The NUMBER ONE thing you should do to save time and money on your next household move

In apology, this post is about 80% advice and 20% rant, but please bear with me!

I have unpacked dozens and dozens of clients as well as moved my own family many times. There is one common occurrence that I have encountered with almost every single move. I’m even guilty of it myself until the last two or so moves of my own. Stopping this one habit/mistake could save the moving households hundreds of dollars and many hours of packing and unpacking time, not to mention the frustration of organizing too much stuff in the new place.

My tip to those of you who may be moving soon is “DON’T MOVE FOOD”! Period. No food at all. Get rid of it; don’t pack it; don’t worry about it — it is an unnecessary headache to introduce into the moving equation.

I can just imagine all my frugal Yankee friends with their New England sensibilities moaning about wastefulness and throwing out perfectly good spices, however the cost to move food is much more than to start fresh in the new place. Unless you are moving to the farthest outer boonies, there will be a Mariano’s, a Costco, a Super Target, or whatever where you can restock any or all of the expired half-used/never-used stuff you have in your pantry.

This year alone on jobs, I have unpacked half used bags of flour still in the paper sack and usually spilled all over everything else in the box. I have unpacked hundreds of spice jars, each rolled carefully and individually in packing paper by some packer on the moving end. I have unpacked multiple boxes of the same cereal, some full, but most opened and in varying stages of emptiness. I have unpacked hundreds of tea bags loose from their box and stuffed in packing paper — no telling how old most of those were. I’ve unpacked jars of syrups and specialty vinegars where there was maybe a tablespoonful of liquid left in the bottom.

All of this stuff was packed individually in expensive packing paper, put in expensive moving boxes by movers, hauled and stacked into a moving truck, moved out on the other end, unpacked and unrolled in the new house, only to have the homeowner say, “Oh let’s toss that — that is really old”. They could have saved so much time and money if they had spent a day or two at the old place cleaning out all the food and donating anything worthwhile to a food pantry and throwing away all the rest. Or they could have given it to a friend or neighbor who is NOT in the throes of a move. Instead they paid someone to pack it, they paid for packing supplies, they paid for extra pounds of cargo and hours of time for boxes to be put in the truck, then they spent precious time on the frustrating job of unpacking one zillion little boxes and jars that are usually past their expiry date anyway.

This past weekend, another organizer and I unpacked over 70 jars of spice on an unpack/organizing job and after checking the expiry dates, we threw out all but 12. This particular homeowner had 6 of those large “dish pack” moving boxes full of “pantry/food” boxes. The boxes alone are $10 + each even at a discount rate and the packing paper killed who knows how many trees.

I know some of you will wail and gnash your teeth and say, “oh but Maldon sea salt flakes are SO expensive! I can’t throw those out!” That may be, but you can afford a new box of sea salt from the money and time you save by not moving almost empty jars and boxes of crap across town or across the state and often across the country. My rule of thumb is, if you can replace it at Mariano’s for $15 or less, toss it. Get rid of it all. Start fresh in your new kitchen in your new place. You don’t have to be burdened with those 6 jars of cumin — two full and dated from 2012, two about half full and the other two with maybe a quarter inch of spice in the bottom.

I would also extend this advice to cleaning supplies and the liquor cabinet — my advice here is to throw a party and drink it up at the old house. Don’t move it unless it is 3/4 or more full. I’m talking about the booze here, NOT the Lysol bathroom cleaner — just toss or donate that and get over it.

If you can make yourself do this on the beginning end of a move, I promise you your move will go so much smoother and will be less time consuming and less expensive.

If you are planning a move and want help de-cluttering in preparation or unpacking and organizing in your new place, give me a call.

Sarah Campbell is a professional organizer in the city of Chicago. She specializes in decluttering, organizing, preparing for moves and unpacking and setting up after a move for households and small businesses. Contact her at Sarah@anorganizedlifechicago.com for help with your organizing challenges!