How to Organize Your New Home as You Unpack
Moving into a new home is exciting, but can be stressful. It’s a great opportunity to tackle a clutter problem and get more organized. It might be tempting to unpack as fast as you can and shove things wherever you can, but taking some extra time will save you stress in the long term. Here are some ideas to help you organize as you unpack.
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
Plan Ahead
One of the biggest mistakes people make with cross country moving is to try and get all the unpacking done in one day or over a weekend. If you can, plan ahead and give yourself a few days to unpack and organize.
If you have young children, plan some activities to keep them busy or send them off to stay with their grandparents. You can get on with organizing your house with fewer distractions and not worry about what the children are doing.
Unpack Room By Room
If you’re unpacking as you go, it’s easy to get distracted by a box in the kitchen while you’re trying to get your bedroom unpacked. Concentrate on one room at a time, especially if you have a room that will need a lot of organizing, like a craft room.
Start with the kitchen. Once that’s unpacked, you can cook at home and save money on ordering in. To make things easier, label all your moving boxes with which room they should go in and what’s in them, so your movers can put things in the right room for you and you can find the things you want as you’re unpacking.
Once you’ve finished unpacking the kitchen, you could move onto the bedrooms, bathrooms, or the living room next, depending on what you want to use first. Save the rooms you use the least, like the office or the spare bedroom, until last. Your most used rooms should be unpacked first.
Declutter As You Unpack
While you’re unpacking, make a pile of things to throw out or donate. If you packed quickly without time to declutter, you should definitely do this.
If you spot something that doesn’t get used anymore, throw it out. If you didn’t use it in your old house, you probably won’t use it in your new one either. Donate it or get rid of it to give yourself more space for the things that you do use.
Organize Your New Home With Household Objects You Already Have
The internet is crammed full of hacks and ideas for organizing your home, and these hacks often have something in common. Many of them use common household objects to get things organized. For example, there are tips that suggest using spice carousels to organize loose items, plastic racks for hair accessories, or jars for baking items like cupcake cases.
Before you rush out to buy dozens of storage bins and whatever acrylic storage systems you saw on Instagram, see what you already have that could be repurposed. You can save some money and not add to the clutter!
This post was contributed, and it was made possible by the support of our readers.
I like the idea of organizing with what you have. In the case of moving, it's almost like seeing the items in a new light as they're pulled out of boxes. I've been trying to use things around the house more, like a ramekin for candy, small decorative items grouped together on top of a charger, etc. They add fun little decorative elements.
Alexandra
OnRockwoodLane.com
I wish I had done more of these tips when we moved a few years ago! If I ever move again (hopefully not), I'll do it better. I've been trying to think more outside the box too, using the things I already have.
Pam, the thought of moving again seems so daunting. It would take forever for us to clean out this house and property. I feel like I may die here and then the kids can bury me in the dog cemetary! Ha! But again the thought of ridding myself of so many things and starting new does have a certain appeal. Great post.
I'm with you, Mary. After our move 3 years ago, I swore I'd never do it again. But, who knows?! I might be up for an adventure when my husband retires! I wouldn't be opposed to living somewhere closer to an ocean.
Pam,
Thanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to comment!! I can not even imagine having to move but I realize that we will have to someday as these steps here , both inside and out, will become an issue for me as I get older!!
Hope you have a great day!!
hugs,
Deb
We have never moved from our house, so I have no grounds to dread unpacking the whole house, but if everything is neatly organized,packed and labeled, I believe I could tackle that without having a nervous breakdown 🙂
Thank you for sharing this Pam!