In this era of more frequent and intense extreme weather events, more nomadic lives that send us across state lines and national boundaries, and often an abundance of ‘stuff,’ we have more risk and more at risk than ever before.  

Just think, back in 1994 after the L.A. earthquake, there were more than 19,000 insurance claims filed. That was 30 years ago when the population of L.A. was approximately 3.5 million. The population of L.A. has since boomed to 12.7 million. Imagine the volume of claims from this year’s catastrophic wildfires alone! 

Home inventories offer you a baseline level of peace of mind and practicality. If you have your home and its contents well documented, you’ll be able to proceed more rapidly through the claims process and likely recover more on your claims than without. 

That means if you do nothing else, take a video of each room in your house, and store the video in a private virtual space (and back it up to a second location, too). Now in a worst-case scenario, you have something to go from to prove what you owned to your insurance company.  

Better yet, subscribe to a home inventory app. Modern home inventory apps can take you much further than a baseline inventory and serve different home and life management needs and priorities. Today we’ll introduce a few home inventory apps to illuminate the variety available and offer some insights from professionals who are using these apps to support you through decluttering, downsizing, and moving. 

Before we dive in, for those who are less familiar with Artifcts, you may wonder, how does Artifcts compare with a home inventory app?  

What we built at Artifcts is wholly different from a home inventory app. We are not worried about every spoon, bed sheet, oven, or lamp. Nor are we worried about home maintenance. At Artifcts, we built a warm and engaging experience for the curated items of your life so that you can keep the memories, even if the ‘stuff’ is lost to time, relocation, or mother nature. You can Artifct the value, provenance, and documentation, too, behind your most valuable possessions to support your insurance claims or estate planning processes. And at Artifcts, we’ve made it easy to share and enjoy with friends and family as well as advisors (e.g., insurance, estate planning, financial advisors). 

Examples of Home Inventory Apps

We checked out dozens of home inventory apps designed for private homes to understand the variety of core offerings as well as bells and whistles each offers. For simplicity, we chose four to feature here not as a promotion, but to illustrate why a home inventory app that is best for you may not be the app that is best for me. 

Listed in alphabetical order. 

FairSplit. This home inventory system allows users to manually and/or with AI-support create a personal home inventory. But the ultimate distinguishing feature, in our opinion, is the upgrade available to then use the system’s proprietary options to divide the assets in a home among beneficiaries: Divide Things, Not Families®.  Web-based only.

HomeZada. This home management system integrates inventory, maintenance schedules, financial oversight, and management of remodel budgets into a single platform. It simplifies property management, empowering homeowners to maximize their home’s value and functionality. AI-enabled to provide critical supporting details. App- and web-based.

NAIC Home Inventory App. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) offers this free inventory app for you to create your inventory manually as well as through scanning barcodes for improved accuracy. The NAIC also features disaster preparedness and claims filing advice. App-based only.

Pinventory. This home inventory app offers a unique and extensive collection of reports customized to particular types of objects. Use the system DIY style or hire a Pinventory specialist to create your detailed home inventory. You can also leverage its integration with MaxSold to sell select items. Web-based with a limited-functionality companion app.

How Should You Choose the Right App for You?

Before you select the inventory app for you, here's some advice from our experience: 

• • • Try it out free on the device, or combination of devices, you intend to use it from (e.g., mobile, tablet, desktop computer). If you think you are going to use it mostly on your phone, test it out on the phone, not on your laptop. Not all apps work like the Artifcts app, where we have nearly identical feature sets on the mobile app and website and automatically synchronize your changes on mobile with the desktop version. 
    • Read the reviews and pay attention to changes over time in customer support, cost, and features you care about most. 
    • Pay attention to media storage (i.e., your photos and videos). What is the storage limit? And will that work for you and the items you plan to inventory? What is the cost for additional storage? 
    • Understand the security and privacy of information you upload to the app and how you will be able to share private information with others of your choosing.
    • Learn how you can retrieve (i.e., download) your inventory data if you want to provide a summary report to an advisor or loved one, or if you decide the app is not for you and you want to take your information with you. 
    • Then decide for yourself, “Does this app, at its core, do what I need?” Ignore the bells and whistles. Are your basic needs met?

