professional organizer to help you move

To make your move easier, doing some decluttering and organizing beforehand will make the process go more smoothly.

Here are some tips and some local Calgary resources to make your move easier.

1. Get rid of as much as possible before packing and moving

The more unused and unnecessary items you eliminate from your home, the less stuff you’ll have to pack up, haul across town, unload, and organize.

Doing a massive purge before the move will have the single biggest impact on the efficiency and ease of your entire process.

2. Donate

To help you organize and declutter before you move, you can donate your unwanted items. Below are some places where you can donate your old clothes, books, furniture, toys, and more.

Women in Need Society (WINS)
WINS helps vulnerable women and their families. You can donate gently used items that are then placed in their thrift stores or given to families in need. You can donate clothing, furniture, sports equipment, jewellery, etc.. Furniture and large donations accepted at Dover location (3525 26 Ave SE, Calgary) and Macleod Plaza location (180 94 Ave SE, Calgary)
womeninneed.net

Goodwill
Goodwill provides career training and job opportunities to Albertans with disabilities. It partners with other organizations to help support the community.
Seven locations in Calgary
goodwill.ab.ca

Diabetes Canada
There are dozens of their donation bins in Calgary. You can bring your goods on your next grocery store visit, and simply place them in their bins. They have a list for what’s allowed in the bins and a list for what’s allowed for a home pick-up.
declutter.diabetes.ca/donation-bin

Calgary Drop-In Centre
Catering mainly to men and women in need. You can donate adult clothing, work boots, winter gear, and/or backpacks, furniture and household appliances for their Move Out Program.
1 Dermot Baldwin Way SE, Calgary (24 hour drop off) and
3640 11A Street NE, Calgary (Mon to Sun: 8am – 4pm)
algarydropin.ca/get-involved/ways-to-donate

Calgary Donations
The Calgary Donations Program helps fund MOMS Canada, which helps single moms and their families. Schedule a pickup online and leave the items outside of your house. Clothing, sporting goods, small kitchen accessories, home accessories. No furniture or large items. Schedule a pickup online only.
1350 42 Ave SE
calgarydonations.ca/acceptable-donations

Inclusion Alberta
Mostly clothing, shoes, and accessories as well as small home items. Inclusion Alberta advocates on behalf of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families.
Check the web site for locations or schedule a pickup.
donate.inclusionalberta.org

Calgary Inter-Faith Furniture Society
They accept mattresses, chairs, tables, bed frames, small appliances, and clothing. These items are then offered to new Canadians and disadvantaged Calgarians.
635 – 35th Avenue NE, Calgary (9:30AM to 4:30PM Tuesday to Saturday)
interfaithfurniture.ca

The Children’s Cottage Society
This non-profit accepts donations mostly for children and families, especially toys, clothes, and essentials like diapers and formula. 845 McDougall Road NE, Calgary
childrenscottage.ab.ca

Calgary Flames Sports Bank – Founded by Bill Comrie
A great way to make sure every kid has a chance to play sports, Comrie’s Sports Bank takes sporting equipment and redistributes it to families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford the expensive gear.
3557 52nd St SE, Calgary
flamessportsbank.ca

People for Progress Foundation
The People for Progress Foundation accepts laptops, cell phones, cameras, office supplies, musical instruments and other items that can be used to help people learn valuable work skills.
303- 228 90th Ave SE Calgary
peopleforprogressfoundation.com

3. Sell some of your things

If you have some items that you no longer want but you feel they are too valuable to donate, there are places where you can sell them.

4. Create a moving to-do list

Spend some time actually planning your move. Any good project manager will tell you that a very significant portion of their time is spent planning out all of the details.

So get a pen and note book and start jotting down your ideas. A few more items will come to you each day. Jot those down, too. When you move, you end up having hundreds of different things to do and remember. Don’t let all these tasks and important reminders, no matter how seemingly obvious, slip your mind.

You can also use an app such as Microsoft To Do or Remember the Milk to make a detailed list of your tasks.

No detail is too insignificant. Make lists of things you are donating, selling, of where have packed those small but important items such as the screws that will be need to put your furniture back together.

5. Get extra packing and moving supplies

Get free moving boxes from your local liquor store or purchase them from Staples or Uhaul.

Be sure to stock up on packing tape.

Stock up now on extra supplies like light bulbs, extension cords, and power strips so you’ll be set to go when you start moving things in.

6. Label moving boxes like a professional

The key to finding your stuff easily is labeling all your packed boxes accurately and clearly. When you’re stacking boxes in a van or car you won’t be able to see their tops, so make sure you label the sides as well.

Label the boxes by category and by room. For example, bedroom, kitchen, books to speed up the unloading process.

Some people use colour codes to help them more easily see the category of each box.

7. Pack a clear plastic box with things you’ll need right away

Your moving kit should include santizer wipes, softsoap, hand lotion, a tissue box, rags, Clorox, and trash bags. You could also include toilet paper, a shower curtain, hand soap, towels, sheets, snacks, and whatever else you might need for the first couple of days in your new home.

Having a few essential items on hand will make you feel more at ease and better equipped to focus on the main job of unpacking.

8. Pack a personal overnight bag

Your personal overnight bag for moving would include pyjamas, clothes, toiletries, water, laptop, snacks, reading material, candles, incense, and anything else that will make you feel comfortable. You probably won’t get everything unpacked in the first day, so bring whatever you need to feel relaxed and settled on your first night.

A change of clothes, your toiletries, a water bottle, and your laptop can go a long way in making your new place feel more like home.

9. Set aside cleaning supplies for moving day

Make a list of the cleaning supplies you need and be sure to have plenty on hand for the move. Your cleaning kit might include: a broom, mop, dustpan, duster, sponge, cleaning products, paper towels, and old rags for wiping the hidden surfaces you could never get to when all your stuff was in the way.

10. Load boxes from the same rooms together

Stack and load boxes into the moving van in groups according to the rooms indicated on the boxes. Put all the kitchen stuff together, all the bedroom stuff together, and all the living room stuff together. This will streamline your unpacking process. You will unload all the boxes in groups into the appropriate rooms.

How Renaissance will help get organized and get moved

We provide professional organizing and project management services in Calgary. We are experienced in organizing, packing, moving, and helping people get organized and settled into their new home. We can help whether you are upsizing, downsizing or moving into a senior care home or assisted living facility.

Some of the many tasks we do for you…

  • decluttering and organizing before the move
  • all planning – lists, timeline
  • project manager – delegate tasks, before, during after the move
  • packing
  • change of address
  • dealing with your cable, internet, electricity, and gas providers
  • we bring the materials – fragile items with packing paper, bubble wrap, or blankets, stacked moving boxes with packing tape, a moving blanket, and bubble wrap

Contact us for help with organizing, decluttering, moving, project management, or our personal or senior concierge services.

 

 

10 tips from an organizer to help you get organized for a move