The room-by-room downsizing sort
The mistake everyone makes is sorting by sentiment. Sort by room instead. Sentiment wanders the whole house and finishes nothing; a room has walls, and a room can be ruled off in an afternoon.
The method is one ruled line on a page: stays on the left, goes on the right. Every object in the room lands on one side. "Maybe" is not a column; a maybe is a stays that gets one week to justify itself. If you would rather tap than write, our Stays & Goes sorter is this exact method with the arithmetic done for you.
Print this guide. Use your browser's print option; the page strips itself back to the checklist. Works as a save-to-PDF too.
1. The garage (start here, always)
Start with the garage because it is the biggest win and the least sentimental. Nobody weeps over a jerry can.
| Usually stays | Usually goes | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Hand tools you use yearly, one ladder, the good esky | The mower (apartments have no lawn), duplicate tools, timber offcuts, old bikes, the second fridge | Paint tins, gas bottles and chemicals: these do not ride in any rubbish load. They go free to a Chemical CleanOut event or the Community Recycling Centre in Artarmon. |
2. The roof cavity
Everything up there went up because the decision was hard. It has waited years; it can be decided in an hour. Suitcases, the cot, boxes of papers: almost all of it goes, and the papers are the only part that needs actual reading first. Bring it all down before you judge it; volume you cannot see cannot be sorted.
3. The under-stair and hall cupboards
Small spaces, dense with decisions: the old vacuum, three heaters for a house that had bad ducting, sports gear from two hobbies ago. The apartment has one linen-sized cupboard; let that fact make the calls.
4. The linen press
Count the beds in the new apartment. Two sets per bed plus towels for the household is the honest ceiling; a held house usually stores triple that. Clean linen and blankets are the easiest donation in the whole sort; charities genuinely want them.
5. The wardrobes
Sort for the apartment's wardrobes, not the house's. The reliable rule: if it has not been worn since the last summer like this one, it goes in the donation bag. Bag by bag, not hanger by hanger, or it takes a month.
6. The kitchen
The second dinner set rarely makes the move, and the third never should. Keep the pots that cook, one set that hosts, the appliances used monthly. Complete sets in good condition are donation-grade; chipped and partial sets are not, and it is kinder to charities to know the difference.
7. Living, dining, spare room
The big calls live here, so they come last, when you are practised. Measure the new floorplate before deciding on any large piece; a three-seater that fits a family room rarely fits an apartment living room with a balcony door. The spare-room bed is the classic goes: the mattress rides its own recycling stream, so it should never simply go to the kerb-pile in any case.
What the goes column splits into
- Donation: anything clean, complete and still useful. This is usually a third of a held house.
- Regulated streams: e-waste (TVs, computers, small appliances), mattresses, white goods and metal. These travel to their own facilities.
- Specialist streams: paint, gas, chemicals, and anything that might be asbestos. Not ours, not any general crew's; we point you to the right door.
- A licensed facility: whatever genuinely remains.
The full detail is in Where things actually go.
When the sort is done
You will have a goes column and a house that suddenly feels decided. That is where we come in: one walk-through, one fixed price agreed before anything is lifted, one visit, and a swept floor behind us. How the clearance itself runs.
Tell us what goes. We do the rest.
Send the form and we ring you back to arrange a look at the job. The price is fixed on sight, agreed before we lift a thing, and it covers the lifting, the loading, the sweep-up and the disposal.
- One fixed price, agreed before we start. No hourly rate, no tip fees added later.
- One visit for most jobs, booked at a time that suits your building or your street.
- Worthwhile things offered for donation first. Regulated streams go to licensed facilities.
Enquiries through this form are the fastest way to reach us while our phone line is being set up. We call you back.