Showerthought: Is it better to downsize before a move or move everything and sort later?

I packed up my whole 2-bedroom apartment in Austin last month and moved it all to a storage unit, thinking I'd sort through boxes after the dust settled. Three weeks in and I've only opened 4 of 20 boxes, paying $120 a month for stuff I clearly don't need. Has anyone else found that moving everything just delays the hard decisions, or does the pressure of seeing it all actually help you toss things faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_kelly919d ago

I downsized before a move from Dallas to San Antonio last year and it was the smartest thing I did. I rented a dumpster for three days and went through every single closet and drawer before the movers even showed up. Sold about thirty items on Facebook Marketplace and donated another four trash bags of clothes. The moving truck was half the size I originally thought I needed, and unpacking took me two afternoons instead of two weeks. My advice is to force yourself to sort through everything now because storage units just turn into money pits for your old junk. It stings for a day or two but you save yourself weeks of procrastination later.

riley_wood8419d ago

Betty, I heard something on a podcast once about how moving is basically a forced chance to declutter and people who embrace it end up way happier. It's like you're paying for the privilege of hauling your old junk across town if you don't sort through it first. Your point about storage units being money pits is spot on, I've seen too many friends pay rent for years on boxes they never opened.

hollyl2519d ago

Honestly the REAL angle here is that moving forces you to confront HOW you shop in the first place. I had a buddy who moved three times in five years and every single time he'd toss half his stuff. Eventually he just stopped buying junk he knew he'd never actually use because he was tired of hauling it. THAT'S the real win.