For most individuals, changing situations might mean downsizing their homes. Family dynamics sometimes change, and having a five-bedroomed house with two and a half bathrooms isn’t practical. Sometimes, it boils down to affordability and finances. This article covers top tips on how to downsize your home.
1. Start Downsizing Early
As soon as you know you’re moving, you should start downsizing. The earlier you start, the lower the chances of getting overwhelmed by the downsizing process. Downsizing can also assist you in preparing for the sale of your house since decluttering is essential.
That said, you don’t have to declutter your entire home in one day. The best way would be to declutter one room at a time so you can sort through your things comfortably and carefully consider what you’ll be doing away with.
2. Consider the Space You’ll Have in Your New Home
To downsize effectively, you’ll need to know how much space your new home has. It’s best to know the home’s square footage and the shape of the rooms since it’ll help you determine which furniture you can move with.
Generally, you should only go with the furniture you love and can fit in the new house. Moving to a new house should be a new experience since you’ll be relocating to a new environment. Therefore, you should purchase new furniture to go with the new home.
3. Sort Through Your Items
When downsizing, it’s essential to take an inventory of everything you own to separate them based on the things you’ll keep and those you’ll sell, donate, or throw away. When sorting through your properties, consider the last time you used them; if it’s more than six months, do away with the item.
Depending on how long you’ve lived in your current home, deciding what to keep and give away might be the most challenging part of moving homes.
Here are some ways you can get rid of items you no longer use:
- Sell items in pristine condition: Selling some items will assist you in making some cash to cover moving costs.
- Donate the items: Donate items you can’t sell. You can donate them to local charities. You can donate clothing, household items, toys, etc.
- Pass sentimental items to a friend or family: Letting go of items that hold sentimental value can be difficult. Nevertheless, if it’s a family heirloom, gift it to someone who’ll treasure it the same way you do.
4. Decide Whether You’ll Hire Professionals
Downsizing can be simpler if you hire a real estate firm to handle the sale and pricing of items. The disadvantage of hiring a real estate company is that you must book a week in advance, which can be tricky if you’re planning to downsize quickly.
Nevertheless, if you have a seasoned real estate agent, they can use their connections to find a company that can accommodate your short timeline.
If you prefer to handle things yourself, you can list the items on online platforms; find out more here. Here are some additional tips for do-it-yourselfers:
- Take decent photos of the items and capture them from various angles.
- Post the items on more than one platform to increase the chances of selling them.
- Be honest about the item’s condition and include measurement details.
- You can be aggressive with pricing; however, consider lowering the price if the item doesn’t sell quickly.
- Have a strict no-hold policy and indicate to interested buyers that you’ll go to the next interested buyer if they fail to pay within a pacific timeline.
- Be clear about delivery. If the buyer is supposed to handle it themselves, inform them in your post. If you’re offering free delivery, indicate that too.
5. Maximise Storage Spaces
When relocating to a smaller house, you’ll want to make the most of any storage space available. For instance, you can use multi-purpose furniture such as platform beds and storage ottomans to organise clutter.
You can hang shelves to display collectibles and knick-knacks. You can also use shelves in the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen for additional storage.
Depending on the layout of your new home layout, you may be able to use some extra space. Crawlspaces and the space under the stairs are excellent places to store seasonal items. You can use over-the-door hooks to hang bathrobes and towels and use bins under the sink or counter to store smaller items.
Bottom Line
Deciding where to start when downsizing your home shouldn’t be stressful. Whether helping a parent move to a smaller house or make a personal move, deciding what to keep and get rid of can be overwhelming. However, with the tips above, this agonising task can go smoothly.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
