Moving house is the perfect opportunity to start fresh — but before you start packing boxes, it’s worth taking the time to declutter. Over the years, it’s easy to accumulate items you no longer use, need, or even remember owning. By decluttering before you move, you’ll save time, reduce the number of boxes, lower your moving costs, and make unpacking at your new home a whole lot easier.
Whether you're moving around the corner or relocating with the help of removalists in the Central Coast, these tips will help you stay organised and make the move easier from start to finish.
The earlier you begin decluttering, the smoother your move will be. Trying to sort through everything in the final week before moving day is a guaranteed way to feel overwhelmed — and you’ll likely end up packing items you didn’t really want to keep. Giving yourself plenty of time not only reduces stress but also allows you to be more thoughtful and intentional about what you take into your next home.
Start the decluttering process as soon as your move is confirmed, ideally three to four weeks in advance. Even in smaller homes, clutter builds up in hidden corners, drawers, wardrobes, sheds, and spare rooms — and it always takes longer to go through than expected. Starting early gives you the freedom to work at a steady pace, rather than frantically sorting through belongings in the days leading up to the move.
Decluttering an entire home can feel like a massive job if you approach it all at once. Instead, divide the task into smaller zones or categories. Focus on one room, one cupboard, or even one shelf at a time. You could tackle the laundry on Monday, the hallway cupboard on Wednesday, and so on. This approach keeps the workload manageable and helps maintain momentum throughout the process.
A visual plan can keep you focused and make a big task feel more achievable. Create a weekly checklist or a simple calendar outlining which areas you’ll declutter on which days. Seeing your progress laid out — and being able to tick things off — is satisfying and helps you stay motivated. You can also use colour-coded sticky notes or labels to mark boxes for donation, rubbish, or to keep.
You don’t need to clear out an entire room in one sitting. Set a daily target that suits your schedule — even 15 to 30 minutes a day can add up quickly. The key is consistency. Decluttering regularly in small blocks is more effective and less draining than trying to do it all in a weekend.
When you’re decluttering before a move, every item you pick up needs a decision — and the simplest way to stay on track is with the tried-and-true Keep, Donate, Toss method. This approach stops you from overthinking and helps you make quick, confident choices about what’s worth taking with you.
For each item you handle, ask one or more of the following:
If the answer is no across the board, it doesn’t belong in the “keep” pile. Remember: moving is a chance to simplify, not shift clutter from one location to another.
Have three large boxes, bags, or sections set up and clearly labelled:
If you're working in a small space, label the boxes with painter’s tape or sticky notes. Colour coding can also help keep things visual and easy to manage.
Donating is a great way to give items a second life, but it’s important to be thoughtful. Most charities won’t accept damaged or heavily used items. Clothing should be clean and wearable, electronics should work, and household items should be in decent condition. If you wouldn’t give it to a friend, it probably belongs in the bin — not the donation pile.
Many people hang onto gifts they never used, clothes that no longer fit, or items that cost money but no longer serve a purpose. Moving is the perfect opportunity to let go of these things without guilt. You've already gotten value from them — keeping them out of guilt only creates unnecessary baggage (literally and emotionally).
Once you’ve filled up a donation box or two, don’t let them sit in the corner for days. Arrange a drop-off at your local op shop or schedule a charity pickup if you’re parting with bulkier items like furniture or white goods. Clearing things out as you go gives you more space to work and keeps your home from feeling overwhelmed with boxes.
When you're getting ready to move, it makes sense to start decluttering in the areas you use the least. Not only does this free up space early in the process, but it also allows you to build momentum before tackling the rooms that are in daily use. By starting with non-essentials, you're less likely to disrupt your routine — and more likely to stay on track.
Start with spaces like the garage, linen cupboard, hallway wardrobes, spare bedrooms, and under the house or stairs. These areas are often filled with items you haven’t thought about in years — old suitcases, duplicate tools, outgrown clothes, or long-forgotten sporting gear. Because these spaces aren’t part of your daily life, you can make quicker decisions with fewer emotional ties.
