There are so many things to think about when moving house – removals, estate agents, moving chains, budgets – but a little focus on home organisation in advance of move day can reap huge rewards when moving in and getting settled.
I created the Serenely Sorted System initially for myself. After eight moves in five years, I knew how to move home efficiently, but when settled in my forever home, the piles started to build up so I used my corporate systems/process improvement skills to conquer the messiness and set up a system that would have my home tidier than ever before, yet saving hours every week on home chores.
Moving home is a perfect time to install the Serenely Sorted System that helps people ditch the drudgery, save time every day and rid themselves of mess stress. It’s a home organisation system with a difference – set up to be realistic and achievable for anyone – and sustainable for the long term. Setting up the system as you move ensures you can then start living in your serenely sorted home – and keep it that way for the long term.
Here, I share my tips on what to do at each stage to ensure your home move is a happy one – and you’ll probably save a bit of money too!
Two months before
In the Serenely Sorted System, we usually focus on the ‘daily debris’ first as that’s what causes the ‘mess stress’ on a daily basis in your home. When we sit down at the end of the day, we ultimately want that ‘aaahh’ moment to relax and enjoy our homes. In this case though when moving home we tip the process on its head and start with the clutter under the bed – as the more of this we can shift in advance, the more time, effort and money we can save on move day!
You are are going to have stuff to get rid of: Plan where it’s going before you sort it, or you’ll just be creating a different kind of pile! If you have time, you can sell via Facebook Marketplace, or else donate (some charities will collect, use the clothes bins in TKMax or at some Coops) or dump (inevitably, a few trips to the tip may be required!). Be ruthless!
Go through your belongings and use this golden rule: Each adult is allowed one ‘non-negotiable’ (for me that’s handbags, for my husband it’s cookery books). But for the rest put it to the ‘three rules or out’ test: 1. if you’ve not used it for more than three years – IT GOES, 2. if it’s obsolete technology – IT GOES (go on – ditch the DVDs!), 3. if you have more than one of them – IT GOES. Following this rule kept us within our shipping limit moving between five countries – and we still haven’t used our loft space.
One month before
Getting closer to move day, it’s time to get pre-organised for the move!
Pre-organise your new home into the Serenely Sorted System: ‘Serene Space Dividers’ are the glue that binds the Serenely Sorted System together. The baskets that you can buy in Home Bargains, IKEA, The Range or Wilko are your moving marvels and will take so much time, stress and effort out of your move! You need to create ‘End Homes’ for all of your daily use things such as hairbrushes, handbags, toy categories, activities such as craft, plus for your food in the kitchen into categories such as pasta, rice, oriental sauces, herbs, spices. Each of these End Homes is stored in a ‘Serene Space Divider’ with the dual purpose of keeping your drawers and cupboards divided into smaller units and making it super easy to move the whole category from old cupboard to new! By pre-Serenely Sorting your belongings in advance, you can move each category into it’s cupboard or drawer rather than handling individual items as you move.
Move day!
Ultimately, if you’ve pre-planned as per above, you’ll be able to unpack much easier and faster, because you know already where everything is going! For the kitchen, this is particularly important and often the best place for things is not what people think. Once you’ve unpacked, you are unlikely to change anything around for a long time, so it’s really worth getting it right first time. Really think about activities such as unstacking the dishwasher – ideally you don’t want to have to move your feet to unpack the whole lot once cleaned!
Settling in
Your new home is probably the biggest investment of your life. So let’s ensure it stays as your haven and doesn’t turn into mess town. The Serenely Sorted System starts with realistic home organisation system and lives on with mindset and behaviour. Getting back to tidy is easy and fast with the system because you know where everything goes (those End Homes). You are not tempted to shove things into a pile because it’s no effort to sort it. Ultimately, you want to sit down at the end of every day in your new home with an “aaahhh” – relaxing in the knowledge that you are sorted, with less effort than ever before – and saved you stress and spending on moving things from one loft to another that you’ll never use!
I work with clients to help them with this important life milestone with The Happy Move System by Serenely Sorted. I help people plan and execute their specific home moves with bespoke shopping lists of what to buy, planning out kitchen layouts and covering every end home you need.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can move with the Serenely Sorted System, so that you can move happy, and keep your home as your haven for the long term, book a discovery call with Diana today!
Website: https://serenelysorted.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serenely.sorted/
