There are lots of reasons to downsize your home. Smaller homes cost less money. Smaller homes are easier to maintain. They don’t take nearly as much time to clean and, of course, smaller homes use less electricity. Overall, smaller homes are often more efficient and affordable than their larger counterparts. That doesn’t mean, though, that the process of downsizing is easy.
Sorting through your belongings and memories is difficult even when you aren’t going to be getting rid of anything. Moving is always stressful and awful even if your downsized home will technically be an upgrade in lifestyle. Here are some tips to help you getting through it and to smooth out the process considerably.
Clean Clean Clean
Deep clean your house. Toss out all of the random bits and bobs that have been lurking in corners and drawers for so long you don’t even really see them anymore. Don’t worry about sorting anything just yet. Right now your goal is to do an intense spring cleaning style clean. For one thing, a clean house is easier to sort and pack. For another, you will likely be amazed at how much space all of those bits and bobs ate up in your home! And finally, a super clean house looks better during showings and will make your home easier to sell.
Hire Movers
Hire professionals to help you load up and transport your current home to your new home. For one thing, having someone else do all of the heavy lifting and truck organizing will make moving day a lot easier on everybody. The great thing about professional movers is that they often offer extra services to help make your move as painless as possible. For instance, many people who downsize their homes opt to put some of their belongings in storage while they adjust to a new space (more on this in a minute). Professional movers like North American and others understand this and can coordinate both of these options in a single move.
The Rules of Sorting
The general rule for sorting before a move is to only pack and move those things that you have definitely used within the last year or that have tremendous amounts of sentimental value. When you are downsizing your home, you need to be a little harsher. With the exception of holiday decorations, you should make decisions based on whether or not you have used something within the last six months. Use three months in rooms where you might tend to acquire a lot of one-time purchases like your kitchen or a craft room. Trust us when we tell you that it is better to replace something than to try to accommodate it you’ll use in that incredibly ambiguous “someday.”
Storage Vs. New Home
We talked a little bit already about utilizing storage space (pods or a rentable unit) to make the move easier for everyone. Here is how you do that.
Anything that you do not currently use at least once every six weeks should be relegated to the storage space. Your storage space can also be a great transitional space for those items and mementos that you know you will never use and miss but aren’t quite yet ready to part with. After you move into your new, smaller home, you’ll notice that you are either running to your storage space or you aren’t. After you’ve been in your new space for a year, you can go through the storage space. Anything you don’t remember owning can be donated/sold.
Think Minimalism
Remember what we said earlier: it is better to potentially replace something than it is to try to cram in too much “just in case.” This goes for everything from furniture to tchotchkes. Your goal should be to make your new, smaller, space feel as open and spacious as possible. A good way to do this is to opt for the minimalist approach to furnish and decorate the new space. You’ll be amazed at how much you can part with when you realize it won’t fit with your new minimalist scheme.
It Is Better to Re-Home than to Throw Away
Finally, one of the best things you can do before your move is to sell/give away/donate all of the belongings with which you are parting. The first step is to invite friends and loved ones over and have them claim anything they loved/coveted. Then, sell the rest through yard sales and online channels. Donate the rest to charities, churches, thrift shops, etc. Seeing the loving homes that will be adopting your old beloved belongings makes parting with them much simpler.
Downsizing doesn’t have to be sad. If you use these tips, you might find that you’re actually looking forward to it!
Article Submitted By Community Writer
