How do you pack a messy house?

If you are moving soon, but have a messy home, you might feel quite a bit of pressure regarding packing your home. Packing is always stressful but factoring in a messy house can make it extra intense. Don't panic, instead follow this guide to help you pack your messy house.

Tips For Cleaning a Messy House

If you have a messy room or even a messy house that you need to pack, follow these rules to help you pack up quickly and efficiently.

Start Immediately!

Once you find out you’re moving, you can get to work organizing and planning. Planning to move and packing a messy house takes time, it can’t be done in a single weekend.

If your home is heavily cluttered, or just simply messy, start working on it as soon as possible. What does this mean? We will detail what you will need to get done and how it will help you. Let’s go over what you need to do.

Start By Making an Inventory

To start packing up a messy house, you should know what you’re up against, which is why making an inventory can be invaluable. Inventorying your belongings not only helps you see what you have, it often will uncover items that were either missing or what you considered to be "long gone" that haven’t been used in so many years they could have graduated college and had a high paying job by now.

When inventorying, go room by room making a list of what you do NOT want to move with you. Yes, the list will be long especially in a messy house, but we promise it helps the decluttering process go along faster.

Do not bring these items along:

• Broken items - Why would you want to bring something broken that can be replaced?
• Clothes that you don’t wear – again, don’t waste the space packing clothes you never wear or that don’t fit you anymore
• Old worn-out items – this includes clothes, shoes, furniture, kitchen utensils, and anything else under the sun. If it’s worn out, chuck it out.
• Duplicated items – if you have double of something, don’t bring both.
• Books you have already read or won’t read – this is the toughest one. Don’t bring books with you that you have already read, or that you just know you aren’t going to read. Not only are books heavy, but they do take up valuable room in boxes that could be used by something else.

Sort It Out

After inventorying your home, you will want to start going through room by room and create 4 piles; what to keep, what to sell, what to donate, and what to trash/recycle. Let’s quickly cover those.

• Keeping – There are items in your home you are obviously taking with you. Those will go in your keep or take pile.
• Selling – If you have items in good shape that you aren’t going to take with you, then you can sell them to make some money back from your move. You can sell these items online or even in a yard or garage sell before you move.
• Donating – If you want to instead donate your items to either your friends or those in need that you aren’t taking with you, set those aside in their own separate pile.
• Recycle/trash - Undoubtedly you have items that belong in the trash that are either broken or are so worn out that they can’t be used anymore. Throw those in a pile to be thrown away or recycled.

Pack It Up

After you have sorted everything, thrown everything away, donated your items, and have your sell pile, you can start packing. Remember not to overpack a box so that it is too heavy to carry.

When packing, go room by room and pack an entire room up before moving on. This helps keep your items together and ensures you get each room packed and finished up.

Another thing to always keep in mind is to pack an essentials bag. When your home is packed up and you are moving, whether it be local or far away, there are items you will need to keep with you that you might need. These items include:

• Wallet
• Keys
• Important documents
• Electronics – laptops, tablets, phones, and chargers for those electronics
• Toiletries (including toilet paper!)
• Change of clothes
• Snacks
• Pet items (food, water, medications)
• Medications
• Kids’ items

Overall, moving a messy home does not have to be difficult or stressful if you start early and stay organized. This can even start once you find out you are moving to give yourself ample time to organize properly.