4 Tips to Stay Organized When Planning a Move

From selling your current home to finding a new one to packing your belongings, the moving process can feel overwhelming. While staying organized may not be a top priority, taking the following easy steps can help simplify the packing and unpacking processes, while ensuring that your home looks as orderly as possible while it is on the market.

- Start the purging process early. No matter how long you’ve lived in your current home, you’ve most likely accumulated possessions that you no longer need. The more of these you can get rid of, the easier and less costly your move will be. As soon as you know that a move is on the horizon, start sifting through each room in your house, including every drawer, closet, and cabinet. Ask yourself whether you use or love an item, or whether it has sentimental value—and consider donating or throwing out anything that doesn’t fall into these categories.

- Organize your current home. While organizing your belongings may seem like a waste of time when you’re planning to move them soon anyway, there are many benefits to adopting an organization system before beginning the packing process. While it doesn’t need to be elaborate, investing in some baskets, containers, and drawers to sort your belongings will help you identify items to toss, simplify packing and unpacking, and declutter your home—which will boost its appeal to buyers.

- Pack by room. Ensuring that each box you pack contains items from only one room is the easiest way to keep your belongings organized until they are set up in your new home. Resist the temptation to commingle items from different rooms just because you have extra space in a box.

- Set up a labeling system. As you pack by room, a consistent labeling system will help you stay organized and make unpacking a breeze. For example, assign each box a number, and keep a corresponding list with a brief description of what each box contains and in which room it belongs.

Sources: realsimple.com