5 Tips for Successful Downsizing
Downsizing can be an emotional experience. You might be leaving the home where you raised your children. You might be in the midst of a life transition that has disrupted your living situation. You might be moving into a smaller place for economic or mobility-related reasons. You might be moving into a nursing home or assisted living facility. Or maybe you’re just ready for a change. Here are my five essential tips for transitioning to a smaller home.
1. Measure your new space.
You don’t have to have a complete set of construction plans, but having rough measurements of your walls and closets will help you plan what to bring. You don’t want to be in a situation where movers are bringing items into your new place that have no home. Measure all the main walls, especially the walls that will contain your sofa (including end tables), your bed and nightstands, and your storage furniture like dressers, bookcases, and armories.
Once you have the measurements, using painters tape, mark off the dimensions of the new smaller walls onto your current walls. This will give you a sense of scale and will help you decide whether your furniture will fit comfortably in your new place.
It’s extra important to measure the hanging space in your new closet so you know exactly how much of your clothing you can take. Mark off the space in your current closet so you can see just how much space you will have.
Count the cabinets and drawers in your new kitchen and note the difference. You’ll likely need to reduce your kitchen items to fit in the smaller space. You’ll also want to note the number of cabinets or drawers in your new bathroom. I know it sounds tedious, but it will make a big difference in the ease of your move.
2. Take an inventory.
Knowing what you have will help you decide what to bring. Going room-by-room, step-by-step will make this less overwhelming. Divide your possessions into rough categories and tackle one category at a time. I suggest using these categories to get you started: furniture, artwork, lamps, rugs, large decor items, home office equipment, kitchen appliances, toiletries, knickknacks, books/media, and clothing.
Purchase some color-coded stickers and create a legend so each color sticker represents an action. The actions I suggest you use are: “VIP,” “Take,” “Sell,” “Donate,” “Trash,” “Offer,” “Store,” and “Think.” Let’s go over what each of these mean:
VIP - These are your essentials. In other words, these are the things you’d either grab in a fire (photo albums, prized possessions) or things you would take with you to a hotel for a comfortable 1-week stay (toiletries, clothing in your daily rotation)
Take - These are items you want to take to your new home. They are not essentials, but things you’d ideally like to have. Only mark something with a “Take” sticker if you know exactly where it will go in your new home. Be specific! Know the exact wall a piece of artwork will go on. Know the exact drawer that kitchen gadget will go in. The more specific you are, the easier your move will be and the less likely you are to end up with too much stuff at your new home.
Sell - These are items of value that you no longer need or will not fit in your new home.
Donate - These are items you’re ready to let go to a new home. They aren’t valuable enough to sell or not interested in selling. Donation is a great way to give your items a second life. Remember you’re giving your items the opportunity to make somebody else very happy.
Trash - These are items that are too damaged or worn out to donate. This would also include documents to shred, e-waste, and items not accepted by charities like car seats.
Offer - These are items you want to offer to family or friends. Have a backup plan for these items in case you have no takers, so place two stickers on these items - the “Offer” sticker, and the backup plan sticker.
Store - This is a tricky one and I want you to proceed with caution. Storage can be a necessary option, but it can also be a delay tactic for items you don’t want to make a decision about. Tell yourself to do the hard work and make the decision now. You’ll thank yourself later. Use this sticker extremely sparingly and remember it comes with renting an outside storage facility or taking up space in a friend or family’s home.
Think - These are items you need to think about and cannot decide on without more information. Use this sticker sparingly so you don’t overwhelm yourself with decisions. If you have a gut instinct to donate something that you know you won’t need in your new home, go ahead and mark it “Donate” and move on and see how you feel. It’s better to “Think” about a decision you’ve already made rather than to “Think” about an unknown. Make sure you come back to items you’ve marked “Think” and add another sticker to indicate your final decision.
3. Assign a space in your new home.
For all the items you marked “VIP” or “Take,” assign them a specific home in your new space. Remember, the more you plan ahead, the easier your move will be. Using another set of colored stickers, decide exactly where each item will go in your new home. Be specific. What wall will artwork go on? What drawer in the kitchen will this item go in? Where in the closet will this jacket hang? Be honest with yourself about how much space you have and how many items will fit. This step will make packing and unpacking so much easier.
4. Implement your action items.
Sell - For small items you want to sell, seek out specialty collector’s shops for consignment or consider listing them on eBay. For large items, consider hiring an auction house to help with art, jewelry, or antiques. A garage sale is another option and is a great choice for sporting goods, small furniture, and kitchen supplies.
Donate - Choose your charity and ask whether they have pickup available. Bag or box up items you’re ready to donate and have them collected or drop them off as soon as possible so you have less clutter and more space to prepare for your move.
Trash - Check with your charity and see if there are items they will not take. These items will need to be trashed or given away. Dispose of electronics waste, paint, medications, bio-hazard, and chemicals in accordance with your local laws. Check with your garbage collector to see if you need to schedule an extra pickup if you have a large amount of trash. You may need to contact a junk hauler if you exceed the capacity of your trash collector or have items (like construction debris) they will not collect.
Offer - Contact friends and family about items you’d like to offer them. Try not to be offended if someone declines not to take something, and never pressure someone into taking an item - even if you think they should. They might have good reasons for saying no and you don’t want them to feel guilty if they need to get rid of the item later. Ideally, your items will find a home with somebody who will love them, and that might mean they go to somebody through a sale or donation.
Store and Plan - Be realistic about using storage facilities. Are you delaying difficult decisions? Ask yourself why you need to make those decisions later rather than now. Assess the costs of storing these items - can you afford to store them? For how long? If you are storing items to delay a decision whether to keep them, set a time limit for yourself. Put a note on your calendar a year from now that says something like this - “I have spent $X so far on storing these items. Am I ready to let go of them or should I continue to pay $X/month to store them?” This will help remind you to consider the costs associated with keeping your items in storage.
5. Visualize your new life.
Downsizing doesn’t need to feel like a “loss.” Instead of focusing on the absence of the life you’re leaving behind, focus on what’s ahead. Be positive. You are starting a new life in a new space and you have a wonderful opportunity to try living a little more simply. This is a great chance to get organized and stay that way. Approach this experience with joy and keep visualizing your new space with excitement and curiosity. How can you live differently? What parts of your personality will the new space bring forward? How will you use the new space to do the things that bring you joy?
I wish you all the best in your new home and I hope the process of downsizing is a little more smooth and a little less stressful with these tips.
Be calm. Be organized. Be you.
