Moving Soon? Don’t Make This Costly Decluttering Mistake
If you’re even thinking about moving—whether that’s next month, next year, downsizing, buying your first home, or helping your parents move—there is one mistake I want you to avoid:
Waiting until it’s time to pack to start decluttering.
I hear it all the time:
“Margo, we’ll just declutter as we pack.”
On paper, that sounds like a great plan.
Very efficient.
Very responsible.
Very adult.
But in real life? It almost never works.
Instead, packing and decluttering become one giant, stressful, expensive event—and you end up paying to move things you didn’t want in the first place.
Packing and Decluttering Are Two Different Jobs
When I work with clients who are preparing for a move, they often haven’t had time to declutter beforehand.
By the time I arrive, we’re trying to do two jobs at once.
We’re wrapping dishes, labeling boxes, calling donation centers, figuring out what the movers are taking, and looking for the packing tape.
Then we’re looking for the scissors.
Seriously, why do scissors disappear exactly when you need them?
At the same time, we’re trying to make emotional decisions about years—sometimes decades—of belongings.
It’s exhausting because packing and decluttering require two completely different types of thinking.
Packing asks: “Where does this go?”
Decluttering asks: “Does this belong in my next chapter?”
One question is logistical.
The other can be deeply emotional.
Trying to answer both questions for every item in your home—while a moving deadline is hanging over your head—is so much more work than it needs to be.
Moving Already Comes With Enough Decisions
Think about everything happening when you’re preparing for a move.
You may be:
Signing paperwork
Talking with attorneys or realtors
Coordinating movers
Changing your address
Setting up utilities
Cleaning and making repairs
Working and caring for your family
Selling one home while trying to buy or rent another
Your brain is already working overtime.
Now add:
“Should I keep Grandma’s china?”
“Do I really need this bread maker I haven’t used in eight years?”
“Will this furniture fit in the new place?”
“What if I regret getting rid of this?”
At a certain point, your brain is done.
That is when thoughtful decisions turn into survival decisions:
“Just pack it.”
“I’ll deal with it later.”
“We’ll figure it out at the new house.”
Except later usually doesn’t come.
The boxes arrive at your new home, and you’re tired. You need to set up the kitchen, find everyone’s clothes, figure out where the towels are, and get back to normal life.
The “deal with it later” boxes go into a closet, basement, spare room, or storage unit.
Now you have paid for packing supplies, moving labor, transportation, and possibly storage—all to move clutter from one home to another.
Every Item Has a Moving Cost
When you’re preparing for a move, it’s easy to think, “What’s one more box?”
But one box becomes 10 very quickly.
Every item you decide to move requires something from you. It has to be sorted, wrapped, packed, labeled, lifted, transported, carried into the new home, unpacked, and given a place to live.
Even if movers are doing the physical work, you’re still paying for their time and the space your belongings occupy.
And if you’re moving into a smaller home, the cost continues when you discover that everything doesn’t fit.
You may need to purchase more storage, rent a storage unit, or spend your first few weeks in the new home decluttering the things you should never have moved.
The most affordable box to move is the one you never packed.
I’m Taking My Own Advice
I’m currently looking to move, so I’m practicing exactly what I preach.
My daughter and I haven’t found our next place yet, but I’ve already started ruthlessly decluttering.
I’ll be walking through my home, notice something, and ask:
“Would I really want to pack this?”
If the answer is no, out it goes.
I’m not waiting until boxes are stacked in my living room because I already know what Future Margo is going to feel like.
She’s going to be tired.
She’s going to have enough decisions to make.
She is not going to want to debate the future of an extra spatula.
So every time I Spot & Toss™ something today, I’m doing Future Margo a favor.
Actually, I’m doing her a solid.
Now it has almost become a game. I’ll open a cabinet and think, “Well, I definitely don’t need to move three spatulas.”
Or I’ll find another mug hiding in the back and wonder, “Who’s been living back here?”
Every item that leaves today is one less item to think about later.
If You’re Downsizing, Start Even Earlier
Decluttering before packing becomes especially important when you’re downsizing.
You may be trying to fit years—sometimes decades—of belongings into a much smaller home.
Not everything will fit, and not everything should.
Your new home shouldn’t become a storage unit for decisions you avoided making in your old one.
Your next chapter deserves better than that.
It deserves enough space for you to live comfortably—not rooms packed with furniture that doesn’t fit, closets filled with clothes you don’t wear, and boxes you’re afraid to open.
And it deserves mental space too.
Downsizing can be emotional. Your belongings may represent different stages of your life, people you love, and versions of yourself you’re not quite ready to leave behind.
That is exactly why these decisions deserve time.
When you begin early, you can move slowly and thoughtfully. You have time to share meaningful items with family, arrange donations, sell valuable pieces, and sit with the more difficult decisions.
When you wait until moving week, the deadline makes those decisions for you.
What to Declutter Before a Move
If moving is even on your radar, start editing your home now.
Not when you list the house.
Not when you sign a lease.
Not when the movers are booked.
Today.
And please don’t begin with the most sentimental things you own. Start with the easy, obvious categories:
Duplicates
Broken items
Expired food and household products
Kitchen gadgets you’ve forgotten you own
Old or uncomfortable towels
Clothes you already know you don’t wear
Furniture that won’t work in your next home
Holiday decorations you haven’t used in years
Books you don’t plan to read again
Mystery cords that haven’t belonged to anything since 2009
These easy wins build confidence. That confidence will help you make the more emotional decisions later.
Use the “Would I Pack This?” Question
You don’t need to empty your entire garage this weekend.
Spot & Toss™ your way through your home:
One drawer.
One shelf.
One cabinet.
One decision.
As you move through each room, ask:
“If I were moving tomorrow, would I really pack this?”
It’s a surprisingly powerful question because it makes the item’s cost and value feel real.
If the answer is an immediate no, you’ve found your next Spot & Toss™ moment.
If you hesitate, ask yourself why. Is the item useful? Meaningful? Worth the space and effort required to move it?
Or are you keeping it simply because making a decision feels harder than putting it in a box?
You don’t need to make every decision today. But every decision you make before the pressure begins will make moving day easier.
Remember:
Packing is about boxes. Decluttering is about decisions.
Don’t save both for the same week.
Your future self will thank you.
With Love,
Margo