What the Pros Have to Say About Home Inventory Apps & Working with Clients

We interviewed several experts in move management, moving, and home cleanouts to get their takes on all things personal home inventories. We were curious how often creating a home inventory is a part of the services they provide to their clients and why they choose the apps they do to get the job done.  

MOVE MANAGERS 

Remarkably, at most, the move managers we spoke with create inventories as a service for 20 to 25% of their clients.  

“If our client is preparing to deal with beneficiaries in court for probate or is going through a divorce, that’s when we need an inventory app so we can be more thorough,” said Marty Stevens-Heebner, Founder & CEO of Clear Home Solutions and author of "How to Move Your Parents (and still be on speaking terms). “The reality is, most other clients are satisfied with simple photos and videos that they then save to their personal cloud account.” 

A problem that arises is that for many of us homeowners and renters, even if we do a home inventory, we’re human, and we forget to update it. It is used for some transitory need and never revisited. But the golden rule from an estate planning perspective is to set a reminder to review and update your inventory and the estate plan it’s tied to at least every two years.  

From an insurance perspective, the more often you update your home inventory, the better. Make a habit of updating your inventory with life changes (e.g., marriage, death, inheritance, new baby, move) as well as with any major purchases. Each of those appliances, large home furnishings, collectibles, and the like add up quickly when it comes to replacing them if lost to fire, flood, or otherwise. 

MOVING COMPANIES

Moving and the use of inventory apps are a whole different story. We spoke with Ryan Hegarty, Director of Residential Sales for Olympia Moving, a member company of Wheaton World Wide Moving. Hegarty described inventories as integral to his company's move operations. Every item that comes into company-managed storage, is placed on a truck for inter-state delivery, or is heading overseas is managed through an inventory system. 

“But inventories are also part of our sales and planning process. We schedule virtual calls with potential clients and guide them through creating an app-based video inventory using Yembo,” explained Hegarty.

Using AI, the inventory app allows the Olympia Moving team to provide customers with immediate estimates, too.

“It also provides us with critical information to estimate box counts, dimensions of entry ways, and where we’ll need a ramp. It means a better, more efficient workflow on move day and reduction in surprises for us and the homes we move.” 

HOME CLEANOUTS

Matt Paxton, Founder & CEO of Clutter Cleaner, offered a different view on inventory apps and the home cleanout process. 

“We have to do a full inventory of a home during an estate clean out. We often have multiple family members that live in different states that simply aren’t aware of all of the items in a home. Some of the states that our Clutter Cleaner teams work in, it’s state law to provide a full inventory of assets sold and dispersed during the probate process,” explained Paxton.  

He’s also found that it’s easier to divide the items when a family is aware of what items are in the home.  

“If the family already has a home inventory, it could save them money during the cleanout process. If they don’t, we typically use Fairsplit to help a family get a full inventory before estate settlement. No matter where you are in the process, a home inventory really helps you understand what you have and what you are willing to disperse, sell, and or donate.” 

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We hope this ARTIcles story will inspire you to take a first and then a second step to inventorying your home for greater peace of mind. And if you discover an app or process that works best for you, share with us! We’d love to learn from you: Editor@Artifcts.com.

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever had to clean out the home of a loved one who has passed away? 

Have you ever served in the role of executor of an estate for a friend or family member? 

In a strange way, if you have not, you’re missing out on life education that has the potential to help you and your family and friends to one day leave behind love, legacy, and memories rather than a “dumpster fire,” as Rachel Donnelly, our friend, founder, and author of Late to Your Own Funeral, has been known to say. 

Read on for one family’s true story. We’ve made modifications along the way to protect their privacy.

