After seventeen lifetime moves, I have been able to narrow down the process to 11 ways to REHOME clutter.

There was definitely a time when clutter, overabundance, and excess, were a part of my life. It really only takes a simple thing like moving to realize how much STUFF we acquire over time.

What is STUFF

For this purpose let’s describe STUFF as Something That You Find Frivolous in your life. 11 ways to REHOME clutter can show you what to do with your “clutter”.

Big moves, little moves

Most of us have a few big moves and some smaller ones in our lives. We move to go to school, to take on a new job, and when we marry. Then we have many children meaning a bigger house and we retire and don’t want a big place anymore.

As life changes so do the number of our acquisitions and so goes how most of us acquire STUFF. But what happens to the STUFF we acquire along the way? 11 ways to REHOME clutter is the answer.

In my lifetime, I have moved 17 times since my birth. The most prominent moves have been the last 5 times with another coming up soon.

The last 5 moves

From these 5 times, I did more decluttering, downsizing, reducing, and just plain throwing away. Knowing I could not keep everything and came up with 10 ways to REHOME clutter.

The first of these moves was because of divorce so I needed to sort through all our joint stuff and figure out how to divide it up. He was moving and letting our 4 children and I remain in the home.

I wanted to be reasonable. The first thing was to give him anything that came to us from his family. Then I wanted to be sure he had what our matrimonial home had because the kids would be spending time at his place.

This worked out so well. I then continued to get rid of clothes not needed, excess kitchen STUFF, toys, and teddies the kids had outgrown, and STUFF from the garage that wasn’t being used or served any purpose any longer.

While going through this process, I also for the first real-time consciously got rid of excess and unnecessary STUFF. It felt so great.

This was the start of a process that has taken me to live a simplified lifestyle. 10 ways to REHOME clutter has helped get me to this point.

How the process evolved

The first major, decluttering started three years later. I and four kids moved from Alberta to Ontario, Canada. To do this I put on my organizing and planning hat and set out to greatly and significantly reduce our “STUFF”. 11 ways to rehome clutter played a major role in this happening.

How did I manage that task?

Moving back to my hometown with family and friends made the move much easier. The first thing I did was set a target arrival date. Then I asked family and friends what items they had that we could reclaim or use. This proved to be a gold mine. I was able to figure out what I had to get rid of once I knew what I didn’t have to move across the country. It greatly simplified the process.

Brainstorm your tasks with dates

I did brainstorming of everything that had to get done with dates. These dates were not written in stone except for the start and move dates. Dates help to keep on track to get through the process.

I put all areas of the house, yard, and outbuildings on a sheet and then would write down what needed to happen in each area. If you plan on having a garage sale this can help get you organized. This becomes your inventory.

It is strongly recommended to declutter the space where you intend to hold the garage /yard sale first. If you do this you can move STUFF for the sale once and it’s ready to go. You could even price as you go. Prioritize according to what needs to be your priority.

Determine what to sell, put in a garage sale, give away or keep.

Determining what to sell online, sell at a garage sale, give away or keep was the next stage. A list of categories like the garage sale, sell online, Value Village, Women’s shelters, etc. helped organize and I put them on a checklist. I knew people /agencies that were looking for specific STUFF and contacted them to tell them what I had. Some do pick up which is a bonus.

Now its time to get it done.

As you start actually sorting through and decluttering make 4 piles. Garbage, garage sale, recycle and move with you. On your sheet keep track of where the recycled item is to go if STUFF is not going to the same recycle place. Or you can put boxes with labels on them to make it really easy!

REHOME Clutter

Now you have successfully organized yourself in your first room or space you chose. It is important to now take those items to their new home. 11 ways to REHOME clutter will help keep less from going to the landfill.

This will allow you to see the process working. You will be able to determine if what is left, is what you really want to keep.

Important documents

Important documents include health records such as immunization records, a list of surgeries with dates, any pertinent dental information, tax records, and bank documents. Most STUFF is found online now, even health records. It is a good idea to put it all on a USB stick and keep it as a backup. You could even color-code your information! Check them out here.

If you are moving to a new community you can request records from your previous doctor, dentist, and financial reps when you acquire new ones.

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Keeping these records on a stick allows you to get rid of hard copies. REMEMBER to shred all documents.

When I decluttered my four-drawer filing cabinet before moving I ended up with less than a third of a drawer of paper documents. Oh, what a feeling!!!

Important Papers

If you are like most people you have photo albums and snap books as well as loose photos.

I had made bins with all my kids’ personal papers from playschool, school, and other activities that I thought they might want later in life. What I did was add photos to these bins so they all had pictures of each of us, of special events, and any other pictures.

Disclaimer – Some of the links in this post may include affiliate links. This means that I get a commission if you purchase through my link at NO EXTRA COST to you.      

They all got these bins because it was their STUFF that they needed to decide if they wanted to keep it or not. I had been the keeper but as adults, it was their turn to be the keeper.

For myself, I put them on a photo stick and only kept a few favorite hard copy photos. I can access them from my computer when I need to.

All the frames that came off the photos, I took to Value Village.

11 Ways to REHOME clutter

This is a list of places you can share your STUFF:

• Sell online
• You can sell at a yard or garage sale
• A second-hand store will buy from you especially furniture
• Give to a second-hand store
• Agencies, family or friends are always in need of stuff
• Give to women’s shelter, detox centres
• Habitat for Humanity
• Value Village, Salvation Army, Goodwill
• Donate to churches
• Donate to outreach groups working with new immigrants
• Architectural warehouses collect reusable building products

Getting ready for Long term Traveling

My husband and I decided to go live in Panama for about a year to see the country and get to know the people and maybe even learn some Spanish. This is currently our location. These 11 ways to rehome clutter came in extremely handy when we needed to dispose of everything.

We had been living fairly simple, or so we thought, in an apartment. As we got closer to actually leaving we sold everything we could, gave to family, gave to friends, gave to organizations, and gave up our apartment.

By the time we got to the airport in our small hometown, we were headed to Panama with two suitcases, a carry-on, and a personal bag each.

We have now returned home to Canada, returning with less STUFF than we came to Panama with.

This REHOME clutter process has had a positive effect on my well being

In summary, I have to say that I feel the reports that are out now talking about how decluttering can be a positive factor for good mental health have some validity. Having lived very minimally for the past year I realize it can be freeing.

Now back in Canada we continue to live simpler on purpose and add to our bucket list with aspirations to visit other places uncluttered. That’s a topic for another blog.

Now it’s your turn to start to REHOME clutter and use the 11 ways to REHOME clutter ideas to improve life and see how it makes you feel

Let’s chat about this. Share a comment about your REHOMING efforts.