While moving can be one of the most hectic times in most people’s lives, the potential for starting fresh is often highly underestimated by many. Transitioning into a new home, a whole new region, or sometimes even simply gaining or losing a new roommate can bring in a period of large-scale changes that you don’t truly feel until you view them in retrospect.
The largest (and most obvious) part of your transition is going to be the physical. Simply put, the effort required in packing, coordinating and moving all of your worldly possessions in an afternoon can be overwhelming at best, and an absolute nightmare at worst. Every item, trinket, accessory and piece of furniture you’ve ever shoved to the side or stowed away into storage is suddenly a large part of your life.
In addition to simply handling and loading your goods, you may find that your movers of choice offer a contract based largely on a home inspection, which focuses on the quantity or total weight of your home’s contents. This can sometimes mean that the additional cost required to move a particularly heavy item will literally run you more than simply buying a new replacement.
Because of this, many vetted movers (or even those with jobs that require they move a lot) will tell you that the transition of moving can serve as an ideal time to reevaluate your possessions and start fresh in the most fundamental way possible—by chucking away the stuff you don’t need.
Valuable keepsakes and essential pieces of your home décor are obviously a no-go, but when it comes to spare or guest rooms rife with cabinets or lamps that haven’t seen the light of day since the late 1980s, you can generally rest assured that going ahead and donating or giving away these ancient relics of times (and living arrangements) past will serve a much more successful, enjoyable purpose than they will simply being moved into an unused corner yet again in your new abode.
Another big aspect of your move to keep in mind is the design and decoration aspect of your new home to be—every room of your new home will essentially serve as a blank slate when surveying the potential for new décor styles and overall themes.
Loading up every single piece of furniture in your possession indiscriminately will generally only ensure that most areas in your new home will be sure to end up looking and feeling exactly like they did in your last home –not necessarily a bad thing for those perfectly content with the balance they’ve achieved, but most will find that there’s always room for improvement.
So what pieces of your past life do you truly need? The simplest and most sincere answer will be “most,” but applying a critical eye to your possessions is certainly never a bad idea. Items of sentimental value are dead ringers of things to keep, and things that you forgot you had are generally dead ringers for the exact opposite. The freedom of lightening your load can be the difference between your transition feeling like a fresh start or it feeling like yet another stressful, chore-filled ordeal.
To summarize: it’s always a good idea to plan in advance, and get rid of the items you don’t plan to move. The difference between a prepared mover and a last minute panic will often come down to whether or not the moving party was willing to take the time to sit down and apply a realistic eye to their load-out and trim out the junk that will only end up slowing you down and dragging you out in the long haul.
