Stash or Trash? How to Sort Your Things for Moving Day

What is the best way to make moving day easier? Reduce the amount of stuff you have to pack and move! If you are like most people, chances are you have boxes in your home you didn’t even unpack on your last move. It is so easy to become a micro hoarder without even realizing it. Whether it’s old clothes, magazines, broken appliances, outdated computer equipment or kids toys, everyone has some trash hidden in their stash. Here we offer tips to help you sort through your things while packing so you can reduce the amount of boxes you have to worry about.

Declutter

First look at all of your major items and decide if any of it can be disposed of before you move. This is especially important when downsizing, but really works for any move. The thing is you want to get rid of anything you really don’t need and that will just take up space. Maybe it’s time for something new, like a better sofa, easy chair or area rug? When completely decluttering your home, look at all your household items and do the whole Marie Condo thing, or just ask yourself a few easy questions:

• Do I use it?
• Do I need it?
• Will it fit?
• Can I sell it?
• Do I even like it?
• Does it work?

Anything that you answer no to more than one of these questions can be sold, given away, donated or trashed.

Purge the Kitchen

Kitchen drawers and cupboards are notorious places for unwanted and unused stuff. Some of the most common things to purge include:

• Unused or broken small appliances
• Duplicates of stuff in the kitchen you don’t need
• Stuff you don’t use any more from mugs and dishes to pots and pans
• Expired food in the pantry
• Burnt out pot holders
• Gross, stained tea towels (which BTW you can actually use to wrap your dishes in)
• Chipped dishes

Do you really want to bring these old ugly things to your new home?

Bathroom Overload

Bathrooms are another place where old, unused things go to die. Whether you hoard samples you never use, or cling to towels that are torn and awful, these are some things you can trash right now:

• Threadbare towels and facecloths
• Expired medications
• Unused hair and skin care products
• Almost empty cleaning supplies
• Gross old toilet cleaners or broken toilet plungers
• Samples and travel size items
• Grungy unwashed bath mats and shower curtains that won’t match your new décor

Really you want to start afresh in your new bathroom with new everything other than your expensive meds and personal care items.

Home Office Cleanse

Be careful with this process as you don’t want to throw anything out you might need. Some common things that tend to hand around in home offices include:

• Useless printouts you no longer need
• Empty file cabinets you don’t use since you went paperless
• Dried out pens
• Filled notebooks from years gone by
• Old calendars and day timers
• Outdated computer equipment and connectors
• Desk lamps
• Finicky little things like paper clips or pencil sharpeners

If you don’t use it or need it, toss it.

Living Room Assessment

Once you deal with big stuff like furniture you can contend with the small stuff like:

• Old entertainment equipment like a receiver, radio or DVD player
• DVDs and CDs
• Worn area rugs
• Old toys
• Out of date artwork and knick-knacks
• Dusty, torn or revealing window treatments
• Books, magazines, newspapers, etc.
• Old lamps
• Toys, including pet toys

Picture your new home free of all these things and you’ll be that much closer to trading in the clutter for a relaxing space.

Closet/Basement/Attic Clear Out

Every one of your closets contains stuff you don’t need, including your clothes closets. Look for the following items to clear out your storage areas:

• Out of date, old clothes or clothes that don’t fit
• Shoes and boots that have seen better days
• Accessories that never see the light of day
• Torn, stained or fraying blankets, bedsheets and table linens
• Broken anything
• Hangers, hangers, and more hangers
• Anything you haven’t used in over a year
• Sports equipment you don’t use or that is broken including that stationary bike or treadmill covered in dust
• Out of date, old holiday décor
• Tools you never use

Do the same for your basement and attic and free yourself from the weight of all the things you just don’t need!

Go Through the Garage

Your garage is most likely filled with all kinds of junk. Look for any of these completely disposable items:

• Old paints and cleaners
• Old furniture
• Old tires and car parts
• Old tools
• Torn hockey nets
• Bags of soil and seed
• Old pots, urns and planters
• Broken shelving
• Unused sleds, pool toys, bikes, jungle gyms, etc.
• Stuff left over from renovations

Anything you haven’t used in over a year can be tossed. For items that contain chemicals you’ll need to understand how to dispose of them. The easiest option is to hire a junk removal service Toronto uses and they’ll take it all away for you.

Backyard Trash

Your backyard is probably filled with all kinds of trash from old planters to broken chairs and frayed outdoor carpets to damaged umbrellas. This list is a little too long to tackle, but anything not worth keeping can be trashed. However, if you’re moving to a home without a backyard, this is a great opportunity to make some money and sell things like your patio furniture, barbecue and kids swing sets.

What to Do With the Unwanted Items

Once you’ve gone through the whole house, you can use a number of ways to get rid of your unwanted items including:

• Garage sale: You’d be surprised at how much stuff you can offload at a garage sale. It gets done in one day and anything you don’t sell you can toss.
• Sell online: Another way to make money is to try selling items online. Anything you don’t sell can be donated or trashed.
• Donate: If you don’t want the hassle of selling stuff, donating what you don’t want to keep is a great option. Many charities will pick up large items, and the rest can be taken to your local charity that accepts items like clothing, toys, dishware, kitchenware, etc.
• Junk removal service: The easiest thing to do with all the trash is to rent a dumpster you can fill up and have removed.

To learn more about junk removal services in Toronto, call Scarborough Disposals at (416) 265 7979 or contact us here.