Honoring a Bachelor’s Legacy 

Emily was always close to her cousin Joseph, growing up in neighboring towns, spending many weekends together at the family’s cabin. Time passed, Emily moved away (three towns over), married and started a family, and had a fulfilling career, keeping her busy, but never too busy for her cousin. In contrast, Joseph remained a proud bachelor, well-liked by his neighbors, and ever the humble host.  

“Joe’s place was a gathering place. People just showed up with a cooler of drinks to shoot the breeze on his back acres, enjoying the lake view. You could see two dozen different birds just relaxing by the lake.”  

Joseph’s affable nature and pride in his numerous collections related to pyrotechnics and war—think Civil War through WWII guns and other historical artifacts—meant he was also well known far beyond his local area. 

So, when Emily got the call that Joe had passed away, she sprang to action.  

"He joked all the time that I was going to get all his s*** one day, but he was better prepared than you might expect given his other bachelor ways. All of the items in his collections were labeled. And he had shared with me the names of antiques dealers and others he bartered and traded with over the years. I had a head start on what to do with everything valuable.” 

We asked Emily, “But where did you even start? How did you know where to start?”  

“Well, I’ve seen this movie before, being the executor for my mom’s estate and helping my husband with his sister’s, too, so I knew the basics. And I wasn’t alone.”  

Here are Emily’s 5 steps to a DIY estate cleanout, bachelor style: 

Step 1. Security. Joe lived out in the country in a modest 2-bedroom rambler, and didn’t really worry about locking his doors. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone looks out for everyone. But of course, Joe’s reputation as a collector was known far and wide. Not only were his collections valuable, but, if improperly handled, some pieces were dangerous. So, as executor, Emily immediately sent a family member to stay at Joe’s home to ensure his belongings were secured.  

Step 2. Make it legal. Joe had a Transfer on Death Deed (TODD), otherwise known as a beneficiary deed. As such, because he planned ahead and named Emily to receive his home and all of its contents, in a matter of days the property was legally in her name, neatly nipping a prolonged probate process in the bud. 

Step 3. Dust (and tidy). Emily’s lifelong bachelor cousin was not much for cleaning, but this isn’t only about dusting away the cobwebs. His extended dining table was also his home office and the most likely place for her to find bills and statements, her clues to the financial assets and liabilities that were now left to her to sort out. Finding bills to be paid was foremost on her mind. If only this part of his life was as well organized as his war memorabilia! 

Step 4. Grief and ‘stuff.’ “Joe was always telling stories. He loved history. And because the things he collected had stories, I wanted it all to have good homes. We easily could have gotten a dumpster. But how would that honor Joe’s memory, help his close friends grieve, or have been good for the planet? You can’t just throw it all in a landfill!”

A few weeks after the funeral, Emily arranged for a celebration at Joe’s house. While he had no immediate family, the neighbors, other collectors, and extended family were eager to gather to remember their friend. Emily also invited them to select mementos to remember Joe.  

This gathering was then the steppingstone for a broader community initiative to find the right auction houses, antique dealers, and yes, pyrotechnic experts, to liquidate the more valuable (and explosive) assets from Joe’s estate. 

“Some things went at auction for only $1 or $5, many more sold in the $50-75 range, and then there were exceptions hitting $2,000 or more. We used Facebook Marketplace, too, because it’s fast, local, and you’re not giving up 20% or more to an auction house.”

Step 5. The dump. Well, not only the dump. Yes, some items were trashed, but they could re-sell steel, aluminum, and copper scraps from Joe’s various projects, recycle electronics, and bring home goods to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores. 

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At the end of our conversation, we took Emily back to the beginning to ask if she had considered hiring a professional to do all this work at any point during the cleanout. 

“No. Maybe it’s a trust issue, worrying they’d just toss stuff out. But really, I had the time—I’m retired—I already knew what was what inside his home, and I was not doing the work alone. I had my husband’s support. He could have said, ‘Hell with it, I’m not helping. Just sell the place!’ And Joe’s wide network of friends and neighbors helped at every turn, too.  

To tell you the truth, in the end, it feels good.”

