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A
Colorful
Move
Downsizing or moving
will require you to make many decisions. There will be
decisions about what you will keep, what you will give
to your children or sell, where you will place things in
your new home, and much more. After you’ve made these
decisions, you will have the second challenging task of
remembering what you’ve decided. With so much in flux,
how can you keep track of everything? The solution:
Color Coding. Color coding items is a great way to
remind yourself and others of the decisions you have
made.
One way to use a
color code system is to differentiate between things you
will keep and those you will share with others. For
example, you can use green stickers on items to indicate
that they will go to your new home while red ones can
mean they find a new home somewhere else. You can take
this a step farther and introduce additional colors if
your hand-offs are going to more than one place. Instead
of just using a red sticker, you can choose to make red
indicate that it will go to a family member, yellow to
show that you’re going to sell it, and blue to signify
an item for donation.
Another way to use a
color code system is when you are packing or planning
out space in your new home. Everything in your home may
be going with you to your new place, but perhaps the new
layout is different than your present home. Instead of
labeling boxes based on the room it comes from, use
color coding to indicate the room it’s going to. For
instance, your present home may have a library, but your
new home will not. The things from your present library
will most likely be split into other rooms throughout
your new place. If you assign a color code to each room
in your new home, and then stick the appropriate color
coded stickers to the boxes from the library, you can
make sure they will end up in the right place at your
final destination.
Color coding
requires some extra forethought, but you’ll see the
benefits at all stages of the moving process. When a
mover is called in to do an estimate, it can be
confusing for them to know how much of your possessions
they will actually be moving. Often the home is still
full because “give away” items may be in use right up
until the actual move time. Sharing your color code with
them will enable them to clearly see what they should or
shouldn’t include in the estimate. While preparing for
the move, color coding is a great way to sort through
your things without having to shuffle lots of objects.
It is especially helpful when downsizing because the
downsizing process usually happens over a period of
time. You may decide one day to give a valued possession
to a family member or select a place to donate it, but
it likely won’t be leaving your house that same day.
Colored post it notes or stickers can make the process
go much smoother. Decisions can be made in advance about
various items, and then you can wait until the end of
the process to actually remove the items from your home.
During the move, color coding can help prevent the
stress of movers asking where a box goes or ending with
boxes in the wrong place.
Make your next move
colorful by using a system that will enable you and
those helping you to prevent frustration and speed along
the whole process.
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