As a general rule, if you haven’t used something in a year or more — and you forgot it existed until you found it — it’s probably not worth taking to your new home. Be realistic: will you really use that fondue set, broken fan, or pile of half-used candles in the new place?
Once you’ve worked through the lower-priority spaces, you can start on more active zones like the kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms. These rooms contain items you still need day-to-day, so it makes sense to leave them until the final couple of weeks. That way, you’re not rummaging through packed boxes looking for your toothbrush or dinner plates.
The goal of starting in these less sentimental, less-used spaces is to get you moving. Small wins — like clearing out an entire shelf, drawer, or cupboard — create a sense of progress and motivation. Once you’ve filled your first donation box or emptied your first bin bag, you’ll be much more confident tackling trickier decisions later.
One of the biggest challenges in decluttering is confronting the gap between what we own and what we actually use. It’s easy to convince yourself that something might come in handy “one day,” but more often than not, those items end up gathering dust — and taking up space in your moving boxes.
When deciding whether to keep something, ask yourself:
If the answer is no, it’s time to let it go. The goal of decluttering is to take only the things that genuinely serve you into your next space.
Items kept just in case tend to follow you from house to house without ever being used. Whether it’s old cables, duplicate kitchen gadgets, or clothes that no longer fit your lifestyle, ask yourself: Is this really worth the effort to pack, move, and unpack again? If not, it belongs in the donate or discard pile.
It’s common to hang onto things that reflect who we used to be — sporting gear, crafting supplies, books from uni, or clothes from a different time in life. If those things no longer fit into your current habits or plans, consider passing them on to someone who can actually use them. You’re not losing part of yourself — you’re making space for your future.
Maybe it was a gift. Maybe it was expensive. Maybe it’s brand new but not quite right. Whatever the reason, guilt is a poor reason to keep something you don’t use or enjoy. The money’s already spent — keeping the item won’t bring it back. Letting go can actually feel like lifting a weight off your shoulders.
You might not realise just how many doubles, triples, or even quadruples you own — until you start packing. Moving house is the perfect time to cut back on extras and keep only what you really use. Whether it’s three sets of mixing bowls or a drawer full of phone chargers, those duplicates take up space, add weight to your move, and clutter your new home before you even arrive.
Start in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and linen cupboard — these areas tend to hide the most unnecessary duplicates. Think:
Go through these rooms systematically and gather duplicates into piles. You’ll be surprised at how much you can let go of without missing a thing.
Instead of holding onto every item “just in case,” choose your favourite or most reliable version and donate or toss the rest.
For example:
This approach not only lightens your load but also makes unpacking easier and more satisfying.
Duplicates are often the result of bulk buying or not knowing what you already had. Take this opportunity to reset — move with only what you need, and avoid falling back into the “more is better” mindset in your new place. You’ll thank yourself later when your cupboards are easier to manage and your storage spaces are actually functional.
Paper clutter and outdated media take up more space than you think — and they’re often stored in boxes that haven’t been opened for years. Moving house is a great time to finally go through those documents, instruction manuals, printed photos, and discs, and convert what you need into a more manageable digital format.
Go through folders, filing cabinets, and drawers and decide what’s worth keeping. You likely don’t need:
Only hang onto essential items like:
Everything else can either be digitised or securely shredded and recycled.
Use a smartphone scanning app or desktop scanner to digitise important documents and photos. Store them in clearly labelled folders in the cloud, on an external hard drive, or on a secure USB. This not only reduces physical clutter but makes it much easier to access documents when you need them.
For example:
If you still have DVDs, CDs, video tapes, or even cassette tapes, ask yourself whether you actually use them — and whether you even have the devices to play them. Unless it’s a true collector’s item or sentimental favourite, it may be time to let go.
You can:
Decluttering this category can easily free up entire boxes and drawers you don’t need to take with you.
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Some of the biggest clutter culprits are hiding in plain sight — the drawers, corners, and cupboards we open daily but rarely clean out properly. These “out of sight, out of mind” spaces often hold outdated, broken, or completely forgotten items. Before you move, take the time to go through them one by one. You’ll be surprised how much unnecessary stuff they hold.
Every home has at least one — the catch-all drawer full of batteries, rubber bands, paper clips, cables, and keys to… something. These drawers become dumping grounds over time.
