When in Doubt, Count it Out

It's not unusual to come face-to-face with something of a quandary when organizing the packing checklist. Often, when we're rummaging through the corners of the house that we'd almost forgotten about, we find things which have some sentimental connection that's hard to break. The trouble is that it might not be something that we'd even seen for a few years, let alone something that we haven't used in a while.

About two years ago, I came across one client who had an old 3-in-1 stereo system. You know the one; a Sharp that had a tape player, radio dial and a record player on top. The client hadn't used it for almost 10 years but had left standing on a table in the corner of the livingin room. It had literally become part of the furniture, even though it had no practical use anymore. So, when it came to him moving out to occupy a smaller apartment (he had recently retired at the time), he wanted to bring the stereo with him.

That mightn't seem like much of a problem, but the truth is he hadn't any use for the stereo and was moving to a place that had less room than he was used to. So, the question is why not get rid of it.

When you think about it, moving home is a chance to shed the excess elements of your possessions - that is, the items that you no longer use, need or want. Sometimes it can be difficult to let go but prioritizing is hugely important for two reasons: firstly, it lightens the load (by more than you'd think too!); and secondly, it can help alleviate the cost of moving but raising a little extra cash through a garage sale.

Thousands of people that we at Sage have helped to move home (and office too!) have met with the same predicament. They have something they want to bring but they know deep down that they should really just let it go. Our advice to our client two years ago was to let the silver stereo go, but in fact he didn't. He found a place for it amongst his boxes and took it with him. That's fine. It was his choice, but for others getting rid of such a useless item would be the preferred decision.

Just consider what we told him at the time: when in doubt, count it out. Basically, if you really need to think about whether to bring an item or not, then it probably means you don't want to keep it.