Tricks for Downsizing Your Life into a Smaller Space
You are about to move into a smaller space and you feel overwhelmed. You don’t know how to downsize your home and it is stressing you out.
We tend to accumulate a lot of stuff, especially if we stay in one place for a while. So it can be a chore working out how to downsize to a smaller home and keep the things that you treasure.
Most of us have been there at some stage. Here are some tricks that we have found to help you manage your move:
Measure your new place
Get to know your new space well before you arrive with your things and try to cram them in. Use a tape measure to understand the areas that you have to work with and if your furniture will fit. If not, look at alternatives before you make your move.
Take stock of your things
Moving time is an opportunity to look at the belongings that you have and decide what you need to keep and what you can live without. When you are downsizing your home with kids encourage them to make their own choices.
They can’t keep everything if you need to fit into a smaller home and it is better if you get them to participate in the process so they understand.
Divide your things into:
- Keep
- Donate
- Sell
- Throw
Make sure that you donate and throw out the things you want to get rid of and don’t let them sneak into the move pile for sentimental reasons. Some things we feel have sentimental value, but the only time we even consider them is during the dreaded move. You have to be a bit ruthless in making these decisions sometimes.
Then have a garage sale before you move or list on ebay and generate some extra funds for the move itself.
Smart storage
Look at ways that you can store things when you move. There are a lot of solutions around, so be creative about how you can use all of the room that you have available – not just floor space.
This will help you stay organised and ensure that you don’t end up in a cluttered mess that stops you enjoying your new home.
Move the big stuff first
A trick to ensure that everything will fit in a room/home is to move the big pieces in first. It’s hard to move large furniture around lots of boxes of smaller things that may just be getting in your way.
Getting it Done
Moving into a smaller place is often not such a bad thing. It can be a great opportunity to declutter and simplify your life and get rid of things that you have accumulated on the way that are no longer relevant to you. Focus on the things that are important and start on a new journey.
