Tips For Downsizing

There are a few reasons why someone might downsize, maybe you’re an empty nester, maybe you’re moving from a house to an apartment or maybe you want to do less maintenance on your home so you’re moving to something smaller. Either way, downsizing can be overwhelming – follow our tips below to help you make the process more efficient.

1. Start as early as possible – It’s a good idea to start the downsizing process as soon as possible to give yourself time to properly sort through your house and give your possessions a respectful amount of thought. It’s wise to start at least 3 months in advance but we say the earlier the better! Set a pace for yourself and schedule time to declutter and pack based on the amount of time that you have in order to eliminate the pressure to do it all at the last minute.

2. Focus on one room at a time – The thought of decluttering your entire home at once can be overwhelming, especially if you have a lot of sentimental attachment to your belongings. Break it down into rooms or areas of your house and tackle it one step at a time.

3. Know your new space – Review your floor plans to familiarize yourself with the amount of space you will have and picture yourself living there. This will give you an idea of what you’ll want to incorporate into it and how it will be layed out. You’ll also have a better understanding of what furniture can stay and what furniture can go.

4. Consider your new lifestyle – Think about the type of lifestyle you will live when you get into your new home. Ask yourself if you will want to have space for knick-knacks and sentimental items, do you have room for oversized furniture? Will you want to entertain in this home? Should you keep certain things because of their high monetary value? This will give you a better understanding of what you’ll want to keep and what you’ll want to pass on and will make your decluttering and packing process more efficient. If you are getting rid of things that are of higher monetary value, consider having a garage sale or listing it for sale online.

5. Decluttering – The best way to start decluttering your items is to set up some categories, decide which options you want to choose when going through your items such as; keep, donate or sell, trash or recycle, pass it on etc… Having these basic rules set up in advance will help you get through the process more quickly instead of trying to think up a solution individually for each item.

6. Rent a storage unit - If you’re having a hard time making decisions on what and what not to keep, consider renting a storage unit for the first year to house those items. This will give you the opportunity to go through every seasonal change and assess whether or not you will use those items then. If there are items left in storage untouched after 1 year, you can decide to part with them then.

7. Organize as you go – Take the time to organize your items as you root through and declutter. Not only will this help you when it comes time to pack, but it will give you a better sense of how your items should be set up when you get into your new home. Consider colour coding your items by room so that when it comes time to pack you can just compile the boxes by colour.

Getting ready to move? Click here to see our moving tips.