Someone must know the best way to do this ....

This will be us, when we decide to move. The only thing I can suggest is, be ruthless! Someone once told me that if you haven't used a thing for six months, you don't need it, so get rid of it. I know it's easier said than done though.

That was us three years ago. It's not easy! Before the house went on the market we were able to have enough of an initial de-clutter to show it. The 'things' left behind by the family were gathered together and they were told, relatively firmly, to come and look, take what they wanted and the rest went to charity shops. That helped a lot. I went through the clothes and donated what I could. Some larger things that we really didn't need were sold. It was enough to show the house at its best. Once we had a buyer one bedroom was cleared and the serious sorting began. Once something was designated to go it went - quickly, before a change of mind . What we were keeping was packed and stacked. The garage became a bit of a battlefield as Mr C just didnt want to part with his toys - oops, I mean tools plus boxes and boxes of 'bits'. The garden shed was relatively easily sorted as I am the gardener. We did bring far too much with us, had to rent some self store while common sense prevailed, but it wasn't too traumatic. Three years on there hasn't been one thing we parted with that we miss. I took a lot of photos of objects and we have them together as a keepsake. We are still letting things go. It isn't easy but you will find your way through it. We were surprised at the things that mattered to us, not about monetary value but about memories. It was hard work but if we can get there so can you, for us it has been worth it. smile].

Hi NanaandGrampy

Same issue as I have! Been in our house 23 yrs, 4 bed same as you and full of 'stuff'. We're hoping to move to Cornwall very soon when ours is sold. So here goes...

1. Everything that belongs to your children or GC needs to go to the owner. Tell them they have two weeks to collect or it's going in the bin / charity shop etc. Be ruthless. Concentrates their minds wonderfully well lol!

2. When all that has gone look around at your own clutter. If you haven't picked it up / opened it / worn it / used it in the last 18 months then get rid. Don't keep anything that 'needs fixing' ( my DH is a devil for that!). No saying but I might want it someday - you won't, believe me!

3. Ornaments are death when selling a house. People want to see an (almost) blank canvas - box them and put in your loft or bin them and buy new when you move and just have a few vases of fresh flowers instead.

4. Now think about the things you use everyday. Kitchen equipment / clothing / hobbies / books etc. Leave out only the things that you really need and pack the rest. Don't unpack anything. If it's packed, then cook / do / wear something different!

5. Best way to avoid dipping into the boxes (and leaving the house clutter free) is to put them into secure storage until you're ready to move. Not as expensive as you may think and really removes the temptation. Alternative is to borrow the garage of a good friend to store things.

6. Once it's all out of the way it's easy to nip around with the hoover and a duster before the viewers arrive and it's surprising what you can live without once it's out of sight!

Hope that helps a bit
C x

Having just done the same, I can only echo Cornergran and Carol58.

Sometimes it is hard choices that you will have to make. Which is why our new very large garage is full of bits of furniture we have no room for!

But the classic sports car had to go, only at the eleventh hour!

After our declutter, we actually liked the spacious feel of our old house. Just remember to keep enough things to 'stage' it as a family house, if they will be your main buyers.

Good luck and remind yourselves it's worth the effort in the end!

This is us right now! Official packers come tomorrow and we have been up to eyes in sorting and chucking out for weeks - and still are! I cannot tell you the number of times I have had to explain to my OH (who has PD) that we are not packing, we are getting rid of stuff we no longer need! It has not sunk in yet and he keeps saying we need some boxes - no, we don't, packers will bring them!! Sigh. What with that and him getting lost in the new bungalow I am tearing my hair out a bit - I find him wandering round there looking for the living room or the kitchen! He wants to label the rooms, but I am hoping that once we are there he will get used to it. It has made me realise the extent of his increasing cognitive impairment - he has no clue whatever about all the paperwork, sorting out changes of address with official bodies etc. I think we are making the move at just the right moment when no-one will query his capacity to sign the papers.

We have made a lot of use of Freecycle and some very happy people have gone off with things that they need and we do not.

Oxfam will collect stuff round here - they came and took many many books from us. Look on the net for charity chops that have out-front parking to avoid traipsing about with heavy bags of stuff.

By the way, one of our rules has been "If the children will not know what the hell to do with this item when we die, then out it goes!"

