Packing to Move? Clean and Declutter As You Go

Now that you're ready to begin packing, incorporate two essential goals into your work: cleaning and reducing clutter. Think of it as a way of ensuring that when you get to your new home, your unpacking experience will be easier and so much more pleasant.

Whether you've lived in your current home for one year or 10, it's a sure thing that you've accumulated a lot of unwanted stuff. And if you have children of any age, you've also accumulated a lot of fingerprints, sticky surfaces, unidentifiable smears and just plain dirt.

Sort first, then pack only the keepers
Going room by room, declutter as you organize to pack. Take three empty cardboard boxes and mark them "Keep," "Throw Out," and "Give Away." Beginning in the first room sort through every shelf, drawer, and bin, sorting the contents into one of the three boxes.

For clothes, you may choose to keep the "Keep" clothing on hangers and in drawers until you're ready to pack. But do remove the other two categories of clothing and put them in the "Throw Out" or "Give Away" boxes.

In children's rooms, let your kids help decide which items to keep. Most small children don't like the idea of "throwing out," so don't mention it to them. Let your small child fill a box or two with his or her favorite things: later on, you'll decide what to do with the toys that didn't make it into the box.

Bathrooms and kitchens pose special challenges: those are the rooms where hundreds of tiny objects, half-filled jars and other questionable items tend to collect. Eliminating unnecessary objects before packing will not only save you money on your move by reducing the number of boxes to be moved, it will save you time at the other end as you unpack those boxes. These items in particular need to go:

Expired prescription drugs
Half-empty bottles of shampoo or other beauty aids
Opened bottles of drugstore chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, etc.
Glass bottles or jars (unless you are transporting a special box of these items yourself)
Loose items such as corks, thumbtacks, bobby pins, matchbooks, etc. (unless you are collecting them in reclosable plastic bags for a special use at your new home)
Any jar, bottle, tube or box without a label

If you are tempted to hang on to a half-empty bottle of shampoo you don't use anymore, a slightly broken can opener, or a past-expiration-date box of crackers, ask yourself: Do I want to pay to move empty air? Then close your eyes and toss the thing out!

Clean as you go, and pack pristine
When you move into your new home, your old things are going to look familiar, all right: and those stains, fingerprints, and sticky smears will be all the more noticeable in their new, clean surroundings. But if you think ahead, you can avoid disappointment and unpack with pride; simply clean as you sort, before you pack.

Find a basket or box that you can carry with you from room to room, and fill it with cleaning supplies, such as cloths or rags, a spray bottle, all purpose spray cleaner such as Mr. Clean Sprays, a sponge, and a duster. For bathrooms and even children's rooms, wet a cleaning pad such as Mr. CleanŽ Magic EraserŽ Original will quickly clean up small objects to ready-to-pack condition.

Give every object that goes into the "Keep" box a once-over. Don't forget bathroom appliances such as electric toothbrush handles and hair dryers, as well as towel holders and tissue boxes. Children's toys will look their best when they are unpacked at the other end of the move.