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Did you miss our first installment about estate cleanouts? Read it now --> 

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever heard of the Zabbaleens of Egypt? They are a more modern-day version of the ragpickers who took to the streets in major urban centers of London and Paris throughout the 19th century to eke out a living by night to gather and recycle refuse.  

In Egypt, the informal Zabbaleen trash pickers charged households a monthly fee to recycle and upcycle 80% and more of the trash that the households of Cairo generated. What could not be sold, most of it the Zabbaleens reportedly fed to their pigs, the pigs being another household income source.  

In 2003, according to an article by The Guardian, the estimated 65,000 Zabbaleens lost their livelihoods when the Mubarak government privatized trash collection. Nearly overnight, the dismal results of the privatization became apparent. Collection trucks could not make it through Cairo's narrow streets, trash toppled over, and landfills were overwhelmed. It took a decade, along with the support of Egypt’s Minister of the Environment, to return the Zabbaleens to their work. 

Today’s ARTIcles story shares echoes of these lessons and what modern consumer buying behavior, sentiment and expectations combined with the explosion of virtual marketplaces means for home cleanouts for modern day families in the United States.

Modern Day Home Cleanouts

The “why” of a home cleanout, or an estate liquidation, could be the death of a loved one, downsizing with a giant capital D, or perhaps even a life changing relocation. Either way, not all of that ‘stuff’ is coming with you.  

And now you have a new task. Because once you’ve separated out what you will keep or give to family and friends, the lion’s share of items that remain, from everyday linens and furnishings to everything you never wanted to sort through in those junk drawers and closets, will be sitting there waiting for you to find it a new home. 

And we know how incredibly tempting it is to sweep it up into bins or call a junk hauler to get it over with and move on. 

You may not have the time, energy, or know-how to get it all where it needs to go next. And it’s unlikely you keep a virtual rolodex of best fit options to sell, donate, (up)recycle, and trash every item. Cleaning out a home is time consuming, emotionally draining, and physically burdensome work.  

And that is exactly why there are professionals who exist to help us all through these challenging situations. What could take you several weeks to months “in your spare time,” could be done in four days or less by a professional. That gives you back your time to focus on selling your home and otherwise moving on.  

And let’s be honest, for many of us, having an impartial professional helping us means you’ll have another person helping you let go of those heavy sentimental items. Even if you’re okay with the idea of letting go, actually doing so is often a whole different matter.

HOME CLEANOUTS 101 

Once you take out items you and others want to keep, you can simplify your home cleanout by sorting what’s left into into three categories: 

• • • Sell 
    • Donate 
    • Recycle & trash 

And the percentage of items each channel represents has transformed dramatically over the last decade. 

“Ten years ago, 75% of the items left behind would have been destined for donation,” according to Matt Paxton, author, TV personality, and founder of Clutter Cleaner. The volume headed to donation has dwindled dramatically, supplanted by new, often online, markets for used goods and a desire by many to earn a little cash.  

“Now we’re selling 80-90% of the items left behind. I donated less than 100 lbs. on our last job. In the past, it would have been at least a ton if not two (2,000 lbs. to 4,000 lbs.). And now only 500-1,000 lbs. is going to the junk haulers.” 

According to Paxton, $8,000 is the average market value for all the stuff left over in the typical home. His estimate is based on his most recent 1,000 cleanouts. “Ten years ago? The attitude was more like, ‘Eh, I’d rather donate it.’ Now every penny counts.” 

Matt laughed as he recalled his move in 2019 from Virginia to Georgia, “Want to guess how much money I got for everything?  $7,800. That even includes the $300 I got when I sold the couch I slept on my last night in Virginia, because the rest had already been moved out.”

The Future is Resale

The future of resale looks rosy, not only because of burgeoning virtual marketplaces but also anticipated trade policies under the current US administration. If prices go up on new goods, especially new goods of debatable quality, people will turn to secondhand goods.  

