This is a sponsored post from Allstate, but this article was written all by me. Â
Moving can be exciting, emotional, and hard all at the same time. Â When you’re moving to your next place, you’re not just boxing up pictures, toys, books, and clothes. You’re boxing up memories and valuables and it requires you to Handle with Care.
I imagine that most of us have moved in our lifetimes. Â I haven’t done a lot of moves in my life, but in the last 10 years, I have done my fair share. And you know, what? Â Moving is not so fun. Â Making a move is one of those things in life that can disrupt, cause anxiety and it’s just plain hard sometimes.
We make moves for many reasons. People move for jobs, for marriage, for divorce, for family and/or just for change.  Some move because they fall in love with a new house in their current city.  No matter the reason, moving disrupts life in such a big way and we all have to figure out how to deal with those changes in the best way possible. Moving can be one of the biggest life stressors out there.
Back in 2005, I moved from the house I had been in for 20 years to another state and another house. Â It went pretty well, but packing up a house that I had been in for so long was hard. Twenty years of accumulation equals a lot of stuff. Â We all accumulate so much stuff and sometimes stuff is not easy to deal with. Â We tend to get attached to our stuff and it’s hard to let go. As I’m getting older, I’m getting so much better with letting go of my own stuff now. Â I realize that it is indeed just stuff and that I will find more things to bring home and enjoy if I choose to.
I hauled so much to Alabama when I moved there and had a big enough house to hold it all. Â When I moved back to Georgia in 2011, I had moving sales to pare down a lot of what I owned. Â I still ended up having WAY too much stuff. And you know what? I don’t miss ANY of the stuff I sold!
Moving definitely causes us to take a good hard look at what things are the most important to keep.  Sometimes when we move in a new house, the size and scale of what we have works better in one house than another.  Your old furniture can end up not working so well in the new house because  houses are all shaped differently from tall ceilings to smaller rooms.  Â
When I finally moved in my current house 2 1/2 years ago, I was more than happy to pare down even more and get rid of the extra clutter that I had held on to for so long.
Someone mentioned in a comment recently, how do you decide what to keep and what to let go of? Â
My friend, Ruby is going through that right now. Â See above.
We all collect things that make us happy and that mean a lot to us, but there comes a time that we have to decide which pieces are our absolute favorite and which ones can go.
It’s hard to answer that question, but we all have to deal with it. Â I think we all accumulate things we love and collections that we adore. Those things speak to our inner selves and we want to surround ourselves and add things in our homes that are meaningful.
I’m really at a point now where I don’t want to hang on to too many things. Â I’ve only got a small storage room and it will only hold so much extra. Â So, at this time in my life, I’d rather give things to family or friends or get rid of it and not have it take up space in my house. Â I want to live in a more uncluttered space.
So, what are some tips on moving that we can share together?
- If you can, hire a moving company. That is sometimes money well spent. Â I’ve done that before in my first move and letting the moving company move all of the boxes and furniture was a life saver. Â They are experts at packing those trucks and making the most of every square inch. Line up a moving company in plenty of time for your move.
- Be sure to label those boxes as you are packing them up. Â It helps so much! Â As boxes are coming off the truck, it makes it easier to be able to take them to the appropriate room right away.
- The best thing to do before a move is to go ahead and get rid of some of your stuff. Â The hard part is knowing which things to keep and which to get rid of. Â I know I was reluctant to let go of things before I moved in my house because I didn’t know how much I would need until I got in and started arranging furniture and placing things just so.
- Unpacking boxes and getting things in your new house can take so long. Â My friend, Ruby, is experiencing that right now. She kept so much from her bigger house and she knows now that more than half of that stuff will not work in her smaller lake house. That’s part of life, letting go of the old. Â She is accepting that fact and will be happy to let the excess go. Â Her new house will be much better off without the extra stuff and she will breathe easier.
- Enjoy the process of moving in a new home! Â It’s easy to get overwhelmed at all there is to do, but take a deep breath and remember that “home” doesn’t happen in a few days. Â It takes time to truly make a house your home and that’s part of the journey.
Moving is an emotional time of life. Â I sure don’t enjoy moving and I would imagine that I’m not alone. Â But, if you get in the mindset of living in your home with intentionality and not just keeping things just to keep them, then you will probably be able to let go of the extras more easily.
I’m still in the process of decluttering my house after my move 2 1/2 years ago. Â I’ve got extra stuff in the laundry room and my garage and I really want this to be the year that I finally get it all uncluttered and feeling and living so much better.
