YIT’s Modern Mover’s Guide provides practical advice for decluttering before a move

A survey conducted by a professional organiser revealed that odds and ends are the biggest source of frustration when moving houses.

YIT has partnered with professional organiser Ilana Aalto to create the Modern Mover’s Guide, which consists of Advice for Moving to a New Home, Packing Helper and the Mover’s Checklist. The guide is available online at www.yit.fi/muutonmuutos.

Moving to a new house is an excellent opportunity for a fresh start. The process of packing your things forces you to go through everything you own. The Modern Mover’s Guide includes advice and concrete tools for not only packing, but also decluttering and letting go of things you no longer need.

“The Guide is especially well suited for people who are preparing to move to a newly built home and know the date of the move several months ahead of time,” says Eeva Hirvijärvi, Vice President, Marketing at YIT.

The advice for moving to a new home comprises eight items: 1) Start by dividing up the tasks, 2) Sort household items, 3) Follow the packing order, 4) Don’t pack junk, 5) Apply the “one decision” principle when sorting items, 6) Set up a sorting station, 7) Get odds and ends under control, 8) Mark the boxes.

The Packing Helper helps movers monitor the progress of packing and divide the tasks into manageable chunks. This is important, as many people find moving houses to be a stressful ordeal. This was revealed when Aalto surveyed the members of her Facebook group to find out what is the most arduous or frustrating aspect of moving houses.

“The clear number one was odds and ends. A huge number of odds and ends tend to turn up when getting ready to move houses. People often pack these items to bring them along to the new home because they can’t think of anywhere else to put it, and going through it all would take too much time,” Aalto explains.

To avoid the problem of odds and ends as well as other hurried decisions, it makes sense to start packing early. Passive items can be packed months ahead of the move, while active items that are in daily use are left for last.

If letting go of things when moving houses feels difficult, Aalto suggests a thought exercise: if the item were destroyed, for example in a fire, would you replace it? If the answer is no, the item is probably unnecessary.

“It makes sense to declutter. Less stuff means fewer things to worry about and maintain, which means there are fewer things that take up your time in your day-to-day life,” Aalto explains.

This approach is compatible with the living design philosophy that guides the development of YIT Homes.

“Eliminating the unnecessary, increasing versatility and providing smart services can turn homes into zones of comfort and convenience in daily life,” says Hirvijärvi, summing up the key principles of living design.

More information:
On the philosophy of living design
On living services

At www.yit.fi/muutonmuutos you can follow the Vehviläinen family from Turku as they move to a new home in As Oy Turun Silkki. Professional organiser Ilana Aalto helps this family of four, who have lived in their current home for the past 12 years, plan and execute their move to make it as easy as possible.
You can also find more information on social media (Facebook and Twitter) by looking up the #muutonmuutos hashtag.

Further information:
Eeva Hirvijärvi, Vice President, Marketing (Housing), YIT Corporation, tel. +358 50 371 2867, eeva.hirvijarvi@yit.fi
Hanna Malmivaara, Vice President, Communications, YIT Corporation, tel. +358 40 561 6568, hanna.malmivaara@yit.fi

YIT is the biggest construction company in Finland and a major player in Northern Europe. We construct and develop apartments, business premises and entire residential areas. Furthermore, we are specialists in infrastructure construction and paving. Together with our customers, our 10,000 professionals create increasingly functional, appealing and sustainable cities and living environments. We have operations in 11 countries: Finland, Russia, Scandinavian and Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. The new YIT was created by the merger of YIT Corporation and Lemminkäinen Corporation, both over 100 years old, on February 1, 2018. In 2017, our pro forma revenue amounted to over EUR 3.8 billion. YIT Corporation’s share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. www.yitgroup.com