Do you want to pay 50% more for a poor-quality new item or go vintage/used? It’s not unlike houses, where inferior new-build homes can fail to hold value compared to well-built brick homes of old. Add to that the strong vintage and upcycle alure with the Gen Zs who go out thrifting as their weekend leisure, and again, resale wins. 

“When I think about how much we used to throw away,” lamented Paxton. “We didn’t know!”

According to Paxton, top categories for resale today that were often overlooked in the past include:   

• • • Vintage clothing. “A vintage t-shirt can easily sell for $25 today. You have a whole stack stashed in your closet, and you realize how quickly it adds up.” 
    • Recycled books. “This kills me. We threw away 500+ tons of books where now it could be recycled for cash.” 
    • Costume jewelry. “We cash in this type of jewelry for our clients for the value of the gold and silver. It gets melted down.” 
    • Furniture. “Then there’s the furniture, so much of it that we could have gotten $100 a piece for but donated instead. It’s easily more than $100,000 worth of furniture we’ve donated over the years I’ve been in this business.” 
    • Mattresses. This one is a mind bender. “I used to pay $100-200 a piece to dispose of mattresses," said Paxton. "Now we can often resell them to companies that will refurbish them. We’ve converted them from a liability to an asset for our clients.” And that, friends, is a win for homeowners and the environment.

Eager to dive into marketplaces with your items? We’ve curated a list of resources to get you started at the end of this ARTIcles story.

Finding a Professional for Your Home Cleanout and Getting Prepared

Do you want to work with a professional to cleanout your home? Paxton, founder of Clutter Cleaner, a national estate cleanout and move management company, recommends considering and interviewing a few types of professionals. Some offer comprehensive packages and others will expertly coordinate and bring in other providers as needed, such as appraisers, junk haulers, and more, to provide the services you need: 

• • • Certified move manager. Start your search via the National Association of Senior and Specialty Move Managers (NASMM); 
    • Professional home organizer. Visit the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (NAPO) to look for providers near you; 
    • A local estate sales company. You can check by city and zip code on Estatesales.net and ask about the full-scope services each offers.

You will spend a substantial amount of time with this company if you choose them to help you clean out your home. Call multiple professionals and choose the one that you enjoy spending time with. “You should enjoy their personality and fully understand their process. Consider working with them for an hour or two to see how you like working with their team.  Make sure it’s a match before you hire them for a full week,” said Paxton. 

You’ve Found Your Pro. Now What?

Once you have picked the cleanout partner that is right for you, go through the house and mark the items you absolutely know you are keeping or shipping to a friend or family member.  

Once you’ve done that, then call the professional and schedule a date to get started with them.  

They are there to help you figure out what to do with the stuff you don’t know what to do with and/or be the muscle behind your plan. Sometimes it’s not a total home cleanout. You may just need help packing up and picking up some heavy items.

Can You DIY a Home Cleanout? Should You DIY Your Home Cleanout?

We had the pleasure of interviewing several families who opted for the DIY home cleanout experience. Not only was each clearing out the home of a deceased loved one, but their reasons for DIYing were shockingly similar and fell into six categories: 

• • • Time, a lot of time. In all cases, at least one of the family members or executors leading the effort was retired and had no obligations that prevented them from committing any time they desired to cleaning out the home. In the words of Washington D.C.-based home organization professional Judy Tiger, "It is mind-bendingly time consuming to list items for sale online and make arrangements for pickup. And that's on top of the security considerations for pickup and recieving payment." She emphasizes that it's critical for people to do an honest cost-benefit analysis at the get go, i.e., the cleanout service fee versus the potential sale of items and unlocking of potential home equity sooner.
    • Proximity. The home in question was local to them, meaning they did not have to commit to spending hours on the road or flying across the country to get the job done. They also had local knowledge of places to donate and sell items.  
    • Legal and financial go ahead. Legally, there were no probate issues preventing them from accessing the property and dispersing its contents. There was no conflict either as to what to do with the belongings – ownership and intention were clear and respected. Financially, there was no immediate or compelling need to liquidate rapidly.  
    • Community. Whether it was other family members, neighbors, or friends, a whole community of people stood up to ask how they too could help with the cleanout process. “Many hands make light work,” goes the expression.  
    • Knowledge. The executors and/or family had deep knowledge of both their loved one’s intentions for their home and everything in it as well as prepared list of resources for who to contact in case of their demise to sell items of specific financial and/or historic value.  
    • Intrinsic motivation. Whether it was about honoring their loved one, enjoying the sorting process, or feeling good about finding new homes for items and/or recycling them in ways that are good for the planet, each person we spoke with had an interest in doing the work themselves. 