How about you? Â Have you moved recently and do you find it hard to get rid of extra stuff?
This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine. As the nation’s largest publicly held insurance company, Allstate is dedicated not only to protecting what matters most–but to guiding people to live the Good Life, every day.
I happen to be an Allstate customer with my car and home insurance, so working with Allstate is easy for me. Â Allstate has a moving guide if you are in the process of moving, with printables, checklists and more. Â
Husband and I downsized house a bunch about 4 years ago. Just the 2 of us, we didn’t need so much square footage. So we bought land farther south, and built a much smaller house. I started paring down about a year before the move. Oh my LORD @ the stuffffff. It.Was.Absurd. I had 2 moving sales, gave away to friends and neighbors, donated. Never again. Really. Not sure where my head was all those years, but I sure like where it is now much better. *breeeeaaathe*
Thanks for sharing your heart with us on the challenges of moving and decluttering! Cleaning out my parents’ home of 42 years was very difficult and I encourage anyone to not leave that task for your children and grandchildren. Not only is it physically exhausting and extremely time consuming, it is very emotional as you sift through your parents’ lives. I’m a clutter bug and have learned over the years that the more space I have to clutter up, the more I clutter up. So I moved all my stuff from an office and decluttered once and plan to do another round soon. I find I gather momentum the more I organize and declutter, the easier it gets. So, once again, Rhoda, thanks for inspiring us all!
Oh yes I am in the middle of moving. It certainly is overwhelming, emotional and rewarding not only that but physical. I have moved 4 times in 4 years. We now will be going to our new house this weekend. I am excited to see my things that have been packed away but know I will need to purge. Di@cottage wishes
We’ve been in our current house for 22 years. I dread having to move in the future. We’ve accumulated too much stuff!!
Oh my Rhoda, This is me. Every picture looks so familiar. I just moved 2 weeks ago. I got rid of a lot before I moved and each time I come across something else that can go-I have a donate box nearby. Right now though I’m still trying to find my dishes so I can stop using paper plates and drinking coffee out of Christmas mugs. Boxes were marked but not all boxes got put into the correct rooms. I have a feeling they might have gone to storage-the DREADED BASEMENT! Eeeeeek!
My last two moves have been stressful, but easier than the rest. The first, we were moving to a different city at the same time my youngest was going to college. So, since her sister was already at the same college, we bought a house for them to share. The moving truck literally stopped at their house first and unloaded half the truck, then drove on to our city and unloaded the rest. We were moving into an apartment (temporarily), so we were able to leave a lot of stuff with the girls. Our most current move has really proven what “stuff” is really necessary and near and dear to my heart. We bought an old house to renovate, five hours away. There were some “must haves” I had to have at the new (old) house. The rest I left behind since my husband was staying there to work until retirement. I haven’t missed any of that stuff I left. And I was able to buy new stuff for the renovation!
I decluttered and staged my house before we listed it to try to make moving easier. I was so proud…and then moving time came and I realized I should have been even more ruthless!! Lesson learned we had just become used to all the stuff (toys the kids didn’t play with, clothes that didn’t fit, items that we didn’t use) and could have been donated.
Great post because we are moving again and this motivates me to get started on paring down.
I can so relate to this post. We moved often when I was a child, and I can remember my parents moving boxes time and time again that had yet to be opened from the previous move. Such a waste. They downsized several years back and their garage is jam packed. Mom is having a hard time letting go of things. She also has a hard time accepting that some things just are not in style anymore and not worth a lot, so she would rather hang on to them. As their only daughter, and the only daughter in law to my almost 97 year old MIL (who by the way lived through the depression and in the same house for the past 60+ years), I wish they would go through everything, and keep what is most important to them…that way WE will know what they valued and cherished and will be more inclined to keep and pass down. Hope that made sense. I keep telling mom, stuff does no good if you are not using or enjoying it. Yes, some things need to be kept for sentimental purposes. But, regardless the memories are still there.
Having learned many things from multiple moves, I feel I am almost an expert, at least for my own moves. One important lesson is to mark the SIDES of boxes instead of the top. When the boxes are stacked, you can’t read what is written on the tops. First things to pack are pictures, decor items, curtains, and any thing you don’t use every day. On moving day, I strip the beds putting those items in plastic bags or boxes and place them in your car or mark them to be opened first so you can make your bed as it is moved into place. A change of clothing, bath items, medications, and anything you will need immediately after the moving vans arrive or depart. I also buy lunch or treats for the movers (not beer or anything alcoholic), letting them know I will be doing so. I have moved many, many times, so most of this is the voice of experience.