Decluttering before your move: smarter downsizing
Why decluttering before the move pays off
It sounds obvious, but it's the most underutilised tip in moving: declutter before you pack. Every box you don't need to pack, lift, transport and unpack saves time, money and energy. Moving companies charge based on volume and weight, ten fewer boxes can save hundreds of euros. But it goes beyond money. A move is psychologically the perfect moment to reset your life. You literally pick up every object in your house and make the choice: does this come to my next chapter, or not? It's an opportunity to live more consciously, to say goodbye to things that tie you to a past that no longer suits you. And there's a practical advantage people underestimate: the less you take, the faster you can set up your new home. Instead of weeks of unpacking boxes wondering where everything goes, you start with a tidy and organised house. That feels like a fresh start, and it is.
The four-step method: keep, sell, donate, discard
The simplest way to declutter is the four-step method. Pick up each item and immediately decide which category it falls into: keep, sell, donate or discard. Keep: this goes to your new home. Be critical, if you haven't used it in the past year and it has no sentimental value, it probably doesn't belong in this category. Sell: items that still have value but you no longer need. Think of furniture, electronics, clothing and sports equipment. Marketplace platforms and local thrift shops are excellent channels. Start this at least four weeks before the move so you have enough time. Donate: usable items that don't generate enough to sell. Thrift shops and charity organisations gladly accept items in good condition. Discard: anything that is no longer usable. Take it to the recycling centre and separate materials: wood, metal, textiles, electronics and general waste. With this method you tackle each room systematically and avoid endless deliberating.
Tackling room by room: where do you start?
Start with the room you use least, the attic, storage or guest room. These are the places where the most forgotten items accumulate: old school books, broken toys, clothes that no longer fit, boxes with undefined contents that you didn't open during the previous move either. Be ruthless: if you had forgotten about its existence, you don't need it. The kitchen is the next candidate: check expiry dates, get rid of duplicate kitchen appliances and be honest about that fondue set you've used once in eight years. The wardrobe is a goldmine for decluttering: turn all hangers backwards and only turn them back when you've worn an item. Everything still backwards after three weeks can go. In the living room: books you've read and won't reread, DVDs and CDs you no longer play, decorations you no longer notice. And finally the bathroom: half-empty bottles, expired medications and sample products you once took from a hotel.
Sentimental items: the hardest category
The hardest part of decluttering is items with emotional value: your children's drawings, the wedding dress, grandma's china set, boxes of photos, your baby's first shoes. You don't just throw these away, and you don't have to. But there are smart ways to find the balance between keeping and letting go. Digitise what you can: scan photos, drawings and documents and store them in the cloud. You no longer need the physical version but the memory is preserved. Choose the most beautiful pieces per category to keep and let go of the rest. Five drawings from your child that you frame and hang are more valuable than three boxes of crumpled papers in the attic. Create a memory box: one box per family member with the most cherished items. This is enough, memories live in your heart, not in boxes. And consider: if something has sat untouched in a box for ten years, it's the memory of the object you cherish, not the object itself. That memory you always take with you.
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Vermaat Verhuizingen relocates private clients and businesses across the Netherlands. Our articles are written from practical knowledge of the moving trade, from narrow Amsterdam staircases to international moves. More about us →
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