7 Things to Get Rid of Before Moving

Moving to a new house presents a perfect opportunity to remind yourself of what you have accumulated over time. Some people unknowingly accumulate several identical pairs of shoes, hoard unused clothes, or fill their closets with half-finished crafts. Basically, these items are non-essentials, and you shouldn’t take them to your new home. Unfortunately, because of the sentimental value of these items or other reasons, most people find difficulties choosing what can remain and what they should throw out.

Why You Should Declutter Before Moving

Decluttering before moving is important for the following reasons:

Reduce moving costs – professional moving companies charge for moving services based on the total weight of your items. The more items you have, the more the cost. Decluttering can save on your moving budget.
Saves on packing supplies – fewer items mean you will need a few packing supplies, such as boxes, wraps, and duct tapes.
Better for the environment – fewer items to pack means few packing materials and minimal landfill waste.
Less time spent packing – eliminating non-essentials before packing saves on time and effort used when packing.
More space in the new house – moving to a new home with reduced closets translates to more storage space.

moving

Should You Remodel or Move?

from Zillow.com

If you’re asking yourself if you should remodel your home or just move on to a new one, there are probably a few things about your home you don’t love — and that’s no surprise. No home is perfect! But when you’re asking yourself that question, you’re really asking: Can my dislikes be changed with a remodel? Would that make financial sense? Is remodeling worth the hassle?

With low inventory nationwide, more homeowners are renovating their current homes instead of moving. According to Zillow research, 76 percent of Americans surveyed would rather use a set amount of money to upgrade their home to meet their needs rather than use it as a down payment on a new home.

Everyone’s home, budget, real estate market and priorities are different. So, settling the remodel-versus-sell debate always varies, depending on who you ask. But, if you’re trying to make the decision for yourself, follow these five key steps.

1. Determine whether remodeling or moving is more cost-effective

You’ll incur costs no matter which path you decide to take, and what makes sense for you might not make sense for another homeowner. For some homeowners, moving is cheaper. For others, it makes more financial sense to renovate the house they already have. To find out the more affordable option for you, make sure to consider all possible expenses in order to make an accurate side-by-side comparison.

Read the whole article on Zillow.com.

moving, remodeling

What Homebuyers Want in 2022

by Kendall Little
January 4, 2022
from Time/NextAdvisor

Outdoor space is in.

That’s the feature most home buyers are looking for these days, according to real estate agents, who say the season’s stay-at-home orders have left millions of people feeling cooped up.

If you’re going to spend time and money on a home improvement project, it pays to focus on things future buyers might find valuable, in case you choose to sell one day. Projects like refurbishing a patio — or replacing a garage door — can improve your day-to-day experience in your home and boost its value too.

In fact, many Americans have spent their time at home over the past few months tackling DIY renovations. Quarterly earnings reports from big box home improvement chains Lowe’s and Home Depot both showed year-over-year improvement from 2019, even as overall consumer spending fell by record amounts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the whole article on Time/NextAdvisor.

home projects, moving, remodeling

Why Hire A Professional Organizer to Help With a Move or Remodel?

We are truly proud that Simplify Experts has helped thousands of clients across the Puget Sound with their home decluttering and organizing needs over the past 14 years. Many don’t realize, however, the large number of clients we have also helped with their moving and remodeling needs. It’s true! Professional organizers can help make this major life event less stressful, more streamlined, and yes, more cost-effective! A recent survey showed moving as the top stressor in life events, with 43% saying they’d never do it again. Still not sure why you should hire a professional organizer with your move or remodel? Read on, and you may have a change of tune.

Declutter and downsize before you pack…and save money.

Moving companies generally charge by weight. They give a cost estimate using formulas to calculate the total volume of your furnishings and household items, including everything in your closets, shelves, and cabinets. If you pack it all up, have the movers take it, and then unpack, declutter, and downsize at your new home, you will have paid the movers to move things you ended up getting rid of. With one client, our organizers took about 40 black garbage bags and a dozen large boxes to the donation center, and left a good-sized mountain of random junk on the porch for a hauler to take away. Imagine if they had had the movers take all that to their new home!

We help you get rid of the big things, too.

We help you declutter and downsize much more than just books, clothing, kids’ stuff, and household items. If you are moving to a bigger or smaller home, chances are your furniture and decor needs will be changing, too. That old disassembled antique crib in the garage? Your Chippendale mahogany dining set that doesn’t go with your new, modern condo? Several pieces from your original art collection that need a new home? We can help you consign or donate these items so you have several less things to worry about.

moving, Professional Organizer, remodeling

8 Great Reasons to Downsize Your Home

Is your home still meeting your needs? For most people as they start their adult lives and possibly their families, they start upsizing to larger homes with bonus rooms and big backyards. What happens when the kids move out or your lifestyle changes? The word “downsize” may bring to mind recently retired folks who’ve decided to sell their big family home and opt for a sparkly new condo somewhere sunny, and with a pool a few steps away. While that is definitely one of the ways to do it, there are many more reasons to downsize. You don’t even have to be retired!