We are in the midst of it now although we can't do too much as we have to keep the house tidy for prospective buyers.
We have done the garage . Some stuff went to the tip, some to charity shops and we have two piles for DD and DS awaiting collection. Unwanted good things we sell on eBay.
We have just started on the loft but with 40yrs of stuff , it is slow going. Next hurdle is DH's shed !!
So we do a few hours everyday until we sell then it will be full on. By then though we will have got rid of all the rubbish and unwanted things.
DD has so much stuff going to his house that we have had to hire a van

We had the same problem when we moved back to the UK after 15 years away. So we took the drastic option: we had 2 pieces of furniture that were handmade for us, so they were kept; all the photos and important documents were kept; any ornaments that reminded us of important times in our lives were kept; and the rest was got rid of! We moved to a new house and stocked it completely from scratch down to crockery and cutlery. Nothing that we bought to stock it was expensive - most of it came from Argos because we could order it online for when we arrived: the delivery men certainly knew their way to our door. Ten years on, we're slowly collecting things we want and replacing the cheaper stuff, I haven't missed a thing that we got rid of, and I don't have a cluttered house so it's easier to clean.The only thing I miss are the old sheets to use for decorating etc!

Thanks everyone. Lots of great ideas and I'm making a little!!

Luckygirl I think that's where we're getting confused, the Packers will be packing but we're sort of doing a mini pack on the way !! I think I need to get a removal firm in and work out with them what will happen.

I know one thing - this will be the only move I do :-))

3 houses ago I spent a fair amount of money getting the packers to move stuff from one loft to the next. When moving to this house I decided that I would have an empty loft and it has stayed that way. The local charity shop was delighted.

This is a modern house without so much as a cupboard so my fitted wardrobes have acted as cupboards and that will be next on my list- get rid of the old clothes and also eg a carpet washer and I do not have a carpet anywhere.

Good luck

We thought we'd done really well decluttering when we moved. The garage and spare bedrooms here in the new house were relatively clear, junk free spaces. Then DD decided to build an extension onto their house and asked if they could "store some of their stuff" till the builders had finished. Most of it is still there, two years later, my exhortations to take it back having fallen on deaf ears. I know what I should do with it, but I haven't got the heart - a lot of it is my GS's.

Do you have an EMMAUS community near you? When we did our (hopefully) final downsize last year we relied on them to collect unwanted furniture and ornaments for sale in their shop. They couldn't have been more helpful .

We found a box of kitchen equipment that DD had at uni. He is 45 now and wants it all!,!

Work your way round the house systematically room by room. Initially do not pack just sort. Keep: leave the object in place. Dispose of: have separate heaps for charity shop, sell and chuck. When each room is sorted immediately take the disposals to tip/charity shop/sell. Then move onto the next room.

Once you have been round the house and have left in each room only what you want to keep, start packing or get the removers to pack.

i am a great believer in empty lofts. All that goes in my loft is suitcases and Christmas decorations. If it is being lofted, 99% of the time it can be chucked.

I'm just never moving - End of!

Hi Nana and Grampy. I'm a serial mover and I think I've got it down to a fine art so I'm entirely with Monica on this one. A whole house is too much to deal with so tackle it one room at a time and attempt to do one room a day. I usually start with spare bedrooms and then work my way round. You have to be absolutely ruthless though. Good luck.

No tips because we can't find anywhere, although it is on the agenda (mine anyway, but perhaps not DH's).

Do I love it, do I need it, do I want it?
If not, throw it out.

Tip from our children that we now strictly adhere to is -
If we buy something we must get rid of something.
It has focussed our minds and now I itch sometimes to get rid of stuff.
Gradually turning out the loft out all the children belongings.
A little very day, even if its a teaspoon.
Off to sort a box from the loft now.
On my Grandsons 1st birthday whose party was here, I put up our daughters 1st birthday cards. She read them all then happily got rid of them.

I have it down to a fine art now, good job I have because I've just counted and I've moved 6 times I the past 25 years and one of those was abroad. On that move the lorry driver left the lorry with all our goods on in Hungary. He wasn't being paid so said: sod it and went home.
As someone said: one room at a time. And I have to do it all, oh has no idear where to start. It does help that I'm not a horder. And if something comes in, something goes out. But this place is the last ( I think)