When you decide to relocate to a smaller home, you might run into some unique problems.
Whether you’re downsizing because your kids have moved out or you’re going through a divorce, one thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a huge adjustment living in a smaller home. Having less space to live in presents numerous issues, the main one being, how do you downsize all of your stuff?
Downsizing before relocating is one of the hardest, but most important things to do during a move. If you’re going from 3,000 to 1,800 square feet, then you won’t be able to bring everything along with you. In this post, we’re going to give you 10 key tips for downsizing the right way so you can focus on the impending move.
1. Take Photos Of the New Home
One of the biggest mistakes people make is looking at their new home once, making a few measurements, and downsizing based on that. It’s always better to have detailed photographs of each room of the new house so you can look at your things and picture how they’ll fit in the new house.
It’s an easy thing to do and it gives you a much better idea of what can stay and what isn’t going to make it. An added bonus is that you can get a head start on the interior design of your new place.
2. Start With What You Need to Live
Okay, now you’re ready to start paring down your belongings to fit in the new house. Start with the things that you absolutely need to put in your new house, like televisions and other entertainment devices, appliances, and anything of sentimental value that you’d never get rid of.
Set this stuff aside and get it into the new home as soon as possible, then you can move on to the rest of your belongings and make some decisions.
3. Then What You Use (Pretty Much) Every Day
Move onto the things that you use a lot. All of the things in your kitchen, any decorative items, books, and your most important tools should all take priority over other items.
A lot of people just start packing things up and moving them, only to realize things that they use frequently got lost in the shuffle. You want all of the important stuff to definitely make it into the new house because it’s harder to downsize when you’ve already moved.
4. Acknowledge What You Don’t Need
Here comes the fun part. It’s time to go through all of your belongings to figure out what you actually need and what can be left behind. The trick to this is acknowledging that every little bit counts and you might want to bring everything, but it’s simply not possible.
It can be therapeutic to get rid of this stuff and you might even find that there’s more of it than you would’ve ever imagined. We’re not saying you have to be a minimalist, but if you’re going to comfortably move into the new house, you’ve got to get rid of what you don’t need.
5. Have a Giveaway
Notify all of your friends and family members that you’re downsizing and you need to get rid of your things. You’ll be sure to find at least a few takers for things like clothes, excess kitchen appliances, and whatever useful items you don’t need. You know what they say, one person’s trash is an other’s treasure.
6. Measure Your Larger Items
Before you decide whether or not to bring your bigger furniture items, like bookcases, bed frames, couches, or entertainment units, make sure to measure them to see if they’ll even fit in the new space. There’s nothing worse than deciding to keep something, moving it, and finding out that it was never going to fit anyways.
7. Know Your Storage
Your new house may be smaller, but if it gives you the storage you need, then you might not have to downsize as much as you originally thought. Take stock of how much storage you’ve got in the new place versus your current house and base some of your downsizing decisions on that.
8. Stop Yourself Sometimes
Even though you’re downsizing, moving is always an exciting time and most people become tempted with interior design possibilities. When this happens, they start buying new items to fill the house with. This is a mistake.
You’ll inevitably have to stop yourself from buying something you don’t need. Remember, you’re downsizing. You can’t do that the right way if you’re buying items for the new house.
9. Allocate Space In the New Home
Another good idea is to prep your new home for the move prior to actually moving items over. Allocating space ahead of time will give you an idea of which furniture pieces will seamlessly fit in the new house, which ones will have to be repurposed, and which ones will have to be sold or given away.
When you do this, you give yourself the opportunity to quickly shop for new items that will definitely suit the new home.
10. You Don’t Need Old Paperwork
A huge pet peeve of movers everywhere is having to move heavy boxes of paperwork that more than likely haven’t been opened in 10 years. You don’t need old paperwork and there’s no sense in dragging it to your new home to take up space there.
Find yourself a good paper shredder and destroy those documents. If you haven’t needed them yet, chances are you won’t need them again anytime soon.
Take the Stress Out Of Downsizing Before Relocating
Downsizing before relocating is important, but it can become stressful if you wait too long to do it. Start early and you’ll be able to cover all your bases, which will make for a seamless move when it actually happens.
If you’re looking for a buyer for your old home after downsizing, visit bonniebuyshousesfast.com. We’ll buy your Colorado Springs house for a fair price, regardless of location or the shape it’s in. Make your move an easy one and contact us today.
