter your wardrobe before moving.

Find Motivation

Tasks like decluttering require motivation. There is a reason why everything piled up. You put it off because you did not want to get to it immediately, and there are only a few days left until the move. Here’s your first trick: find motivation.

There must be a driving force behind why you want to declutter your wardrobe. If not, you’ll continue to drag your feet and end up stuffing everything in a box. Start making plans about how you want your new home to look. You might need to declutter a few things to create a new flow, including in your clothing storage areas. Keep this in mind whenever things get overwhelming.

Stop and Process

Don’t start collecting boxes just yet. Look through everything before you start moving items around. You don’t want to miss anything, and you don’t want to toss something you might still need. Decide how you want to process the clothes.

For example, you can use the power of piles. Create three piles: one for storage, another for donations, and one more for selling. Anything that’s left over will come with you to the new house. Besides, piles are your best friend when it comes to organization! They are the key building blocks to achieving the result you want.

Sort Through Seasons

It’s easier to declutter when you go through the wardrobe based on seasons. For example, if you plan to move in the fall, some warmer items will stay out because people may need to wear them. Start off with the furthest season from the one you’re in now.

See what items no longer fit or are worse for wear. You might also find some things that are out of style. Consider ordering some plastic cabinets or drawer organizers so that when it comes time to unpack, you can store everything with the current organization system.

Go Room to Room

Trying to tackle a whole home’s worth of clothing is intimidating. Shrink the task down by working with one room at a time. Every wardrobe will have a particular set of needs, and you don’t want to get things mixed up. Work with your family members to determine what clothes they really want to keep and why.

Sometimes you might have to make the final judgment call, especially if you know items need replacing. If you haven’t seen them wear something in the last year, then it’s probably no longer useful. Keep a documented list of which items are in what boxes to ensure everything makes it to your new home.

Don’t put off decluttering the wardrobe before moving. It’s the most time-consuming task you’ll need to complete, but with these tips, it can be a bit easier.

Fun Ways To Organize Your Gym Wear

Many people often don’t prioritise their gym wear when it comes to organisation, but it will make your life so much easier everyday! Plus, it’s a really satisfying one to get organised, so let’s find out a few super simple and fun ways to organise your gym wear. 

Start By Having A Good Clearout

The first thing you should do is have a good clearout of all your gym wear to make sure your wardrobe is decluttered. You don’t want to waste valuable space on pieces that you never wear anymore, so you should start by getting rid of anything in your gym wear wardrobe that you no longer wear, that doesn’t make you feel confident or that you don’t truly love. When you put on a gym outfit that doesn’t make you feel great, it’s going to be so much harder to find the motivation to actually go, so make sure you only keep pieces you love. 

You could sell anything you’re not keen on anymore, then use the money you make to buy a few pieces that you really love! You will save space and end up with a wardrobe full of gym wear that you love. 

Roll Don’t Fold! 

Our next tip is to roll and not fold your gym wear! As fitness clothing tends not to crease as much, then you can get away with rolling them, which often helps you to save space, and it is easier to see everything that you have so you will get to wear all of your gym wear rather than just rotating the first three gym tops or gym leggings on your pile! So, take all of your gym wear out of your drawers or wardrobe, roll it into nice little neat parcels and then you are ready to start putting it back into your storage. 

Get Drawer Organizers

The best tip we can give you for your gym wear is to get drawer organizers! As you will probably be keeping your gym wear in drawers rather than hanging them up, then drawer organizers provide the best solution to help you keep everything all organised and neat. 

You can choose different sized organizers, so have the bigger ones to store your folded joggers and leggings, then medium sized for your tops, smaller for your sports bras and finally smallest for your gym socks. You can put all of your gym wear back into the drawers vertically in the rolled up portions rather than horizontally, so you can see the top of every piece of clothing you have, so you will never end up forgetting about one piece for months on end. 

5 Ways to Make Your Living Room Minimalistic

The living room is a place for entertaining guests, relaxing after a long day, and spending time with family. But it can also be a cluttered mess. If you're looking to declutter and simplify your life, making your living room more minimalistic is a great place to start. Here are 5 easy ways to do just that.

Get Rid of Excess Furniture

Take a look around your living room. Is there any furniture that you don't use or need? Any pieces that are taking up valuable space? If so, get rid of them! The fewer pieces of furniture you have, the more spacious and open your living room will feel. If you’re not sure, try removing a few pieces of furniture and storing them elsewhere. This way you can see if you actually need them before getting rid of them. 

Donate or Sell Unwanted Items 

If you want to declutter your home and create a more minimal living room, consider donating or selling unwanted items. Not only will this give you more space, but it will also make you feel good knowing that your unwanted items are going to someone who can use them. You can start by going through each item in your living room and deciding whether you really need it. If not, set it aside to donate or sell. You may be surprised at how much stuff you can get rid of this way. And once you've decluttered your living room, you'll be able to enjoy your space more and live a simpler life.

