Author: Skyler Benson

Moving day is fast approaching, and it’s time to start getting everything ready for your new home. This means sorting through everything you own, and deciding what you want to keep.

For the stuff you no longer want – it also means having a garage sale, selling them online, or donating to charity or friends and family. Lastly, it’s time to pack up everything you own ready to be moved to your new home by expert Sydney home removalists.

Moving home usually means creating a lot of waste. But by reducing the waste you make during the moving process, it helps to simplify moving. So how exactly do you reduce waste?

Here are 9 ways to minimise waste when moving home.

1. Don’t Buy New Moving Boxes

In the weeks leading up to your moving day, start saving boxes which you can reuse. Another way to get free boxes is to go to a local business and ask them if you can have their leftover boxes. Supermarkets, in particular, are great for this, and they will happily let you take any unused boxes.

To make moving easier, don’t put heavy items into large boxes. Otherwise, it will be difficult to carry, and the box may potentially break. It’s best to place heavy items into small or medium boxes and make sure that the bottom of the box has support.

Once you’ve finished moving and unpacking, recycle the moving boxes. Either give them to someone else you know who may be moving soon in the future or recycle them

Some removalists will also provide free reusable packing boxes for your move.

2. Don’t Buy Packing Paper

Rather than buying packing paper, instead use old newspapers or junk mail, old t-shirts or towels, or cloth to wrap any fragile items you have.

After you have finished moving, you can then donate any old towels to your local animal shelter. They will be extremely grateful and be able to use them in kitten and puppy crates.

3. Utilise Suitcases and Backpacks

Use your suitcases, duffel bags and backpacks to help save space! Pack your clothing, and linen into them. It also helps to reduce using new boxes.

To save even more space and fit more clothing in your suitcases, you can ‘army roll’ each item.

4. Use A Laundry Basket

Use a laundry basket to pack any kids soft toys when you are moving. Not only will it reduce box waste or plastic bags, but it will also help you to save space. They are great not only for packing and transporting toys, but also are ideal for any other lightweight items. You can also use any other tubs or baskets the same way, to sort and pack things in.

5. Avoid Packaging Tape

Instead of using packaging tape, you can alternately fold the flaps of packing boxes, so that they securely stay in place, and you cut down using any packaging tape.

This is only recommended for lighter weight items. For any heavy items, it’s suggested to use biodegradable tape to strengthen the bottom of the box.

6. How To Wrap Delicate Items

For any delicate and fragile items consider wrapping them using towels, face washers, tea towels, sheets, blankets, rags, clothing or socks. This way you keep your items protected in transit and don’t need to buy any additional packaging.

You can also use sheets and blankets to wrap furniture to keep it safe from scratches and dents.

If you don’t have any of these items, then scrunched up a newspaper and junk mail catalogues work great.

7. Borrow Reusable Tubs

A great way to reduce waste that comes from cardboard boxes is to borrow reusable plastic tubs from your friends and family. They are environmentally friendly, and also see through, so you can easily see what is in each container. This means that you don’t need to go searching through them to find what you are looking for.

They are especially useful for moving towels and blankets in.

After you’ve unpacked everything and settled into your new home, be sure to reuse and recycle all the packaging and boxes.

8. Declutter, Declutter, Declutter

Before you pack anything, go through your belongings, and start to declutter. Are there things you don’t want to bring to your new home? What about old worn out clothes, or clothes which no longer fit? It’s also a chance to get rid of outdated or broken electronics, old mismatched dishes, and furniture which won’t fit in your new home.

The more you can declutter now, the less packaging you will need to move these items to your new home

If you have a lot of items to dispose of after decluttering, you can hire a waste skip bin to ensure that your waste is disposed of correctly, and recycled wherever possible.

9. Sell Or Donate Unwanted Items

For any clothes, books, CDs/DVDs, appliances, toys or furniture you no longer want, minimise waste by letting someone else enjoy them!

Go through all of the items and decide for each item, whether you wish to either donate it to charity, give it to friends or family, or to sell it.

For the items, you wish to sell try online on eBay, Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. You can also try an old fashioned garage sale.

For any leftover items, offer them to your friends or family who will give them a good home, or take them to a charity to donate, where somebody will cherish them. If you are unable to transport them to your local charity, many of them offer a free collection service, where they will come and collect the items from your home.

Each time someone moves home, there is a lot of waste which accumulates during the process, either in packaging materials or in unwanted belongings.

The above tips help you to minimise waste during your move. Not only is it good for the environment, but it will also save you money due to reduced moving costs as you won’t need to move as many physical items.

For further tips on reducing waste, visit the Energy.gov.au website.

Finished minimising waste and ready to move? Local & Interstate Removals are professional and affordable movers who offer you peace of mind and great service while protecting your valuables. Contact our customer service team for a free moving quote today. Call 1300 705 705 or email info@localandinterstateremovals.com.au.

Living in a large house is great for a lot of families; however, others find the extra energy costs and time taken for maintenance and cleaning to be a hassle.