A Word of Caution on DIYing Your Home Cleanout

It’s one thing to slowly declutter and downsize your belongings when you are not moving, on your own, item by item, at your leisure. It’s another if you plan to DIY a home cleanout for yourself or a loved one. Are you sure you are using your time wisely? Value your time at at least $20/hour. If you spend 10 hours preparing to sell an item, then you’ll need to receive $200 for that item to breakeven. Make sure the DIY is actually saving you money.

You do not have to look far to find stories about the time, financial, and emotional costs of home cleanouts. The Reddit thread pictured below was started by someone clearing out an aunt’s home and business office, a time-consuming double whammy that by doing on their own “took over their life” and delayed saving money on rent and from selling the farm and home, too.

Most of us are over 50 when we start this process. Do we really want to spend the next 5 years of our lives cleaning out the past, or do we want to spend it creating new memories with our loved ones today?

Explore the World of Resale

Curious about where to sell everything you aren’t taking with you? Here are some (primarily) virtual marketplaces pros use, and you can too.  

GENERAL HOME GOODS 

• • • OfferUp, "The simpler way to buy and sell locally," https://offerup.com   
    • Whatnot, "The live shopping marketplace," https://www.whatnot.com 
    • Facebook marketplace, buy and sell locally and nationwide, https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/ 
    • LiveAuctioneers, "Let's go treasure hunting: auctions for one-of-a-kind art, antiques & luxury goods," liveauctioneers.com
    • Bidrush, "Local downsizing & estate online auctions," go.bidrush.com
    • Ebay, "Things. People. Love.," ebay.com
    • Etsy, "Global marketplace for unique and creative goods," etsy.com

LUXURY AND OTHER HIGHER END GOODS OR COLLECTIBLES 

You can certainly look to local luxury consignment and resale shops, but depending on your items, you may find more value in the reach of some of these virtual marketplaces: 

• • • The RealReal, "Where luxury is yours to define," therealreal.com
    • Poshmark, "Buy, sell, and discover fashion, home decor, beauty, and more," poshmark.com 
    • 1stDibs, "The most beautiful things on earth: Antique and modern furniture, jewelry, fashion, & art," 1stdibs.com
    • Auction houses, such as Bonhams, Doyle, Heritage Auctions, and Nye & Company
    • Specialty antique and collectibles dealers (too numerous to list - search online based on your item)

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Estate sales and cleanouts on your mind? You might also enjoy these ARTIcles by Artifcts:

I've Seen This Movie Before: One Family's True Story of an Estate Cleanout

5 Reasons Why Modern Estate Sales Companies are Turning to Artifcts

From Rare Art to Family Heirlooms: Tips From a Master as You Consider Selling Your 'Stuff'

© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We’ve all been there. The client is under contract. You’ve agreed to firm deadlines. And then doubt and indecision creep in. Dissenting voices emerge from among the family members, even those you have never met and live states away, as to the items to include in the sale. The client worries - will they earn enough in the sale to meet some minimum expectation or even finance their future plans?  

Much of what a client owns, they simply own. It decorates their homes or maybe serves some functional requirement - why, hello, Chair. But then there’s a selection of objects that hold intense sentimental value to them, or are collections that took years to curate, and they pause. Objects have histories, people have memories, and it all gets really complicated. And complicating it still further is often their “why” behind the liquidation. 

