big move coming up

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izzy

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Does anyone have experience of or tips about how to go about a removal in the best possible (i.e. stress-free) way?
We have lived in this flat for over 20 years and have accumulated the usual stuff - books, LPS and CDs, videos and DVDs, clothes, furniture ...

I'd really like to de-junk, and often manage to throw things out, but find that in a lot of cases I'm really just moving stuff from one room to another.

Some days I think I'll just throw everything out and start again in the new flat, but that would be too expensive.

Oh, dear - what can I do??
 
www.flylady.net - The FlyLady will teach you how to get rid of stuff. The rule is that you only keep things you use and love - all else gets thrown. I've been incorporating that strategy for a year now and I have yet to yearn for something I've gotten rid of...and we've taken loads of stuff and donated it to charity. Obviously there is stuff you use but don't love, and you have to keep that. My goal is to eventually replace that stuff with stuff I use AND love.

The FlyLady does 27-Fling Boogies where you go through your house and find 27 things you can get rid of and then get rid of them. Why 27 I don't know. And actually, I don't do those very often. But I've gotten very good at going through drawers and throwing out the stuff we don't use or love.

Having fewer things means that you really enjoy the things you do have. You start to go around your house and look for things that are in your way because you have them but don't use them or love them. The hardest part for me was my book collection, but I managed to trim it down to what actually fit on my bookshelves. I took my used books to the used bookstores in town and sold what I could and then donated the rest to the library which would either use or sell them.

The thing about the 27-Fling-Boogie is that you can probably easily find that many things to get rid of - things that are easy to get rid of. Thus it isn't very painful, but little by little, you discover the joy of only having the things you actually use and love. And it doesn't take but 5 minutes to do so you're not getting overwhelmed by this huge project of going through things.

I highly recommend the FlyLady's take on clutter. For me, it's right up there with GTD as improving my life and my ability to get the things done that I want to do.
 
I would add that you cannot start too early. Moving is a great opportunity to pare down and organize. But if you run short of time the temptation will be to just pack up all the junk as is and stuff it wherever it will fit in the new location. So start paring down ASAP. You might try culling one dresser today and then doing one closet tomorrow, etc. One rule of thumb to go by is that if you have not used something in a year, you don't need it and should get rid of it. Try to be ruthless about this. The natural tendancy for most people is to be a pack rat and it will be hard to throw out the first few things, but once you get rolling it will be liberating. Remember, you don't want to be like the old packrat who died and left among her things a small box carefully labelled "pieces of string too short to save."

One thing I did during my last move was to make sure my new storage areas were well organized. I got some durable plastic bins, packed them logically with only like items together and labelled them properly (with my GTD Brother label maker). I also made sure that each bin is visible/accessible instead of buried beneath other stuff. I also use plastic shelving in some areas. Now I can actually find and use the stuff I have in storage for a change. I may have given up a little storage capacity to achieve this, but my storage is far more useful to me now.

And of course you may want to plan this as a project and keep an N/A active on it.
 
Thanks Pageta and Barry!

The tip about getting started asap is a good one. The move is in 12 weeks time, but I know I should be doing things now.

Problem is, I'm just so overwhelmed by it all. Collecting stuff day by day over 20 years was easy. Moving it en masse to somewhere else is scary.

Got to start somewhere, though, so I've had a look at the Fly Lady - looks like fun - and after I've posted this message I'll go shine my sink, then I'll take it from there.

Have a nice GTD day!
 
After replying to your message yesterday, I went through my kitchen and cleaned it out again. I only found about eight things I coudl get rid of. But seriously, if you go through your house every day and find 27 things you don't use or love, eventually you won't be able to find much stuff. I actually have a "collecting" area where I box things up to take to charity and then leave them there for a couple weeks "until I get a chance to take them" in order to make sure I don't miss them. Usually I know within 24 hours because I can't stop thinking about a certain item. After that, it's usually a relief to get rid of the stuff. You will feel so much lighter...like you lost 50 pounds or something. Your house will feel new and you'll be so thrilled to use the things that you decided to keep because you'll actually use and love them and you'll no longer feel guilty for not using or loving the rest of it. Good luck!
 
you'll no longer feel guilty for not using or loving the rest of it. [/QUOTE]

Hi pageta!