Have you been living in a large home, but are now considering moving into a smaller house? Perhaps your kids have left the nest, or you are moving closer to the city, where space is at a premium. Or maybe you’ve decided to embrace the minimalist lifestyle, and only keep belongings which add value to your life – after all less space, means less clutter.

It also means cheaper utility bills. Energy Made Easy is a great resource to compare energy and gas plans and prices to give you an idea how much you could be saving after downsizing.

The process of downsizing to a smaller home is extremely draining and mentally exhausting. It also takes much more time and effort than preparing for a regular move and finding a home removalist.

Which is why we’ve come up with these 10 Tips For Preparing To Downsize When Moving Home.

Tip 1. Create An Inventory Of All Your Items

Go through your home and make an inventory list of all of your belongings and your furniture. Sort the list by what you want to keep, what to throw out, and what you will either sell or donate.

This task may seem extremely overwhelming, especially if you have a large home which is full of your belongings. That’s why it’s best to pace yourself and break it down either by room or zone of your house. Space it out over a week or weekend if required, to suit your lifestyle.

To be able to downsize your possessions, you need to separate your needs from your wants.

Tip 2. Dealing With Sentimental Items

When you are downsizing, it’s important to take a moment to realize that everything is just ‘stuff’.

Quite often it is not the physical item which you are attached to. Instead, it is the memory associated with each item – who gave it to you, who you was with when you bought it or used it.

People are worried about forgetting the memory the item triggers.

A way to keep the memory without needing to keep the physical item is to take a photo of it instead. Each time you see the photo, it will trigger the same emotions as seeing the physical item.

Then send an email, text or facebook message to all your friends and family with the photos. Offer to give the items to them, if they come and collect them within a certain timeline.

Tip 3: Eliminate Duplicate Items

Take a look through your belongings, and see what you have multiple items of.

Keep your favourites, and get rid of the rest.

The kitchen is one place where people tend to have the most duplicate items. Do you need five different spatulas? If you don’t entertain frequently, do you need multiple sets of silverware and drinking glasses?

Peep into your spice cabinet and pantry also. Check for any food or ingredients which have passed their expiration date, or that you haven’t used for as long as you can remember. All of these items will add up fast.

Tip 4: Free To Take

For items which are more hassle than they’re worth to try and sell online, instead put them on the curb out the front of your home. Place a sign “Free To Take” on the items – then watch in your amazement how quickly they will be gone!

You’ll most likely find them gone by the time you wake up the next day. Or if you are from a thrifty neighbourhood, just hours or minutes later!

This is especially useful for big and bulky items which are a pain to try and dispose of. Anything like cabinets, chairs, and any furniture is extremely popular.

Tip 5: Take Advantage of Storage Space

When you move to your new home, utilise all available storage space.

The following all make perfect storage options:

• Hanging shoe racks
• Using the storage space inside ottomans.
• The space underneath your bed,
• Built-in shelves or wall shelves

If you have an attic or want further organisation of your closet, try using bins/tubs. They help you keep all of your items clutter free and organised. You can also stack them on top of each other to take advantage of every centimetre of space you have.

If you need extra storage space during the downsizing process, professional movers can help you find cheap and secure storage.

Tip 6: Sell Your Items You No Longer Want

The old saying ‘one person’s trash is another’s treasure’ is especially true when moving home.

If you want to get rid of a lot of your belongings, try selling them on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or have a garage sale.

Popular items always in demand are furniture, tools, lawn equipment, clothing, and kids toys.

Not only will selling things you no longer want to give you extra money in your pocket, but it will also reduce your moving costs, by not having to move as many things to your new home.

Pro Tip: If you have expensive items to sell, the best place to list them is on eBay, as it attracts the most serious buyers who are willing to pay market value, rather than just looking for a ‘bargain’.

What if you have a lot of items which are not good enough to sell or donate? If you just want to throw them out, 1st Skip provides cheap bin hires which make disposing of your rubbish easy.

Tip 7: Measure Everything Before You Move

Downsizing to a smaller home, generally means that you won’t be able to have enough room to fit all the furniture you wish to keep.

To find out exactly what can fit, measure all the rooms of your new home before you move, as well as your furniture.

Measuring everything in advance lets you make sure it will fit in its new room. Rather than bringing your brand new sofa, only to find out that it doesn’t fit in the new room layout! Anything which won’t fit, get rid of.

You may have to get rid of more things than you realise because there won’t physically be any room for them.

Downsizing before you move not only reduces clutter, it also reduces the cost of moving. Because there are fewer items to move, you may be able to rent a smaller truck, and the time taken to move will be less.

If you have downsized significantly, you may no longer need to rent a full truck. Luckily removalists offer backloading services where you can share a moving truck with other customers and only pay for the space you use.

For more information on downsizing, and if it is right for you, ASIC’s Money Smart has prepared a guide to downsize your home.

Next Level Removals are the best furniture removalists, who provide fast and safe removals to make your move as stress-free as possible. Contact our friendly team today on 1300 005 400 or email info@nextlevelremovals.com.au to plan your move.

