Should You Declutter Before or After Moving? A Toronto Downsizing Guide
Movers charge by the hour, and once you've moved, you lose the room and time to sell or give things away well. Here's why sorting before your move saves you money in Toronto and the GTA.
A move is coming, and you may already be asking yourself whether to sort now, before you pack a single box, or pack everything and sort it out after the move.
Both can seem like good choices. But sorting first will often save you money. Sorting later means making many choices when you're already tired. And that can make a tough job more so.
Why Decluttering Before Your Move Saves You Money
Declutter and sort before you move, if you can. It isn't about having a tidy home. It's about saving money. The less you move, the less you pay.
When you sort after the move, you move everything first and decide later. You pack the couch you're not sure about, boxes you haven't opened in years, and furniture that might not fit the new place. Movers load it, drive it, and unload it. When you're in your new home you decide what stays.
It's better to decide before you move instead. Right now, you know which things you use and which ones you don't. If you use it, keep it. If it just sits there, let it go. Make that call before the move, and you never pay to move it at all.
The Real Cost of Moving Things You Won't Keep
Local movers in the GTA bill by the hour, so every extra box costs you. It doesn't make sense to pay to move things you don't want or need.
When you move everything first and sort later, you pay twice. First, you pay the movers to carry things that don't fit or that you don't use. Then you pay again to get rid of them: a haul-away fee, or a trip to the dump. That couch shows the pattern, moved once, then hauled away a second time.
Why You Have More Downsizing Options Before You Move
"I don't need time. What I need is a deadline." — Duke Ellington
Your move date is that deadline. Right now, you have two things you won't have in a new place: room to spread things out and take clear photos, and weeks of time before the move happens.
Once you've moved, both are gone. You're unpacking in a smaller space. Boxes sit stacked against the wall. There's no deadline anymore, so you put off dealing with what's left. An auction or a local sale often works better before you move, while you still have the room and the time to plan. You had that room and time in your old home. You won't have either in your new, crowded one.
Sort before, and you choose what to sell and what to give away, and who gets it. Sort after, and you end up choosing when you may be too tired to think it through.
How to Start Downsizing Without Getting Overwhelmed
"Perfect is the enemy of good." — Voltaire
Voltaire's words of wisdom apply to downsizing. Sorting a home you've lived in for years is real work. Progress matters more than being perfect. And doing it well, on a deadline, isn't easy.
Don't try to sort the whole house in one weekend. Make one decision. Then make the next one. Start with the big furniture. That's what matters most for whether a room works. Measure each piece against the new space, not just the old one. You might find your old sofa blocks the new doorway, or leaves no room to walk around it. Something that fit a bigger home might not fit a smaller one.
To get started today, choose one large item. Measure it. Check it against your new floor plan. Decide if it earns a spot on the moving list. That's one decision, done.
If it didn't make the list, think about who else might want it: family, a friend, or anyone else you'd offer it to. Do it while there's still time to do it right. Once those two things are settled, the rest gets easier.
That's the pattern. You now have two guidelines to help you choose what's moving with you: measure to see what fits, and notice what you use. Each choice you make now means less to pack, less to pay to move, and fewer choices left later.
If you're wondering what it costs to get help with that first decision, here's the real breakdown.
You don't have to make that first decision alone. A Gentle Start session means someone helps you do it. Call Brad. 416-859-0518.
About In and Out Organizing and the Writer
I'm Cathy Borg, a professional organizer and co-owner of In and Out Organizing, a Toronto-based downsizing and estate specialist serving adults 55 and older across the GTA.
In and Out Organizing offers:
Decluttering and organizing
Downsizing and move management
Estate clearing and MaxSold estate sales
Aging-in-place safety audits
Pre-staging for sale
Email info@inandoutorganizing.ca, or visit inandoutorganizing.ca.
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So smart to declutter before you move. I always tell people who are even starting to think about making a move to start decluttering ASAP. As you say, you generally have more space and time ahead of a move to go through this process.
At the same time, if you are having trouble deciding on an object, it's okay to take it with you. I find that almost everyone ends up doing at least some decluttering on the other end. Things we thought we would use we don't. Or, objects end up taking up too much space or not fitting the vibe of the new place.
We shouldn't feel guilty if we end up with some more donations on the…
I agree; not decluttering is very costly when you move. I had to move between two houses when my parents passed, and to save money, the moving company told me to go through everything and take only what I wanted. This way, you are not buying an entire truck for a cross-country trip; instead, you are only paying for half a truck. I also found that when we moved to my other new out-of-state place, it was easier to do it ourselves using a PODS moving service, which could get there without us and go into storage, and we didn't have to have it delivered right away. If I had more stuff, I would have needed more PODS, which would…
Such a great blog! I have followed this advicer myself and offered it to clients when they prepare to move. Moves are overwhelming. I get that. And having to make those decisions can be difficult at times. But unpacking and moving into a new house is also overwhelming.
The more you get rid of before the move, the more money you save and the less stress you will have at the other end.