Helping sellers and clients get to happily ever after is Artifcts, an award-winning technology platform that captures the stories and the value behind the objects inside those homes. Artifcts provides value to support the sales process, whether you use it yourself as an estate sale company or encourage prospective clients to try it out. Here are just 5 benefits Artifcts offers that will make you stand out and be a market differentiator. 

1. Get the client over the finish line. Prep, with an expeditious capital P, is the name of the game and Artifcts is a powerful tool to help with the sorting process of what goes to the sale and what goes… anywhere else! Your client can create a highly visual and accessible Artifcts collection that is also shareable and downloadable, giving them an immediate sense of progress.  

2. Less last minute “cherry picking.” Are you sure the client is ready to let go of that and that and that? By introducing them to Artifcts, you’re offering a tool to help them come to terms with and capture their emotional attachment to items, so they can keep the memories, even if not the objects. 

3. Potentially increase the total estate sale value. What sells better – a jacket owned by Bruce Springsteen or a jacket owned by… you? Capturing cool historical details and context about the life of any object can help increase clearance rates and overall profitability. Transform objects into modern heirlooms! As you create an Artifct, this is also your chance to ask for supporting documentation - certificates of authenticity, appraisals, receipts - to further bolster the provenance and value. And Artifcts’ new ARTIAssist (currently in testing with the Artifcts Greenhouse, a multi-industry focus group) blends the best of image recognition with AI chat to provide historical details, price estimates and more, too! 

4. Earn additional billable hours. As an Artifcts Professional you can privately and securely create Artifcts on behalf your client and securely transfer the Artifcts to the client’s account when your work is complete. Little to no training is required – if you can create your own Artifct today, you can Artifct with and for a client tomorrow. Training resources and downloadable guides for you and your clients are included in your ARTIPro membership. ARTIPro memberships start at $99/year; gifted, branded client memberships start at $45. 

5. Be the estate sales agent with heart. No one likes to feel runover. But as sellers, you have a job to do. It may have taken your client a lifetime to collect and accumulate everything in their home, and now Artifcts offers a means to honor it before it’s scattered to the winds. Introducing your clients to Artifcts early in the process will help them to transform ‘stuff’ into memories to take away with them (and remembering you fondly for reviews and onward referrals) when the sale is done.

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We want to help each person to transform stuff from a potential burden today and on future generations to the source of immediate connection, history, legacy, and financial security. We cannot do it alone.

The simple reality is that the world of ‘stuff’ is broad and sometimes overwhelming! Artifcts helps you to connect the stories and stuff, enjoy walks together down memory lane, support your wills and insurance coverage, and think through and document what to keep based on those hard tradeoffs between the emotional and financial value (and space!).

In 2024, Artifcts expanded its offerings by creating a new membership and platform feature set for professionals who work in your homes helping you with everything from decluttering and organizing to move management to end of life preparedness. The program is called ARTIPro, and it enables professionals to create Artifcts for and with you, securely. You trust these experts to help you with the physical items, and now they can help you organize the memories, stories, and value too.

Complimenting our ARTIPro program are other companies, organizations, and professionals who can help you preserve, sell, move it all, and more. We've learned about an amazing breadth of services and organizations and want to share a few of them with you.

Meet Our Allies in 'Stuff'

Our allies are resources to help expand your awareness of the possible for you and all your ‘stuff.’ The organizations represented cut across multiple categories:

• • • Digitization & Preservation
    • Organizing, Decluttering, & Moving
    • Valuations & Sales
    • Family History & Documentation
    • Preparedness & End-of-Life
    • Artistic Renditions

We have met with every company directly, reviewed their products, and are confident they can help or, at the very minimum, inspire your first or next steps. We have focused on those with broad national, and many international, footprints and services. Yet we know sometimes going local is what's needed, required, or desired. Learn about the possible in the world of stuff here at Artifcts! Head over to Allies in 'Stuff,' click to read about each company, and download the Allies map to have on hand as a reference.