Sort everything into four categories:
Test electronics and cords. If you don’t know what they belong to, it’s probably time to let them go.
The bathroom is often packed with expired or unused products you haven’t thought about in ages.
Check for:
Dispose of expired medications responsibly (via your local pharmacy), and recycle packaging where possible.
Linen cupboards often hide worn-out towels, excess sheets, or mismatched bedding sets.
Keep only:
Donate or recycle the rest. Old towels and blankets in reasonable condition can often be donated to animal shelters.
Decluttering sentimental items can be the hardest part of the process. These are the things tied to memories — gifts, childhood keepsakes, old photographs, your kids’ early school projects — and deciding what stays or goes can be emotional. But even with sentimental items, it’s possible to be thoughtful without holding onto everything.
It’s okay to feel attached. Sentimental items often represent people, experiences, or moments in time. Take a moment with each one to decide whether it’s the item itself or the memory that matters most. Just because something was meaningful at one point doesn’t mean it still needs to take up physical space in your life.
A good rule of thumb is to allocate one box, tub, or container per person for personal keepsakes. This gives you permission to hold onto the most meaningful items while avoiding the trap of keeping everything “just in case.”
This works well for:
If an item doesn’t fit in your memory box, ask yourself if it’s really important enough to move.
You can preserve the memory without keeping the physical item. Take photos of bulky or fragile things — trophies, artwork, handmade gifts — and create a digital album or memory folder. This keeps the memory safe without the physical storage burden.
For example:
This is especially helpful if you’re downsizing or moving into a space with limited storage.
Once you’ve sorted through everything and decided what you’re keeping, donating, or throwing out — the next step is getting it out of the house. The longer bags and boxes sit around, the more cluttered and stressful your space will feel. Planning your donation and disposal logistics in advance helps keep your decluttering efforts on track and your home manageable in the lead-up to moving day.
It’s tempting to pile donations or rubbish in a corner “for later,” but this only adds visual clutter and can become overwhelming quickly. Set aside time each week to actually remove unwanted items from your home — whether that means booking a tip run, taking boxes to the op shop, or arranging a pickup.
Tip: Treat removing clutter like part of the decluttering process — not something to do after.
There are plenty of options when it comes to responsibly clearing items out:
Research what's available in your area before you start decluttering — that way, you’ll know exactly where everything is going once it’s sorted.
Not everything can go in the bin. Try to sort waste, recycling, and donations as you go to avoid having to redo the work later.
Some examples:
Being organised here means less chaos later — and fewer things to worry about when moving day comes around.
Decluttering and packing don’t need to be two separate tasks. In fact, combining them is one of the smartest ways to stay organised and avoid double-handling your belongings. Once you've decided to keep something, get it packed right away — this keeps your home tidy and your moving prep efficient.
As you finish decluttering each area, pack the items you're keeping into moving boxes straight away. Wrap fragile items carefully, group like items together (e.g. books, cookware, linen), and label the box clearly. This helps avoid the dreaded “I’ll deal with that later” pile and means you're making progress with both decluttering and packing at the same time.
Include on each box:
Before everything is packed away, prepare a clearly labelled essentials box for each family member or for the whole household. This should include things you’ll need immediately at your new place, like:
Having this box on hand saves you from digging through multiple boxes your first night in.
Whether you're colour-coding boxes, using numbering systems, or tracking contents on a spreadsheet, having a method goes a long way. For example, some people assign a number to each box and keep a simple master list (Box 1 = Bedroom – Books; Box 2 = Bathroom – Towels).
Others use coloured tape or stickers to quickly identify which boxes belong to which rooms.
The goal is to make unpacking easier — not to rely on memory when the moving truck pulls up.
Decluttering before a move is one of the best ways to save time, cut down on costs, and step into your new home feeling lighter and more organised. With these 10 practical tips — from starting early to packing as you go — you’ll avoid common moving day chaos and make the entire process more manageable.
Remember: you don’t have to be perfect, just consistent. Every bag donated, box packed, or drawer cleared brings you one step closer to a smoother, stress-free move.
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