If you are considering moving, this is the ideal time to call a Professional Organizer. The best time to contact an Organizer is six months before the relocation. Please do not wait until the week before the move (seriously, don’t!). Here is some background story on how and why the moving process is chaotic and feared by many. Then, you’ll see why you should call a Professional Organizer now if you are considering moving.
Is this you?
Do you still have unpacked boxes from your last move? Do you even know what is in them? Maybe you did unpack, but you put things away without thinking about where everything should go. Are you still living with the consequences of that moving day?
The process of moving is stressful and messy. But it also has lingering consequences that you probably have not even considered!
What Lies Beneath
At a fundamental level, moving is a change that we might be resisting. When we move, we need to make decisions about what we own. Frequently, facing our stuff stirs up memories or fears we have not dealt with or are not ready for.
When people do not want to face these memories or fears, they drag everything they own from one home to the next without evaluating or discarding a thing.
Some move stuff they no longer want from one house to the next because they do not have the time to evaluate and organize what they own. Yet others do not know any method or strategy to prevent the chaotic moving day debacle.
By forgoing the critical steps of organizing their move and purging what is no longer wanted, they miss the chance to simplify their lives and start fresh in a new home.
As a result of the missed opportunity, their clutter, and disorganization will follow them to their new home.
Meanwhile, At The New Place
After falling for the beautifully staged home they saw and bought, reality rushes in like a train wreck on moving day when all the boxes and bulky bags arrive at the new place. These boxes and bags come in total disarray and include things that should not have been brought over. However, they are here now, and nobody even knows what is in what box.
The arrival of such mayhem on moving day often results in frantic unpacking and placing stuff wherever it lands. But, unfortunately, that is precisely where all that stuff remains for months, even years after the move.
Some boxes never get opened. So instead, those boxes will go from the garage to the attic, then back to the garage, and maybe the spare room, all the way reminding us of the messy move poorly executed.
Do-Over: Organize Home Before Packing To Move
Organizing the home before packing your move has several distinctive benefits:
1. Faster sale of the home
Clutter in a home speaks of a lack of storage and makes the home look smaller. Conversely, a well-appointed house conveys larger spaces and proper storage. Potential buyers will always open cabinets, closets, and drawers when these come with the house. They need to see those spaces as ample and efficient. An organized home sells faster because people buy space.
2. More profitable home sale
An organized home looks and feels more spacious, leading to a more profitable sale. An organized home makes staging the property possible. Staged homes sell faster and for more money than unstaged homes.
3. Less expensive move
Why pay to pack and move things that will end up discarded anyway? Discarding what you don’t want first makes the process simpler and more economical.
4. Packing by categories
Organizing the home before packing for the move leads to everything having a single logical place in the house. When item categories are together in a single place, it is easier to assess our belongings and make decisions about them. Then it is possible to pack the move by categories. Packing by categories leads to logical, streamlined unpacking.
5. Streamlined unpacking at the new home
Belongings packed logically and with the new home space in mind are easier to unpack. After moving in, the result is a faster new home setup and better organization system designs. The unpacking process is critical in determining how you’ll live in the new place. You can expect to live with order and grace if the process is fast, logical, and streamlined.
The Move – The Professional Organizer Way
Engaging a Professional Organizer to help with all your moving details can be crucial for a positive moving experience for once!
An Organizer can help your moving process in many ways. Here are some of them:
1. Strategic planning, project management = streamlined, stress-free moving process
The Organizer knows the chaotic process of moving. Many organizers are excellent project managers. And from the management of the entire process to advice you on staged home living, the Organizer will spear no detail in the strategic plan.
The Organizer will share additional services and resources you might need throughout the moving and home-selling process. Furthermore, they can coordinate and manage those services for you, removing stuff from your to-do list.
Whether it is staging services for your home, make-ready cleaning services, repairs for the new or current home, bulk trash removal, or designing services for the new place, your Organizer has you covered!
But the earlier you engage an Organizer in this process, the more opportunity they’ll have to help.
2. Organizing your home = faster, more profitable sale
If you need to sell your current home before moving, an Organizer provides lots of value in the process. An organized home sells faster. Clutter in a home speaks of the lack of storage and makes the house look smaller.
Conversely, a well-appointed house conveys the idea of larger spaces and good storage. Potential buyers will always open cabinets, closets, and drawers that come with the home. Hiding the clutter instead of managing it is not an alternative!
Thus, it makes total sense to organize the house before packing for moving if you need to be at your current home until you sell it.
3. Helping you decide what to move or let go = move with less expense and effort
People often pay to move stuff they do not want or need anymore. Selecting what you need and use beforehand saves effort, packaging material, and money. Working with an Organizer allows you to purge unwanted items before packing with ease. There’s no point in packing things that you will discard anyway. Instead, simplify the process and save money by discarding or donating what you no longer need or want before packing for the move.
4. Organizing your belongings = logical packing + straightforward unpacking
It is easier to see what you own and to make decisions about your possessions when related items are together, things are they belong, and every category of items has a logical place. Thus, it makes total sense to organize your home before packing, which facilitates packing by categories — furthermore, packing by category results in a logical process that makes unpacking much easier later on when you need a well-appointed home.
5. Carefully and logically packing your move = faster new home setup
I have seen far too many packing jobs where we find trashcans with actual trash inside, kitchen stuff, and even clothes. And when the packing does not include labeling or inventory, good luck finding what you might need from any of those boxes!
The scenario described above happens because moving companies usually pay their employees by time and volume. So, it makes no sense for them to separate item categories, mainly if that results in lighter boxes. Besides, packers are usually not Organizers and probably can’t make these decisions.
An Organizer packs by categories, carefully labeling everything and preparing comprehensive box inventories. Unpacking will be done with the same care and efficiency at your new place later.
6. Prepare your new home = home ready for your belongings + feel “at home” sooner
The Organizer can fit your new place with systems to suit your lifestyle — modifying closets, creating built-in organizing solutions, translating systems previously used in your last home, or lining shelves and drawers. This professional prepares your new home to make you feel like you belong there from the very start.
7. Carefully and thoroughly unpacking at the new place = move on with your life fast
Organizers find the perfect place for everything you own and put everything away so your new space remains organized and as functional as possible.
With careful unpacking, everything finds a logical place, and everything is beautifully appointed.
In Summary
Moving is a process many people dread, but it can be amazingly beneficial when it is an organized, intentional exercise. Moving is the perfect opportunity to propel our lives where they should go. But when the process occurs without purging first, it leads to clutter and disorganization in the new place. And clutter is the opposite of the calm and stylish home we look forward to having.
So, declutter your home for a faster sale and an easier move and make space for new possibilities in your life. What is more exciting than moving to your new home? Moving to a new home where everything has a place, everything looks beautiful, and the space is functional. That is!
Do not hesitate to call a Professional Organizer to help with your move. Engaging an Organizer might be the best investment you make after purchasing your new home. With some planning and thought given to the logistics of the moving process, we’ve got this.
Welcome Home!