Downsizing: 5 tips to help you reduce

The thought of packing up a home you have been in for years is a daunting task. Now imagine downsizing what you own to fit into a smaller place. While downsizing is often stressful and may even make you feel overwhelmed, it can also be liberating and the more planning and preparation you do, the easier the move will end up being. Here are 5 tips to get you started:

Senior couple downsizing and packing their home.

Start early and take your time

Start the process of downsizing as soon as you know you are moving. This will give you time to decide on each item. Which do you wish to give away, sell or donate?  Starting early also means that you can take your time and really focus on each item that you are letting go of. Is it something that you would offer to your family? Focus on one room at a time.

When downsizing, Touch once

Once you have made a decision on an item stick with your decision and move on to the next one.  Working on a ‘touch once’ policy means that you don’t keep going back to the same piece and moving it between ‘keeping’ ‘selling’ and ‘donating’.  If you are going to make progress with your downsizing it is important to make a decision once and stick to it.

Know the space you are moving into

Get the dimensions for your new space so that you can make provision for your furniture, pictures and kitchen appliances. You can also then decide on which pieces of furniture you will move with you. You can then make decisions about what to do with the items you won’t be taking with you.

Know your new space. Measure the empty space.

Simple packing tips when downsizing

  • Label your boxes so that you know which room the contents will go into.
  • Make sure to label the boxes that hold breakable items as fragile to make sure that everyone will know.
  • Don’t overstuff the packing boxes so that the movers don’t struggle to carry them. Overpacked boxes can also break and damage the contents.
Clear the clutter

Hire a moving manager

Whilst you can do this yourself over a period of time, a moving manager will work with you and get the job done in a couple of days.

Marylou from Clear Path on a downsizing project.

In addition, a moving manager will handle the selling, donation and packaging of items you wish to send overseas. They will measure the dimensions of your new home and help with the layout of your furniture in your new home. They will also pack your home and unpack it on the other side. 

All of this will make downsizing and moving a seamless and stress-free project.

You might like this article about tackling your spring cleaning project. Click here to read.
Or this article from My Move. Click here to read.