How to purge your house like a military family

Have you ever wondered how military families deal with moving so much? Are you curious how to purge your house like a military family? As a military child and a military spouse, I’ve moved a lot. So I’ve had some experiences with preparing to move. I’m getting in to the moving mindset, so I thought I would share my tips on how to purge your house like a military family. We start our purge a few months before we are going to move to try and minimize as much stuff as possible before moving day arrives.

Work in one room at a time

This is really important to remember. As you work through each of the following steps in the different rooms of your home, you’ll find stuff from other spaces and need to it back where it belongs. It’s really tempting to put that toy in the playroom or quickly file those important papers. Don’t. Set up sorting stations (one for each room), sort stuff as you come across it, and stage it for later. Once you finish in that room, move everything back to where it belongs.

Dump the trash

I’m talking actual trash here. Make sure it goes before you start packing. Old magazines? Tear out any articles or recipes you want and dump the rest. Junk mail? Grab a bag, fill it, and toss it in the recycling. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had movers pack actual trash in our stuff because I forgot to throw it out. Purge all of the trash.

Reduce the clutter

Mac and I are totally guilty of clutter, whether it’s a home decor item we had to have or our twenty-bottle strong collection of Febreze. Work your way through each room in your home and look at all of your stuff. Also go through the seasonal items or anything else you store in your garage. Chances are you’ll find things that are old, don’t match, or aren’t really used anymore. Sell, donate, or trash that extra clutter.

Tackle the junk drawer

Take the time to purge the junk drawer, shelf, or any other space where you store those things that don’t have another home. Pitch anything broken, old candles, and dried-up pens. This is also a good time to go through any takeout menus that have collected and to clean off the front of your fridge.

Prioritize your memories

Save what you love and corral it in a designated, safe location, but don’t be afraid to pitch the rest. I’m mainly talking about minimizing the tons of paper clutter that seem to add up over the years. I personally like to save brochures and tickets from trips and birthday and Christmas cards. To contain all of these and organize them, I use photo boxes. I prefer the plain black cardboard photo boxes from Michael’s that go on sale for about $2, so nothing too fancy for me. Each year, I buy a new one and store the random things I decide to keep throughout the year.

I want to stress this point: don’t get rid of stuff that you love and holds strong memories. Only get rid of the extra junk. This applies for both adults and kids. When I was growing up, my sister and I each had a foot locker where we stored items we and our parents would save for sentimental reasons. I also like the idea where parents save a file folder box for each kid of school projects and other important things to save. Creating homes for those special items you want to save helps you figure out what you want to keep. If it doesn’t make it into the box, toss it.

Organize what you’re keeping

We’ve had pretty positive experiences with movers overall, but I can tell you that they don’t take the time to ask you how you want your stuff packed. They just pack. If you want certain items or rooms to be packed together, organize before you pack. I’m going through our filing cabinet and using these file folder rubber bands to secure everything. I’m then going to store the files in a file box (we bought ours at Sam’s Club). We can pack just the box with all the organized files instead of trying to unpack the filing cabinet only to repack all of the file folders.

Cook your way through the pantry

If you’re anything like me, you try to have a decently-stocked pantry. You can move unopened, shelf-stable food, but anything that is open or perishable can’t go. Create a weekly meal plan that incorporates the food in your fridge, freezer, and pantry to use up as much as possible. We are currently eating Caesar salad about once a week because we have three bottles of Caesar salad dressing. Why do we have three bottles of Caesar salad dressing? I don’t know. It can also help you save money because you may be able to buy fewer groceries.

Fellow military families, what tips would you add?

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through this link, Extra Black Olives will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.