When moving home, it can be tempting to pack everything you own and move it to your new home. It’s easy to form a sentimental attachment with your belongings and believe that everything must keep. Or do you not have the time or energy to sort through all of your stuff, so instead of spending days sorting through everything, you decide to pack and move it all?

Do you have that one box sitting in the back of your closet from your last move? Which you’ve never even opened since, and no longer remember what is inside!

Well, now is a perfect time.

Before you move and drag everything you own with you, start sorting through your belongings and decide what you no longer need or want.

You can also save some significant money with a local home removalist if you reduce the number of items you need to move.

Keep reading to find out what you should throw out when moving home:

Clothes You Don’t Love

Do you have any clothes you have been holding onto because “you might fit in one day”? What about clothes which are faded, worn, torn, or ‘used to fit?

Well, if they are only taking up space in your closet, there’s no need to drag them with you to your new home. Any clothes still in reasonable condition, donate them to charity. You will be doing a good deed and helping someone in need who will treasure them exactly how they are.

Any designer clothes, or any which you paid a lot of money for and don’t feel comfortable to give away for free, try selling them on eBay. You most likely won’t get all of your money back, even if they still are new with tags, but you will get rid of them out of your life.

CDS and DVDs

Do you still have a huge collection of CDs and DVDs? They take up a huge amount of physical space and also require stands as well.

Unless you are a die-hard collector or have some rare and limited edition albums and movies, then consider getting rid of them.

You can import all of them onto your computer, make a digital collection, and either donate or sell the physical copies.

Would you prefer to keep the discs? Then consider getting rid of the plastic cases and buying a CD sleeve. You can store all of your CDs and DVDs in the booklet.

This will declutter boxes and boxes into just a few small and portable cd sleeve books.

Books You Won’t Read.

Do you have books you’ve read and never plan on re-reading, or some you’ve had for years but never opened the cover? If so, it’s time to let them go!

Give them away to someone who will truly love them.

Otherwise, you will regret the amount of weight they add to your moving, especially if you have to carry them up flights of stairs. Then also think about the amount of room they will take up in your new apartment.

Anything You Borrowed

If you’ve borrowed things from friends or family over time and completely forgotten about them, give them back to them and don’t bring them to your new home!

It may be awkward and embarrassing to return something you’ve had for an extended period. But it will feel like a weight has been lifted off your conscience after you’ve returned it.

Unused Kitchen Appliances

People often receive kitchen appliances as gifts that they don’t want or will never use. If you have that juicer or bread maker cluttering up your counter but can’t remember the last time you used it – get rid of them.

Is all of your waste is starting to add up fast? An easy solution is to hire a cheap skip bin to dispose of it easily.

Mismatched Dishes

Perhaps you broke a glass or dropped and smashed a plate. Is your kitchen is a mix and match of cups, plates, bowls, and cutlery that don’t go together? Then it’s time to use it as a chance to buy a new set of dishes and get rid of the spare ones.

Unworn Shoes

Do you have a collection of unworn/broken shoes which is just taking up space? Not only are they difficult to pack, but they are also rather heavy. If you have shoes you haven’t worn for as long as you can remember, now is the perfect time to get rid of them.

Towels

Towels are relatively cheap to buy. However, they are rather bulky and take up a lot of room, making them hard to pack. It’s recommended to replace your towels every few years, which makes it the perfect time to buy new ones to match your new bathroom.

Cheap Furniture

If you have any cheap furniture such as Ikea furniture, it could turn out to be cheaper to re-buy it than to pay for the cost of moving it. Consider selling or giving away cheap furniture, and then re-buy it once you arrive in your new home. You can then also choose the style/colour which works best with the new space.

Half Used Toiletries

If you have toiletries bottles that are empty, consider getting rid of them and starting fresh. Not only do the bottles take up a lot of space, but they may also have expired.

Alcohol Bottles

Bottles of alcohol can be fragile and need to be carefully packed and wrapped, taking up a lot of space. There’s also a chance they may break in transit and end up soaking other belongings you have.

Consider giving away bottles of alcohol to friends or family or have a moving-out party before you leave.

Pillows

Over time, pillows become flat, making them uncomfortable. Unless you have a special pillow which you need to fall asleep on, you should consider getting rid of them and buying new ones for your new home. They may also contain dust mites and take up a lot of space when packing.

Anything You Forgot About

If while you are going through your items to pack, and are surprised how it ever got there in the first place, or how you still have it, then it’s time to get rid of it.

If you didn’t know it existed or miss it enough to look for it, then you don’t need it in your life anymore.

An exception is something you thought was lost and had been upset about for a long time. If this is the case, reunite with your cherished item!

Are you considering donating items and not sure where to donate them? ACNC has a list of all the charities in Australia.

After you’ve thrown out items that you no longer need or are easily replaceable, it’s time to find the right removalist for your needs. Optimove are professional and affordable movers who take the stress out of moving home. For an obligation-free quote, please get in touch with our furniture removalists on 1300 400 874 or email info@optimove.com.au.