Now that's an interesting thing you said. The FlyLady site is really good. After I'd shined my sink I did the 27-fling thing. One of the things I flung was an electric juice-maker which my mother in law gave me 15 years ago. In these 15 years, I think I made juice 15 times (at most). The juicer was in the cellar and every time I went down there I felt guilty, guilty, guilty. Now it's gone - together with 26 other useless things. Ha-ha!! Thanks for the wonderful FlyLady tip. I feel a lot lighter already and think I can face the move now as I'm not so scared and overwhelmed by it all.
 
Thanks, Day Owl. I found the moving tips.
Have a good GTD day!
 
izzy said:
Hi pageta!

Now that's an interesting thing you said. The FlyLady site is really good. After I'd shined my sink I did the 27-fling thing. One of the things I flung was an electric juice-maker which my mother in law gave me 15 years ago. In these 15 years, I think I made juice 15 times (at most). The juicer was in the cellar and every time I went down there I felt guilty, guilty, guilty. Now it's gone - together with 26 other useless things. Ha-ha!! Thanks for the wonderful FlyLady tip. I feel a lot lighter already and think I can face the move now as I'm not so scared and overwhelmed by it all.
Click to expand...

You're making me feel good just thinking about it!
 
preparation might help

You might try to identify several GTD style projects within the whole, big moving project.

Find out what charities are taking what. I have been amazed at what they won't take and the reasons. If you don't sell stuff on e-bay you might find someone who does and share the profit.
Create an areas for things you plan on returning to people before you move or need them to pick up.
Also, an area for things that you only want to keep if they can be repaired.

Also, consider the cost of moving certain items versus time and $ for replacing them. I was shocked to learn that a family I know that has moved a lot never takes some common housewares like bathmats, dish rack, soap dishes, waste baskets. But, remember that some surprisingly useful items are not easy to replace like certain kinds of soap dishes and drying racks.

Designate a small box for addresses to enter since you may find a lot of them or just enter as you go along.

If you are packing yourself, use like-size boxes so that they can stack. Number each box and roughtly list contents, also who packed it, where it came from and where it is to go.

Put a colorful dot on items that you don't want other people to pack.

Secure your valuables if you have packers and movers and tie your keys around your neck.

Pack little tools like pliers and utility knife last.

If anyone takes anything part for moving either tape the parts to the object or put them in a labeled bag and keep all the bags together.

Take photos or videos of valuables.

Check on insurance matters.

Good luck.
 
I just finished a similar move

We are now in our new house. Our old apartment was so crowded that we ended up moving in a very non-gtd way -- we culled what was obvious and packed the rest.

We've been unpacking in a more GTD/Flylady way. If I can't find a real home for an item, it's history. If there is any doubt about the usefullness of an item, it goes into one of three piles: take to my family, take to charity, or trash.

It has slowed down the unpacking to a crawl, but it's made me feel loads better. Especially since several boxes had been stored for 2 years while we were in the apartment. Much of that will be gotten rid of, bit by bit.

Another site you might find useful: www.freecycle.com. If there is a group near you, you may be able to offer some of your items there. Saves resources, as long as you don't find items that you want listed.

Good luck and let me stress the "starting early" that someone else mentioned. We didn't because we felt too constrained by space and stuff. Hindsight, and all that.
 
Sorry I haven't responded earlier to the latest great advice posted here - the reason is I've been clearing things out. For the last week the place where I live (southern Germany) has been more or less closed down due to Christmas, New Year and Epiphany holidays. As I was keen to get rid of stuff RIGHT out of the house, but couldn't take any of it to recycling or charity shops, I just put things out day by day on the porch with a big poster saying that we were moving house and hoped that somone else would find these things useful.

The first day, the stuff simply went like hotcakes - and it's been the same ever since. What I find particularly nice is that people are putting things IN to the basket - chocolates, cookies, home-made preserves - as a kind of "thank you"!

It's a great feeling to lighten the load of clutter we've accumulated here over the past 20 years, but it's even nicer to know that other people can use the things.
 
Hello friend,
Yes you are right it will be really too expensive to throw everything and start in a new flat..I think you should first sit and think that how much junk you have and throw it away because movers and packers charge for everything so it will increase your cost of shifting.
Try to make list of your whole stuff and start from one room,and if you have hired movers and packers then talk them and ask them to come before 2 days of shifting and try to leave your kids to your relatives place so that you can concentrate on your packing well..then if you have hired professionals then they will do everything very efficiently.
So don't panic everything will be good if you will do it calmly.:)

Regards,
Nelson
Self Storage Unit Virginia
 
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