Do you know "How Long Is Too Long?" when it comes to keeping something?
This past week, I was working with a client who had bought a new home and was transporting all of his worldly possessions from one home to another.
First, the job was a lot larger of a task because no sorting was done ahead of time. Everything went with him to the new home. He put off the task and decided to just do it when he got to his new home. (There is lots of extra time and effort and expense involved in taking this route.)
Second, a lot of the boxes that were being transported had been stored in the garage for the past 15 years!
When it came time to sort through all the boxes, it was not surprising to me to find that he didn't actually want 90 percent of it. He had moved it to the new home for nothing. A lot of the items were in very poor condition, dated and not useable.
The lesson learned here is two-fold:
One, don't move to the new home without first going through everything that you intend to move to make sure you still want to take it with you and...
Two, procrastination can cost you time, effort and expense. It takes a lot more time to haul the items, it takes longer to unpack the items and sort through them then just not packing them to begin with, and it costs more to move them when you have to pay a moving company to move excess items that you will end up getting rid of anyway.
Do yourself a favor. When it comes to moving, do the work ahead of time by sorting through your items, putting like-items together and labeling the boxes clearly so you know what room they should be placed in your new home.
Finally, holding items in boxes that you don't open for 15 years clearly states that you just don't need them. You didn't miss them all that time, you won't miss them now!
If you are moving to a new location, do it in an organized manner to save yourself that time, energy and money. If you are overwhelmed with that prospect, feel free to contact A Better Space to get some help.
In the meantime, have a great Memorial Day weekend.
