Divide your belongings into three categories: keep, toss or donate. Keep items that are essential to the new home and will find a good location for them. Toss things you don’t need, giving away what is in working order if possible. Donate things you don’t want but others might. This can help with tax deductions as well as providing benefits to those who could use your donation. Ask your charity of choice about size limitations if donating furniture.
Let family members know ahead of time that they may be able to take some keepsakes with them on moving day before you throw anything away or donate it! If kept safe, these items could come in handy years down the road during an estate sale.
Sort Your Belongings
If you have a renter’s or homeowner’s policy of your own, remember to cancel it as soon as you’ve left the premises. And of course, before moving day arrives, be sure and contact all service providers (including banks and utilities) to let them know that the change of address is on its way.
What do I bring with me on my move?
When preparing for a move into an apartment complex or rental home, we suggest first deciding what belongs in your new space (daily use items such as clothing and dishes). Then pack those items separately from any items destined for storage (such as holiday decorations) before loading up all boxes or containers.
Hire a Pro
These types of time constraints can leave people feeling powerless over what to do with the remnants of their homes.
Sorting Through Personal Belongings
After you have made many trips on your own and filled up countless boxes, it is time to sort through them again. This time, though, you will be more efficient in parting with items that are not worth keeping. You need to narrow down what is essential and get rid of the unnecessary things only when they serve no useful purpose for you. Again, a professional can assist in this endeavor and help you find charities (such as Goodwill Industries, Salvation Army or North Shore Animal League) where these items can go to better use for others who will appreciate them more than yourself.
Hold a Sale
If you want to attract more customers, you can tease them with lower prices at the beginning.
For the ones who are planning to go to a garage sale but feel like they don’t have enough time or effort, there is an easier way. Just download the app called “Garage Sale Treasure Map” (GSTM), which offers a real-time map of garage sales in your area. You just need to enter your address and other details that could be found on any flyer about yard sales, such as date/time/location, and you should be all set. It even gives directions to help reach where it will be held.
Donate
If you want to have a garage sale but aren’t able to handle the effort, list your items on Craigslist.org if you’re selling larger pieces of furniture or instruments, and seek out local Facebook groups for yard sales if you’re setting up a more curated sale. If you are planning on leaving your house behind because it is too big for you to maintain, look into renting out rooms in your house via services like AirBnB.com. If you want to help others as you downsize your house, look into holding an estate sale, where people can pick through what remains after your belongings are packed away or donated. It’s easy to get caught up in the fun of holding a garage sale without considering whether or not it’s financially practical for those people to do so.
Pay to Take Away
Most of the time they will not take hazardous waste such as paint, cleaning materials, oil-based paints, gasoline, and pesticides. If the items are small enough to fit into a bag they will ask that you take them out of their home. Otherwise, they will not go through a person’s entire house for this purpose.
Having said that it is possible to find a company that removes items from an estate no matter what or how much you have. In some cases, if it does not work out between the customer and the company who was contracted to clean up their property there may be a fee upon moving everything from the estate.
Some companies will come to your home for a fee, remove unwanted items, and even clean for you to help you downsize your house in [maket_city]. If you are physically limited and are lacking plenty of helping hands, or you got started and find you are not progressing at the rate you expected, it may be time to call in professional help.
Skip the Trouble
Work with us at HBR Colorado. We make it easy by handling everything on your behalf as you downsize your house in [maket_city]. HBR Colorado has an entire team of professionals waiting to help you with everything from sorting to cleaning, at no charge to you. Contact us at (719) 286-0053 and leave all of your worries behind.