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Reading time: 5 minutes 
 
I grew up in the same house. My first move was to college. Me and my minimalist tendencies, I would have been fine with a backpack of clothing and a laundry bin of bedding and essentials. My mother being the maximalist had different plans. Let’s just say I was the only freshman with a banana hanger.  
 
Fast forward 20 something years. I’ve moved three times in as many years. And yet … it’s still not easy. The stuff doesn’t move itself. It requires planning, staging, boxing, moving, unpacking, and, in our case, a good dose of, “Mom, did you pack my [insert name of thing here]. I can’t find it.” Let’s just say if finding things post-move was a varsity sport, I would have lettered in it by now. 
 
As a founder of a tech company dedicated to ‘stuff’ you’d think I’d have it figured out by now. I don’t. Each move for me is an opportunity to assess what worked and what didn’t, and to reassess what we have and why we have it. I still have my minimalist tendencies although I’ve swapped my maximalist mother for a super maximalist (and very sweet and sentimental) spouse. 
 
So, what’s a girl to do? I’ve pulled together some tips based on what I wish I had known, and what I had wished I had done the first, second, and yes, third go-around. 

1. 1. 1. Hire a move manager. If you’re anything like me—trying to juggle work, kids, and aging in-laws—a move manager is key. You don’t need to be downsizing to work with your local NASMM partner. Contemplating a move? Call them, you won’t regret it. It takes the pressure off you and gives you a trusted, vetted, and expert resource to help you pre-, during, and post-move. 
      2. Artifct fragile, valuable, or especially sentimental items before you pack. You never know what will happen during the move. Best to have the memory, photos, and details saved. In our case, moving an overly excited golden retriever can do as much if not more damage to cherished belongings than a dropped box in transit. And, if something happens to one of your valuable items, you can share the Artifct with your insurance agent to expedite the claims process!  
      3. Artifct all other special items as you unpack. If you physically must unpack and put away every last item, Artifct the ones that mean something to you, and don’t forget to use the “In the future” field to note what you want to happen to the item in the future. Not only are you unpacking (yay!) you’re also creating a roadmap for your family of what to do with all your stuff one day down the road. It’s a win-win. (Added bonus: Use the “Location” field to note the item’s new location. It’s been a life saver in our house the past few weeks since our move.) 
      4. As you unpack, set aside items you haven’t used in a year or items you completely forgot you own. Hold off putting them away until you ask yourself, "Do I really need this? Do I want this?" If you are limited in space and holding on to an item for purely sentimental reasons, consider Artifcting it and then donating or re-homing it. Moving can be a great time to embrace the art of Swedish Death Cleaning. 
      5. Got children? You probably have their stuff too. Get them involved early and often. Giving them something to do helps you and them! You can check out our Pint-Sized Perspectives on Moving for more tips on moving with children. As for our older children, if you’re reading this, your stuff awaits you. You know what will happen to it if it remains unused or unclaimed for more than a year. Chop, chop! 
      6. Worried about critical documents and sensitive ‘stuff,’ such as passports, tax returns, and the like? Skip the boxes and carry them with you.
      7. About those boxes. Serial mover? Think twice before trying to reuse old boxes, the integrity of which may have been weakened during the last move. Reusing boxes may also be prohibited by movers and insurance agents. Better to be safe than sorry and either use re-usable plastic bins (like we did for the last three moves!) or invest in new boxes to ensure your ‘stuff’ doesn’t get damaged in transit. 
      8. Don’t forget to mark and position the boxes or bins that you need for immediate use in your new home. Nothing is worse than not being able to make a bed or take a shower after a long day of moving. Our daughter should know—she ended up in a sleeping bag for a day or two on move number two until we could locate her bedding.  
      9. And just for laughs, don’t forget to turn off or redirect your auto-shipments. No sooner had we moved out of our last place than a 30 lb. bag of probiotic dog food arrived. I hope the new occupants saw the humor in that! We did; our golden retriever, not so much.  

 
Have your own tried and true tips for moving? We’d love to hear from you! You can reach us at Editor@Artifcts.com. 

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