The single best money-saving move you can make before relocating is decluttering. Every box you don’t pack saves time, packing materials, moving truck volume, and the cost of unpacking it on the other side. Plus you walk into the new house with less to organize.
The Math
Movers price by weight or volume. National movers averaged per pound in 2025. Local movers in Pierce County often run /hour with multiple movers. Every box you don’t pack saves you somewhere between and depending on what’s in it and how far you’re moving.
A full-day declutter that nets a few hundred pounds saved is often the highest-ROI day of the whole move.
Pre-Move Declutter Strategy
Start 4-6 Weeks Out
Don’t try to declutter the weekend before you move. You’ll be in pack-everything-cram-it-in mode and will give up. Start at least a month out.
Room by Room
- Pick one zone per evening or per weekend
- Three piles: keep, sell, toss
- Move keepers to packing boxes; sell/toss leaves the house ASAP
The Worst Zones First
Garage, basement, attic, spare bedroom. Where the accumulation lives. If you put these off until last, they don’t get done.
Sentimental Items
Keep them — these aren’t where the money is. The money is in old clothes, broken appliances, expired pantry items, the spare-room-of-junk pile.
Auburn-Specific Considerations
Auburn has lots of new construction (Lakeland Hills and the corridor around it). New builds have less storage than the older homes you might be coming from. Whatever fit in the old garage probably won’t fit in the new one. Decluttering pre-move sets up the new place to actually feel new.
What to Do With the Pile
- Sell — Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, garage sale (Pierce County weekends are active)
- Recycle — scrap metal yards, e-waste collectors
- Toss — what’s left
For the “toss” pile that’s bigger than a few bags, call Hoss. We do pre-move haul-aways across Pierce County. ** for a quarter-truck.** Saves your move from carrying things you don’t actually want anymore.
Welcome to Auburn
Lakeland Hills, Lea Hill, West Hill, downtown Auburn — different neighborhoods, different vibes, all good places to be. PNW weather is real (the rain is mostly a drizzle, not a downpour; the summers are perfect; winters are wet not snowy). Welcome to the neighborhood.
Call (253) 553-2978 when the pre-move pile is ready.