Decluttering in a flatshare

Some of the most frequent words any London Mover will hear during an average working day are.. "I never realised I had so much stuff!". It's true that almost everyone underestimates how much they have until they box it all up ready to move home.

We're not talking about the normal personal items that even the most Spartan among us usually require, or the extra bed, sofa or table that is often needed even in furnished accommodation. It's the bits and pieces of 'stuff' that take forever to round up, organise and pack.

Although no one seems to have done a study into it yet, it's not unusual in our experience for the younger flat sharing professionals in London to move home at least once every 18 months. That's one of the real advantages that sharing a flat in London gives you. The freedom to just pack up and go and experience another part of town.

Yes sure, it can be hard finding the right accommodation but compared to moving home when you have a mortgage and are part of a 'chain', it's definitely the far easier option.

So if you're going to live the contemporary nomadic lifestyle in London, maybe for a few more years than you ideally had in mind thanks to the current cost of housing, why not make it a whole lot easier for yourself to do so and embrace the increasingly popular shift towards 'minimalism' (aka getting rid of your junk).

Going Minimalist

It may seem counter productive for a Movers website that deals mainly in helping people to move home to be encouraging you to become minimalist and de-clutter. After all, the more 'stuff' you have, the longer it takes to move and the higher the removal costs right..?

Well, not really. Those few extra bin bags aren't always going to be enough to make much difference to the actual moving time on the day.

No, the real impact is on you and the psychological burden of packing up and humping all that extra miscellany around with you wherever you go.

As the old saying essentially goes, your possessions end up owning you, and once you commit to lightening your load so to speak the resulting improvement to your overall sense of well being really can be quite profound. It definitely makes you feel better having a good sort through your belongings from time to time.

Everything needs to breathe, the clothes in your wardrobe, the books on your shelf, the toiletries in your bathroom. Regular cleaning becomes easier, your Feng Shui grows stronger and even the risk of triggering 'shared space rage' with your flatmates gets reduced as a bonus.

Your Movers Will Love You

There's nothing more a Mover likes on arrival than seeing everything nicely boxed up, it makes carrying and loading much easier. By embracing a clutter free life, the packing up for each move ceases to be such a dreaded chore.

Of course it will be harder to achieve in certain situations, and it should also be recognised that some people get understandable comfort from being surrounded by their lifelong familiar possessions. However there is definitely an increasing tendency towards living simply, with even IKEA recently announcing we have finally got enough 'stuff' or words to that effect.

We're not suggesting anything like the more extreme end of minimalism (which can almost border on freeloading if you're not careful). People will always need the basic things and that's not going to change anytime soon, but if you only keep what's actually useful or valued there's a good chance you'll find at least a couple of large bin bags worth of junk that can be discarded.

Finding Your 'Zen'

According to all the self help books, when you have less stuff you will usually find you have more time, less stress, and an increased overall sense of freedom that is the perfect antidote to our busy gadget driven lives, and we have to agree it makes sense.

Living simply is a growing trend, with an increasing number of minimalist blogs and newspaper articles appearing on the subject. This very business model itself is the epitome of minimalist if you think about it. A 'man with a van', it doesn't get much simpler than that! (although our Movers do also carry out larger home and office removals with extra helpers it must be added).

Ultimately people adapt their lives when they are ready to do so, and if you are already a flat sharing veteran of frequent moves around London you will have most likely already found ways to make the process easier. Normally it's the first few painful packing up experiences that force a change in any previous hoarding tendencies. Good luck on your journey. Ommm :)