unclutter | Impending Move

Dear intrepid Unclutterers:

I am facing an impending move, end of October!
I downsized radically two years ago, so there is much less to deal with. But I am also a bit less mobile due to knee pain. I cant power through like I used to .

Planning is required. Here's where I could really benefit from suggestions.

The way I used to approach it:

clipboard + sharpie
1 page per room or closet
pitch/give away/keep

This time, I'm actually starting with a minimum basic list of KEEP. I'm hoping to pare it down even further. that means a lot of what came with me will need to be released.

STORAGE ugh
I know what happens with storage - I have friends who have struggled to pay for storage for years and never done anything with their stuff. or worse. but.....

ART STUDIO That is the part of life its always been a struggle to afford, and is dearest to my heart. I have several big peices (the flat file is the most precious, followed by an enamel top table, then a sturdy canvas storage shelf built of plywood, and a tall metal cabinet - things useful and expensive to replace)

all ideas and encouragement accepted!
BOOKS I reduced my library by 70% last move, and still have 16 liquor boxes (the best for books - small & sturdy!) of art books.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What sort of advice would be useful? Have you got any specific questions?

Re the storage vs. art studio issue, it might be worth working out how long you're likely to need to put the equipment in storage, and how much that would cost vs. selling it all now and replacing it when you have the space to use it.

doing research on storage tomorrow. good point - I can compare that to cost of new studio furniture.

One question that might be helpful in planning: what are your specific reasons for uncluttering before the move? I mean, I understand that having fewer things to move is generally helpful, but do you have any particular motivations?

For example, are you uncluttering because your new space is smaller than your current space? If so, can you roughly calculate how much stuff you need to get rid of in each area of your home, and use that as a guideline for your uncluttering?

Or, if you are trying to reduce your moving costs, you could figure out how much stuff you can afford to move, and then evaluate possessions based on how important they are to keep vs. how costly they will be to move.

Good luck with your uncluttering! Hopefully you have enough time that you can do it in lots of short sessions, and avoid too much knee pain.

aye, theres' the rub. I dont know where I'm going, yet. I assume that having less stuff will be easier all around. I want a small one-person apartment, so no need for lots of dishes, etc, but I'm still a cook, so the pots and things are important.

Definitely tryng to keep costs low. I have a minivan, and I am hoping a trailer or ryder truck can do the rest.

I am getting started tomorrow!

I'd say go through everything else first and be ruthless - ask yourself if you love that thing or need it more than your studio pieces, and if the answer is no, it goes to make sure you have room for more studio things. Then you can evaluate your studio stuff in light of what you have left.

Storage units, IMO, should only be used if you have a specific, scheduled end date for needing to leave things there. Staying in a hotel or with a friend for a month between apartments? Moving for six months but planning to return? Then it's worth considering. Just don't have space but hope you will someday? No, that's dangerous territory.

As for your art books, could you go through and evaluate which you love or reference all of and which you keep for specific pieces? Sixteen boxes is enough that I suspect you will find there are at least a few you could scan the useful/beautiful pictures from and declutter.

thanks for telling me the blunt truth. friend with storage unit, hasnt seen for years, has spent $5k on it. *gulp* that's why that business is such a good investment

I've done the "storage unit for a month between apartments" thing myself and it's a perfectly reasonable choice. But I think it's just human nature to fall into "out of sight, out of mind" when it comes to storage. IMO it's better to make the hard choices consciously up front than to have them made for you a year or two down the road and lose something really precious.

I've found that decluttering books is more successful when done with other people around. Even if they are other people who are invested in me keeping the books (such as my kids and our excessive selection of picture books). It gives me some buffer against the emotional exhaustion that I get when having to make *so many* choices close together.

The other thing that helps for me is to move the contents of a delineated area (a shelf, a drawer) or group of objects (t-shirts) to a clear space (say, kitchen table, or the floor, depending on how the restricted mobility manifests. For me, I can keep going for longer if I'm sitting and stay sitting, so I use the floor, because I can surround myself with the mess). Then, when I've moved the selection there, I sort into three piles, which are 'really can't give it up', 'come back to this one', and 'nah, it can go'. The last one goes straight into a box to be taken to charity. Then I take a break. Items in the first group get put away - sometimes they get moved to the second or third category at the time. And then I deal with splitting the second category between the other two. Because the charity box is close, and the spot for putting away is further, I find I'm more likely to choose to gift than to put away.

My final thing is that I don't get rid of the charity box right away. This is partly a time/energy thing, but it also gives me the chance to wake up at three in the morning going 'no, can't get rid of ..., will never replace it and it is more precious than I realised'.

this is really helpful. just dig in. but make a big enough work area to do it in.

the work area really makes a difference. I think for me it is that there is a clear end to the task - I can see *exactly* how much I'm signing myself up for at the beginning. Which helps with fatigue management, and decisions on whether I'm up to doing another round - if I can't move *pile o' things* to the work space, then I'm not up to sorting it either!

and another thought - go back to areas repeatedly. What you can't see on day one, or two, or maybe three, is suddenly obvious the next day. An anecdote to illustrate:

I was once part of a lifehack community. One week, the task was to go to the linen cupboard *every day* and work out what was no longer needed. On day one, there was *nothing* to declutter. I grumbled, because having done that, what was the point of doing it for a week? On day two, I reluctantly went back [this may have been day three], and found a used-to-be-white pillowcase that I hated using, which I promptly moved to the scrap fabric box, because no point in taking one thing to charity, especially something they might not use. On about day five, I opened the linen cupboard, and found myself stunned that we had *so much* unnecessary stuff in there. I filled a bin bag with reasonable quality linen, etc; plus found towels to be repurposed. There is still more in there that I could have decluttered at the time, but I wasn't ready to see it.

I love this tip — thank you!

This is a very good point! I did something similar with our books when we were moving cross-country, and it was amazing to me how I found more books to get rid of every time.

I think we've decluttered the kids' books on average once a year for over a decade (eldest is 16) - what surprises me every time is not just how many we have, but how many we get rid of and *still* fill multiple bookshelves.

Impending Move - YIKES

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