Here is one of the best pieces of moving advice I can give: every item you declutter before the move is one less item the movers have to carry. Decluttering is the most direct way to save money on moving day.
Most people wait until they are packing to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. By then it is too late. You are already overwhelmed, you have a deadline, and you make rushed decisions.
Start decluttering at least 4 to 6 weeks before your move. Here is a room-by-room guide.
Kitchen
The kitchen usually has the most stuff per square foot. It is also the easiest room to declutter because most of what is in it is obvious.
- Pantry: Toss anything expired. Donate unopened items you will not use to a local food pantry. - Duplicate gadgets: You do not need two can openers, three spatulas, or that ice cream maker you used twice. Pick the best one and donate the rest. - Chipped or mismatched dishes: If a plate is chipped, it should not make the move. Same with glasses that have gone cloudy from the dishwasher. - Tupperware with no lids: Everybody has a drawer full. Now is the time. - Small appliances you never use: The bread maker, the fondue set, the juicer. Be honest. If it has been in the back of a cabinet for a year, it is probably not moving with you.
Bedrooms
- Clothes you have not worn in a year: If you did not miss it for 12 months, you will not miss it in the new place. Donate it. - Shoes: Same rule. Worn out shoes go in the trash. Good shoes you do not wear anymore go to Goodwill. - Old linens and towels: Stained or threadbare items get tossed. Local animal shelters often accept old towels and blankets for bedding. - Books you have read once: Tag sale or donate to a library. Books are heavy and take up a lot of truck space.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are smaller but full of items that should not move at all.
- Expired medications: Take them to a local pharmacy that does safe disposal. Many CT pharmacies have drop boxes. - Expired makeup and skincare: Most of it has an expiration date on the bottom. Anything past it goes. - Half-used toiletries: Use them up in the weeks before the move or toss them. Do not pack half-empty shampoo bottles. - Old towels and bath mats: See bedrooms.
Garage and Basement
This is where the biggest wins live. The garage and basement are full of things people forgot they owned.
- Tools you will never use: The specialty tool you bought for one project years ago. Sell it on Facebook Marketplace or give it to a neighbor. - Old paint cans: Connecticut has strict rules about disposing of paint. Check with your town transfer station or the PaintCare program for drop-off locations. - Broken equipment: Lawn mowers that do not run, tools with broken handles, appliances you planned to fix but never did. Toss or recycle. - Bikes nobody rides: Donate to a local bike co-op or give to a family member. - Camping, sports, and hobby gear: Be honest about what you actually use.
Kids Rooms
Kids grow fast and kids rooms accumulate stuff faster than any other room in the house.
- Outgrown clothes: Donate to a local family shelter or sell a bag to a consignment shop. - Toys they have outgrown: Put them in a donation pile. A lot of local churches and shelters collect them. - Old school papers and art: Photograph the keepsakes. Recycle the rest. - Baby gear: If you are done having kids, pass the crib, high chair, and baby clothes on to someone who can use them.
Home Office
Paper and electronics pile up in the office like nowhere else.
- Old paperwork: Most personal documents can be shredded after 7 years. Bank statements, old bills, expired insurance policies. Shredding services are cheap in CT, and many town transfer stations do free shred days in spring and fall. - Dead electronics: Old phones, broken chargers, tangled cables, printers that stopped working. Best Buy and Staples take electronics for recycling. - Outdated computer gear: Laptops, monitors, keyboards. If it is old but working, donate to a school or nonprofit. If it is dead, recycle it.
Where to take stuff in Connecticut
- Donate: Goodwill, Salvation Army, local churches, family shelters, town senior centers - Sell: Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, local tag sales - Dispose: Your town transfer station handles bulk items and hazardous materials. Call ahead for hours.
Why this matters
The less you own on move day, the faster and cheaper your move will be. A crew that carries fewer items finishes sooner, which means fewer billable hours for you. For a typical Connecticut local move, every hour saved is $200 to $300. An afternoon of decluttering can pay for itself several times over.
If you want help packing what remains, we offer full packing services and our Princess Packing white-glove option. A good decluttering pass first, a professional pack after, and move day goes from stressful to smooth.
For the full moving timeline, see our Connecticut moving checklist.
- Joe Caronna, Owner, Castle Express Moving & Storage