It is a big undertaking to get ready to move to a new home, and if you don't put preparations in place, you can quickly find yourself ready to pull your hair out—along with everyone else's hair! Throughout the moving process, there will be hard decisions that need to be made, and most of these decisions will be in regard to what you should take and what you should get rid of (by selling, donating, or trashing) prior to moving. After all, there is no reason to pack anything that you don't need to. So, here are a few tips that will help you get organized before moving day.

Start with the Easy Stuff

Before you can even think about packing your personal belongings, you must first go through everything that you own—and yes, this includes the shed, garage, basement, attic, and any other less-frequently-used spaces. You may want to start with books, clothes, and other items that will be easy to make decisions about, then move on to knick-knacks, kitchen stuff, etc. You will want to save photographs, memorabilia, old letters, and the like for last since these will be more difficult decisions to deal with. Ideally, you should try to keep these things to two or three boxes to avoid overcrowding.

Decide to Sell or Donate

Once you have decided what you are going to get rid of (trash), it is time to decide what you are going to do with all of the stuff that you do not want to take with you to your new home. Do you want to sell it, or do you want to donate it? If you have items that are still in good shape and can bring money in, go ahead and have a garage sale if you have the time as this will simply help cut down on the moving expenses that will have to come out of your own pocket.

Start Packing by Rooms

Once you have eliminated all of the junk and decided what you're doing with the unwanted items, it is time to start packing what you are keeping. You need to be strategic and organized with this, though. You can choose to do the packing yourself, or you can opt to hire a professional moving company to do it for you. If you do it yourself, make sure that you pack room by room rather than a little here and a little there. It is also a good idea to have some kind of coding system to ensure that boxes get to the correct room when you arrive at the new home, such as a color coding system. For example, kitchen boxes get a red sticker, master bedroom boxes get a blue sticker, master bathroom boxes get a yellow sticker, and so on.

Visit sites such as http://www.palmierimoversandstorage.com/ for more information and to find professional movers to assist you.