Keep Only Essential Items in Storage

When it comes to storage, less is definitely more. Only keep items in your living room that you absolutely need and use on a regular basis. Everything else can be stored out of sight in another room or in a storage unit. 

Use Multipurpose Furniture 

Invest in furniture that serves more than one purpose. For example, instead of a coffee table and an end table, get a coffee table with built-in storage. That way you can declutter surfaces and have a place to store things like blankets and pillows. 

Let in Natural Light 

Choose shades that are neutral in tone and allow you to let in as much natural light as possible. Even something as simple as window shades can make a huge difference. Not only will this make your living room feel brighter and more inviting, but it will also make it appear more spacious. 

Making your living room more minimalistic doesn't have to be difficult or time-consuming. By following these simple tips, you can declutter your space and simplify your life in no time at all!

Guest Post - 6 Benefits to Downsizing Your Home

There’s no singular reason why downsizing your home is the right choice.There is the obvious financial benefit but this is not always the motivation. Times change and life moves quickly. Houses can suit you down to the ground for a few years but then may become more of a burden than a home. Take a look at some of the benefits to downsizing: 

1. More liquid capital 

2. An opportunity to relocate

3. Trade old for new 

4. Reduce the number of rooms

5. Decrease maintenance jobs

6. Find the quiet life 

1. More liquid capital

Let’s get the first and most obvious benefit of downsizing your home out of the way. When you decrease the size of your home, with all other factors staying the same such as location, house age and local faculties, your new house that you’ve downsized into should cost less than your old home. 

Housing prices in the UK have been on a fairly steady rise. London has had the biggest boom but overall, it is safe to say that if you’ve lived in your house for a number of years, it will be worth more than when you bought it. 

Freeing up this capital (money) increase means you’ll be able to spend it on some of the finer things in life. Whatever your motivations for downsizing your home, having some more cash available to you is certainly a sweetener of the deal. 

2. An Opportunity To Relocate

Downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to stick to where your current home is. You can view it as an opportunity to up sticks and change your base and likely lifestyle. 

Your location change can be as simple as moving closer to public transport links. Or perhaps, you wish to settle into a city where everything is a short walk away. Conversely, you might want the quieter country life where life is mosey and ticks along at your pace. 

With relocation also comes the opportunity to change your lifestyle. If you’ve been a city dweller you’ll likely have had little experience of the natural beauty the world has to offer. If you seized the opportunity to move near a beach or sea front you could pick up any number of watersports. Similarly, the countryside comes with countryside walks. Relocation really does open up new opportunities. 

3. Trade Old For New

A family home becomes very sentimental. Unless you’re a serial renovator, you might not have kept up all the rooms and exterior of your house up to date. It’s natural to want to make your home exactly how you want it and once you feel it's there, why change it?

But times do change and that playroom you made for your children who are now parents doesn’t seem as useful as it once was. Renovations also cost money. Something we all know is not easy to come by. 

When you downsize your home, you can choose your new home to be a new build or at least slightly more up to date than your current home. You get the ease of walking into a house that has all the modern conveniences that you didn’t think was worth the investment in your old home. Potential buyers of the home you’re downsizing from get a nice passion project. It’s a win win. 

4. Reduce The Number Of Rooms

This is a close second to the most obvious benefit to downsizing your home. Less rooms means less upkeep. 

Sure, when you had a large family that needed space to grow and entertain themselves, having a room for everyone in the family was very practical. However, now the young ones are getting on with their own lives. It is time you had less rooms to clean. Less cleaning means more time to do what you actually enjoy. 

5. Decrease Maintenance Jobs 

When you have a large family home, it requires a lot of upkeep to prevent it losing value or from becoming unkempt. It is a commitment maintaining a large home and while the time is right this can feel like a very naturally enjoyable part of life. 

However, it can become a repetitive task when you don’t have that same desire to be moving upwards. Downsizing your home and removing all the maintenance jobs you committed many years to will certainly free up some time. 

6. Find The Quiet Life

It’s been touched on previously in this article that downsizing your home gives you the opportunity to change lifestyle, and why not choose the quiet life?

Finding your less sizable home in a rural location means that you can live a simple and fulfilled life. You can choose to have a small plot of land to do all that gardening you wish you had time for before. With some spare cash you can spend it on things that would’ve been considered excessive, such as a new set of golf clubs or some chickens. 

To conclude, downsizing your home comes with many benefits and can enable you to change the way you're living by changing your location, local amenities and giving you a bit of extra spending money. 

Author Bio

This article was written by Zac for Harris & Birt - Residential, Rural and Commercial Estate Agents.