3 Useful Decluttering Tips for Military Families (or Anyone Who Has to Move Often)

Inside: Use these useful decluttering tips for military families to ease the stress of the relocation process and make your next house feel like home.

If you’re a military family, you know that frequent moves are just a part of life.

Orders come in, and you don’t always have much notice to pack up your things and transport your entire life and everything you own to another state – or in some cases, a totally different country. And that’s a lot of work. 

In an ideal world, these moves operate like a well-oiled machine. And while you may have relocation services and movers available to help you, not everything always goes as planned.

Sometimes items being misplaced or delayed or you find out too late that you have more stuff than space in the truck. By streamling your lifestyle, you can help the relocation process go more smoothly.

If you’re a military family – or anyone who has to move often – it’s in your best interest to keep your space as clutter-free and organized as possible so you’re ready to go with minimal effort. You’ll also thank yourself later when you’re unpacking and realize that every item has a place and a purpose.

But how do you choose what to keep and what you should let go of? And how do you manage to make your space feel like your own when you’re perpetually transitioning from one place to the next?

If you aren’t sure how to keep ‘stuff’ at a minimum while still making your house feel like a home – even if you don’t know how long you’re going to be there – keep reading for some helpful tips and tricks to make it happen. 

3 Useful Decluttering Tips for Military Families (or Anyone Who Moves Often)

Use these decluttering tips to help make moving easier and have your next house feel like home!

1. Declutter early and often.

The best decluttering tip for military families, or anyone who moves often, is to declutter often.

There’s nothing worse than an endless to-do list standing between you and moving day – especially when it isn’t far away. 

If you put off the task of decluttering and organizing until right before a move, you’re going to find yourself overwhelmed, stressed, and not in the best position to make critical decisions about what stays and what goes. And even worse – you might not have enough time to get the job done.

Having to pack up all of your unneeded clutter, haul it to your new home, and unpack it adds extra unnecessary effort to the process.

Make decluttering a habit

Instead of putting all of that pressure on yourself, make decluttering a part of your regular routine. Creating decluttering habits will not only help your moves go more smoothly, but it will limit your stuff so it stays more manageable.

Depending on what works for your schedule, you could dedicate ten minutes each day to decluttering some small section of your home.

If you feel like you work better in longer, more dedicated sessions, spend an hour or two each weekend focused on clearing out clutter and getting organized. By tackling your decluttering efforts over time, you’ll accomplish your decluttering goals with time to spare. 

Another benefit to decluttering early and often? You have plenty of time to find a new home for the stuff you no longer need.

Donating unwanted items to charities to help those in need is a great way to give back to your community and makes it easier to part with things you love.

You can also sell the things you don’t need to keep to put a little extra cash in your pocket.

Regardless of what you choose to do, decluttering early can keep more stuff out of the landfill and make the process feel less overwhelming.

2. Be selective with keepsakes and souvenirs.

It’s easy to get attached to the places you live and the friends and memories you make along the way – even if you aren’t there for too long.

As a result, it’s easy to accumulate keepsakes and souvenirs that hold sentimental value. Cards from cherished friends, keys from the homes you’ve lived in, and other mementos might sound sweet to keep – but at the end of the day, too much of anything can contribute to clutter. 

Instead of keeping everything, find ways to limit the amount of sentimental stuff that makes its way with you from one place to the next.

Whether you choose a certain number of items, or dedicate a specific (and small) space and limit yourself to whatever fits within it, it’s important to find a way to set a boundary and stick to it.

The good news? You can preserve those keepsakes through digital memories.

Photos and videos saved on your mobile device or backed up to the cloud don’t take up any physical space and can remain with us long after we’ve moved on. 

To simplify moving, declutter excess items ahead of time. The less stuff you have to move, the smoother the process will do.

3. Choose simple, versatile decor. 

One of the biggest challenges we face when we move often is finding ways to make our house feel like a home, even when it’s not our dream home. 

When you’re only going to be in a place for a short time, it doesn’t make sense to put a ton of effort into painting the walls, switching out hardware on cabinets, or investing in landscaping.

But it does make sense to have some simple, versatile pieces that can fit virtually any aesthetic and add a little warmth and joy to your space.

A couple throw pillows, a vase of fresh flowers, a candle with a familiar scent, and a few well-chosen pieces of art (or family portraits) can go a long way in making an unfamiliar space feel more like home.

Adding area rugs and curtains can also help cozy up your space to make it feel more welcoming. Stick with standard area rug sizes (5 x 7 or 8 x 10) and standard curtain lengths (84″ if you don’t want it to pool or 90″ if you do want them to) and you can likely use them in just about any home.

Opt for well-made decor pieces that aren’t too fragile so they’re less likely to get damaged in transit. Make sure they’re small enough to accommodate any space; a large painting might look great in one home, but your next space might not have a wall big enough to accommodate it. 

By finding a few things that make you happy and incorporating them wherever you go, you can create a sense of familiarity and easily add that personal touch to virtually any home. 

Ultimately home is where your family is and you can enjoy the benefits of living simply while easing the transition to your next destination.

What are your favorite decluttering tips for military families? If you move often, what do you do to keep clutter under control? Leave a comment and let me know!

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