The golden rule for sorting your household items for moving is to create three piles: what to keep, what to donate and what to recycle. For those of us who have a little bit of a hoarder tendency, disposing of items can be a challenge. So, we’ve put a guide together about how to pack for moving if you don’t know what to donate or recycle.

1. Food and expired items

Eat your cupboard down as you approach your moving date rather than restocking. This includes the wine cabinet. Dispose of all expired food. Go through the bathroom cabinet and dispose of any expired items there too. Don’t forget to check your make-up which also has an expiry date.

2. Clothes and linen

If you haven’t worn any item of clothing for over a year, donate them all to charity. The same goes for shoes and excess towels and linen. They take up a lot of space in packing boxes, so send them packing early.

3. Unused appliances

If you have multiple appliances, keep the one you like best and donate the rest to charity if they still work. Otherwise, take them to a recycling centre. Add any appliances you never use to this pile too.

4. Old media

Digitising your media is one of the best ways to downsize your possessions. If you have to keep your CD or DVD collection, consider repacking them into binders and dispose of the cases. Donate any books you’ll never read again to charity or a second-hand bookshop. The same applies to puzzles, board games and toys.

5. Crockery

We tend to accumulate a lot of crockery in one way or another. The easiest way to decide what to keep and what to donate is to keep the matching crockery and dispose of the rest.

6. Paper

It’s astonishing how much paper we accumulate. Keep your essential documents and recycle the rest. Again, if you need to refer to any old documents, digitise them and save them to cloud storage. Digital paper weighs nothing and doesn’t have to be packed in a box!

7. Unused items

Do you have lots of knick knacks you really won’t miss? Is there a guitar you never learned to play?  Do you have lots of items for an old hobby that now live in boxes? Sell them or donate them to charity so they get a new chance to shine.

8. Everything that falls into this category

Any item you forgot you owned.
Any item that’s still unpacked from the last time you moved.
Give ‘em all the old heave-ho.

If you need help to make packing easier, feel free to get in touch.