1. More Cashflow

The housing market in the Greater Seattle Area has been booming for years, and downsizing is definitely one way to create more cashflow. You could free up more cash with a lower or even no mortgage. With a smaller home you’ll also have lower utility bills and homeowner’s insurance; you may even save more with no more HOA dues or yard maintenance costs. It’s also a viable way to consolidate a lot of debt—and lower financial anxiety. For example, sell your home and with the profits, pay off your home equity loan, college loan, and credit card, then pay off most or all of your mortgage. If you’ve been in your home for at least 10 years and it’s value has gone up significantly, you can use that equity to your advantage.

2. Freedom

A smaller home is much easier to maintain. With our eldest launched, one in college, and one in high school, we no longer needed such a big house and yard. We downsized to a smaller but still spacious home with almost no yard, and with the house being brand new, there is nothing it needs in terms of updating or remodeling. Less to clean and keep up = more time for leisure! I’ve got a friend who is loving the freedom of her downsize from a single-family house to a condo in a doorman building. She calls it a “lock and go” setup because she literally turns one key and she can travel and work remotely from anywhere in the world.

downsizing, moving

5 Simple Ways to Update Your Home That Will Add Value

How long is your home’s to-do list?

Take a moment and think about how many tasks around the house you’ve been putting off. Perhaps a bathroom coated with chipped paint or an outdated carpet has been lurking in the back of your mind. Or, maybe your home requires more serious home renovations like replacing a leaky roof or redeeming some worn down siding.

Whether it’s a major haul or a project you can squeeze into one day and do it yourself, your newfound downtime could be perfect for making some of those updates. Before you set any plans in motion, ask yourself if the project is worth both your time and money. In other words, you shouldn’t make any serious alterations to your home simply for better looks because oftentimes it isn’t guaranteed that your home’s value will increase as a result.

So, which updates are worthwhile? Read on to find out which efforts, from largest to smallest, you can make to improve your home along with some insider tips on being smart with your money.

First, let’s take a look at a couple of bigger renos that are both popular and profitable.

DIY, home improvement, moving

5 Things You Need to Know Before You Move

Moving can be stressful and disruptive, so if you have a move on the horizon – use these five strategies to save yourself a lot of headache! Recently, my family moved to a new house just minutes from our home town. Here are some of my biggest take-aways for making any move easier.

Declutter Way Ahead of Time

Who wants to pack and move old and unwanted items and outgrown clothes? We certainly did not!

We began decluttering several months before our move. Over time, we decluttered every space in the house. I worked with both of my sons individually and donated old toys and clothes which no longer fit. When we were finished, their bedrooms

decluttering, Dolly.com, moving, U-Haul

7 Reasons You Might Need to Hire a Professional Organizer

When it comes to organizing your home and your possessions, it can be hard for anybody to know where to start and the best way to go about making your house work for you. With all the various stresses of life, like moving home and having children (or anything that requires deep forward planning with time), it can be hard to even find the time to begin the process of organizing your home.

Professional Organizers are a great option for people who need a little bit of extra help with the process of organizing their things. Whether those things be a reorganization of the interior of your home entirely or having assistance organizing stacks of important paperwork, professional organizers can make the process much easier.

Here are seven reasons you might want to hire a professional organizer, and some ideas of what they can do for you.

1. You Want To Declutter, But Don’t Know Where to Start

Without even getting into situational specifics, if you feel that you are having a hard time even starting the organization process, a simple and short meeting with a professional organizer can help you to plan out your moves and come up with ideas for decluttering efficiently. A professional organizer can still help with the process itself, but they’re available for advising on organization projects as well!

2. Reorganizing the Whole Home

When changing around the interior layout of your home, you should probably be thinking

decluttering, moving, new baby, paperwork, Professional Organizer

Moving? 6 Reasons Why You Should Get Help from a Professional Organizer

Whatever the reason for your move, the process of moving is at once exciting and overwhelming. You may be managing a long to do list to get your home ready for sale. During the moving process, it can feel like a thousand different pieces are moving at the same time, all in addition to the demands of your daily life.

Working with Simplify Experts, we can help with every step, manage the move

moving, moving services, unpacking

Forget New Year’s Resolutions, We Celebrate you Today!

We celebrate the clients of Simplify Experts

I began writing this blog about New Year’s Resolutions. I was going to encourage you all to declutter, organize, simplify. Then I remembered that New Year’s Resolutions don’t actually work for the majority of people who try to set them. So, I began to write a blog about all the reasons why New Year’s Resolutions don’t work and tips for setting better, S.M.A.R.T. goals. That might have been nice, but let’s face it, it is the holiday season and you don’t need to be reminded of all the things you are NOT doing.

So instead, I would like to CELEBRATE YOU and what you HAVE accomplished this year; all of you, our amazing clients, our dear followers and our friends!

You have made it through 2017! I am going to say it, it’s been a doozy of a year. But, you have tirelessly nurtured and supported your family. You had fun but of course there were ups and downs. You learned, you took risks, slogged through, and rocked it. You know, normal life stuff…

filing system, moving, New Year, new year's resolutions

Posts Tagged moving