Weight and space cost money during a move. The more stuff you are transporting, the more money you can expect to spend on your moving company. This is why, together with the stress of packing up all that you own, some people ask if they should even move their belongings or not.
You can usually buy new clothes and furniture, so a lot of people wonder if moving and replacing their household goods immediately they arrive at their new place is not to their benefit.
We are all looking for sustainable (and budget-friendly) living, but there are certain things that you just don’t have to move with you during a residential move.
Knowing the things that should make the move and the ones to sell before you move and buying again after you get to the new place is a good way to reduce your load when moving. This is capable of making you a huge amount of money if done properly.
As usual, however, things are not just as simple as that.
Even if you would like a brand new life, there are things you may not be able to buy at once. And even if you prefer to keep your old stuff, they may look out of place in your new home or maybe too costly or difficult to move. Therefore, you need to conduct research on every available option and make proper considerations of the right factors before you make a final decision.
Let’s take a look at the two options:
Moving Old Items: Pros and Cons
Moving your old belongings to your new home is not the right or wrong decision either.
Pros
There are certain considerable benefits to moving your old belongings to your new house during a move:
- You will have all that you need immediately your goods arrive and won’t be spending time and effort shopping for new items;
- You will keep the entire things you are sentimentally attached to, such as enjoyable items, comfortable items, treasured items, and so on;
- You will figure out what works effectively for you and will be able to re-design your old environments and make your new place feel just like the previous home within two days;
- Moving your old items will be cheaper than to sell them and purchase new items after moving.
Cons
Even though all these sound great, however, there are certain limitations to moving all that you already own:
- You will have to pack all that you own, organize them, create a moving inventory, get the right packing supplies, pack each item one by one with great care, mark the boxes, and finish all these work in the short time before moving day. Somewhat laborious, time-consuming, and stressful task it is. If you don’t have the energy, you will have to pay professional packers to help you out.
- You will be required to get a safe and efficient means to move your household goods, hire a reliable moving company or rent a moving truck and drive your old belongings to your new place;
- You will spend so much money on packing materials, the right insurance, professional movers (or moving truck rental + road tolls + fuel), and so on.
- You won’t be able to arrange your new home as you desire, especially if you desire a unique style and a fresh new home. Aside from that, some of your old belongings may not even fit right into the layout of your new residence.
Selling Items When Moving: Pros and Cons
Everyone likes beautiful new things. Then, what is the need to spend time and money needed to move your old belongings when you can purchase new items after you relocate?
Pros
Selling everything before you move is a good idea because:
- Your time and money will be saved on your move as you won’t be hiring a full-service moving company to move your items or rent a moving truck to haul your goods yourself and won’t spend money on packing supplies, moving insurance, as well as other related costs.
- You will not spend the time and effort needed to get your household goods ready for shipment. Packing a whole household is surely overwhelming and time-consuming.
- You will surely make money to be able to purchase new items for your new home with no financial setbacks.
- You will be able to arrange your new home in any way you like and fill it with only items you like.
- You will have the opportunity to make the most out of your new home as your newly purchased furnishing will fit perfectly to its design and layout. The items that perfectly fit your old home and suit your needs may not be right for your next home, especially if you change your living style as you move.
- You will have and live a simple, clutter-free life for the first years after your move.
Cons
Comparatively, why get rid of your valued possessions and sell enjoyable and comfortable belongings that have served you well for several years? There is no point in leaving your household belongings behind just to replace them with the same set of things after the move.
Selling everything and move is not worth it because:
- You will lose goods that have high aesthetic, practical, and/or sentimental value (and you can never replace items that have special meaning or great emotions, regardless).
- You will spend a lot of time to get the right new items that fit the new space and meet your practical needs, post moving budget, and individual preferences (and you will have to go through a lot of inconveniences as well as stress in the meantime).
- Buying new goods will cost you a lot of money if you can’t ship your old items (and you will spend all that money in a blink of an eye unless you decide to sleep on the floor and eat out or from paper plates for months). You always have the option to buy used stuff online or at the yard or garage sales. This will be cheaper than buying new stuff. But leaving your old items behind to purchase other old items doesn’t still make any sense.
Items You May Consider Selling Before You Move
Remember that this pre-move clean is not to get rid of all or nothing. The purpose of this is to get rid of all the items that are not adding any value to you in their present condition so that you can at least replace them with items that will.
Here, we will discuss the items that you should consider selling before you move, with tips for selecting those items. These include:
- Old appliances: Based on your unique situation, you may have the chance to move your appliances with you when you relocate and put them to use in your new home. If this is you, consider the cost of selling old appliances for small cash and add that money to some more to purchase replacement appliances after moving. Appliances weigh more; they are unruly and tough to transport safely. They are also costly to pack and haul. When you have older appliances, the cost to buy new later on is often better than the cost to move and install the older ones.
- Old furniture: This is another category of household goods that is cost-effective to sell before a move rather than packing and moving with you. If your piece of furniture is old, out of date, and with no sentimental value, you should consider trying to sell and get a small amount of money that you can spend on a replacement piece.
- Clothes you don’t wear: Many of us have many clothes that we don’t even wear; so, purge your closet and see what you can dispose of. If there are clothes you haven’t worn in a year, if the cloth doesn’t fit, or is no more your style, place it on resale or consignment shop and take it off your closet. Apply this same thing to shirts, pants, jewelry, shoes, bridal wear, jackets, and purses are also a good sell provided they are in good shape.
- Excess linens and towels: Unless you have a future use for many blankets, you are likely not in need of moving three or more sets of sheets for each bed or twelve bath towels. Even though it is always a good idea to have additional linens around, many people over time end up with more than they need. Save yourself the stress, time, and expense of packing your excess linens by disposing of them before you move. There is a market available for selling vintage and old linens that are still in good shape, and you can donate the rest of the linens.
- Any item you are not using anymore: Check your books, gadgets, electronics, and toys that are certain you will find many untouched or unchecked items there. There may be a market for some, if not all of these items online, else, you can try and sell some of them in a post-move yard sale.
How To Determine If To Sell Or Keep An Item?
As you make a list of your household goods before you move, you may encounter some tough challenges between the items you should sell before a move and maybe buy again and what you should keep.
For any items you are confused about, the following questions should help in making your decision clear enough:
- Does the item function properly? If yes, proceed to the next question, else, consider if you could still sell. For instance, a laptop with a faulty battery still can be sold online, even if it doesn’t have much use in your daily activities.
- Is moving it cost-efficient? If the item will cost you more to pack and move, then just sell and replace it.
- Do you use the item? There is no need to keep an item just out of habit. If you don’t use the item and have no immediate use for it, sell it.
- Does the item have sentimental value? Yes, some items don’t work, are costly to move, and you don’t even use, but you still want them around because they hold sentimental value. Endeavor to reduce the number of items that you keep for only sentimental reasons, but avoid selling something just to sell it if you don’t feel like doing so.
Where to Sell Your Stuff
You may not be able to sell all of the things you would like to sell, but you can obtain a return on some of them. Check out eBay and other online marketplaces, which enable you to list goods for sale and hook up with potential buyers.
You can also check physical and fairly used consignment shops closer to you and find out if they have an interest in taking. For other items, host a post-move yard/garage sale and try to dispose of them like that.
Conclusion
After selling your household goods and perform your move, take some time before you fill your new home with items. Buy only essential items as well as what you only like, as this will not only save your post-move budget but will also be able to make a home of your style.
