Packing up your things in order to move can be stressful, but you know what’s even more stressful? Wasting time packing things you don’t even need. It doesn’t have to be spring to clean, use your impending move as an excuse to Marie Kondo your stuff! 

To ease the pain of the process, try to tackle one room a day. After you decide which room you’ll declutter, bring in three boxes: one for things you want to keep, one for things you want to donate and one for things you want to throw away. When deciding which of the three boxes an item should be assigned to, consider the below tips.

Two-year rule 

If you come across something you haven’t used in two years...get rid of it! If you don’t miss it after two years, you won't miss it again. Don’t make a habit of keeping things “just in case.” You either use it, or you don’t! 

If you break it, you BYE it

If you have an item that’s been broken for a while, chances are it’s going to stay broken. If it’s something you might end up needing to repair one day, consider buying a new one after you move into your new home. 

Two’s a crowd 

If you have more than one of something, put the duplicate in the donate box!

Don’t know? Let it go 

Unsure what the purpose of that item is? Don’t know what that cord or cable even goes with? If you can’t give yourself an answer as to why you had the item in the first place, get rid of it!

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure 

Some of your hardly used items could be better utilized and enjoyed by others. When looking at your things, try and determine who needs it most. 

With unnecessary clutter out of the way, your moving process just got a whole lot easier. Now you’ll be able to better determine what your new home needs, and how to repurpose already existing items to fit it. Best of all - you now have a few less boxes to pack!