Moving to a new house is one of the most stressful events in life, and people make it even worse by bringing all their rubbish with them.

But a UK-based waste disposal company says you can make this process a little bit easier by ditching all of your junk and giving yourself a lot less to unpack and store in your new home.

Despite this common-sense solution, an online survey conducted by Divert.co.uk has found that it takes on average three house moves before people finally get rid of something that they don’t need.

“Save yourself the time and energy of packing and moving things you obviously have no use for and get rid of them,” says Divert.co.uk’s spokesperson Mark Hall.

“The last thing you want is to be unpacking in your new house wondering how all of your junk has followed you there.”

Crap in the attic

Specialists in rubbish, Divert.co.uk, carried out an online survey and uncovered that it takes on average three house moves before people can bring themselves to part with their unwanted items.

Considering that the average number of years spent living in house for those buying with a mortgage is 10 years*, a large number of home owners have been lugging their junk from house to house for the best part of three decades.

Hall: “Three decades is far too long to hold onto things that serve you absolutely no purpose, before you know it you’ve got a house packed to the brim with outdated trash”.

Raymond in Manchester tells us, “I have a set of golf clubs in the garage because I thought I’d get into it at the weekends…twenty years ago.”

“They cost so much I can’t bear to throw them away”

The survey also discovered that nearly a third of all house-to-house-hoarders don’t even bothering unpacking the boxes anymore when they move.

Shelly in Weymouth confesses, “the boxes literally go from attic to attic.”

The divert.co.uk survey (850 households) found these items were the worst offenders for lurking in the loft for years:

Old children’s toys – Even though the kids have left home and have children of their own.
Paperwork from last century – All the paperwork for the cars you owned in the 90s, mixed in with some old floppy discs for good measure.
Suitcases – Especially ones that haven’t seen the light of day since Benidorm in ’99
Exercise equipment – A long time ago a New Year’s resolution was made and hundreds of £££ was spent on gym equipment which was used twice, then promptly shoved into the garage because it took up too much space.
Christmas decorations – Every year seems to warrant buying more decorations, even though you have enough tinsel in the loft to wrap your whole house.
Hall: “People have a strange attachment to items that they could happily go years without even looking at, all because it might’ve cost them a small fortune 25 years ago.

“But the simple fact is, if it’s useless and you’ve been hauling it around for years, then it should go.”

Remove before you move

According to Divert.co.uk, the moving process needs to start long before you start shoving your worldly possessions into boxes – it should begin with a good old-fashioned life laundry.

Hall: “Step one of any house move should be to decide what actually makes the cut and gets to come with you before you start stuffing it all into boxes.

“If you can’t picture unpacking it and using it in your new home – it’s time to part ways.”

Not only will parting with your junk save you precious packing time and money on shifting it all, but it can also help to protect your next home from potential hazards.

Overcrowded attics can act as fuel for fires, potentially allowing flames to spread and cause more damage – whereas clutter in garages may encourage a pest infestation.

So what can you do with all your unwanted stuff before you move?

“If it’s worth money, trying flogging it online or at car boot sales, you could put the money towards the move or something nice for your new home. The rest could be donated to local charities or sent to the recycling centre if it’s in really bad shape.”

After all, you want your new home to be the perfect living space, and not an overflowing storage space full of unwanted relics from the past.