When it comes to downsizing your home, the process can easily be overwhelming. If you have lived in the same house for many years, you most likely have a collection of ‘stuff’. It is so easy to accumulate furniture, clothing, and knickknacks over time that can lead to too much ‘stuff’ in the home. When downsizing to a new dwelling, you need to get rid of as much as possible. Many homeowners downsize once the kids move away or they realise they only want to care for a smaller home. In any case, the ten steps below will help you to downsize with ease.
- Assess Your Needs. Take time to walk through your home and assess what you really need. Do you have unused exercise equipment or clothing that has sat in your closets for decades? Assess what you genuinely need and trash or donate the rest.
- Go Room By Room. To make the downsizing process more manageable, go through the house room by room. Go through each area of every room, one at a time, and create groupings of items. You should have a trash bag for trash, a bag or container for donations and a container for what you wish to keep. Going room by room will help you to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- Measure Furniture. Your new home is going to be smaller than where you live now. Take time to measure furniture to see what will fit and what won’t.
- New Storage Capabilities. With your new home, assess the storage capabilities. You may need to let go of items you do not regularly use due to lesser storage space.
- Organize as you go. Since you are packing up to move to a new home, take time to organise as you pack. Use decorative storage boxes to pack specific items, so they have instant storage in your new home. Pack other items in clear bins, so you know what is inside and can easily store these containers.
- Move Large Furniture. Get your larger pieces of furniture moved into the new home first to see how much room you have left for smaller pieces.
- Labeling. Be sure to label everything you pack for easy storage or unpacking.
- Pack Based on Room. Put items in boxes where they will go in your new home. Living room items do not need to be in the kitchen boxes. This will save time during unpacking.
- Organize as you Unpack. When unpacking items in your new home, be sure to organise along the way. This saves further steps as you move into your new house.
- Work with a downsizing company. As you clean out your old home, consider working with hauling companies such as Kloos Hauling. Our team of professionals can help downsize and remove unwanted items from your home, saving you trouble and inconvenience. Contact us today for an estimate!