Big homes come with big advantages. Besides providing ample room for your family to grow in, a big home means no compromise on space. With a big home, yours will become the default home to stay at when relatives come to town, which can be wonderful depending on the relative. Big homes usually come with big garages and big basements, which means plenty of storage room for those seldom-used items like that kayak you love so much, or the baby clothes from your kids you just can’t part with yet.
Big homes can come with some major disadvantages, too. For one, all that spaciousness can become hard to heat and cool, especially if you live in an area of the country with significant seasonal weather changes. And that ample square footage also means more surface area to care for: more landscaping, a larger more expensive water heater or a/c system to replace, more siding and roof surface area to keep clean and repair, and a lot more on the inside to vacuum, dust, scrub, and polish.
No wonder a recent trend toward downsizing is sweeping across the nation. Downsizing may mean living within smaller confines, but it also means living a more simple lifestyle. With smaller homes, you’ll spend less money on the rent or mortgage, less on filling the home with furniture, less money on heating and cooling, and less on upkeep. Less cash going out on a monthly basis means more in your pocket, more money for leisure and travel, and more to save or invest for the future.
You may have very specific reasons for downsizing. Perhaps a big home just isn’t the best option for you financially any longer. Maybe you’re sick of spending the whole weekend cleaning it just to dirty it up again over the course of the workweek. Then again you could just like the idea of decluttering and living more simply. Whatever the reason, we’re here to offer you some quick tips and tricks to help you downsize your residential move to a new apartment or smaller house!
Finding The Right Downsized Option
If you’re considering downsizing, you’ll want to make sure that whatever home you choose, you’re one hundred percent happy with. Try starting an inspiration file online of all your favorite smaller home pictures, organizational ideas, decluttering strategies, storage solutions, and the like. You’ll want your wish list to be clear and complete before you decide on the best downsizing option for you.
Prioritize Your Wish List
The top five items on your wish list should contain your absolute must-haves in your new home. Of course, the rest are all things you’d like to see in your new smaller abode too, but they aren’t deal-breakers. This is a great way to ensure you’re not regretting your downsizing decision six months after moving in.
Mental Preparations
It may seem kind of a funny thing to contemplate, but preparing yourself mentally for a smaller home is a task that should not be ignored. Downsizing is a big deal for someone used to living within a certain amount of square footage. Six months before you plan your move, start picturing yourself in your smaller home. As you move around in your bigger home, visualize yourself doing the same things in a smaller space. What will be the same? What will be different? Be as realistic as you can about the limitations of a smaller space.
Declutter
This is easier said than done. The one thing about living in a bigger home is that stuff seems to accumulate right under your nose. You may be surprised to find your basement is half full of things you’ve long forgotten, or your garage is stacked with items that you really don’t want or have used.
But, there are a lot of other things in your home that you may see or use on a regular basis. These items may be the toughest to part with. However, you have to let them go in order to live in your smaller home comfortably. Start by getting rid of all the things you really don’t care about at all.
Begin the process with plenty of time so you don’t feel rushed. Try making an area of your home dedicated to donation piles. You can even consider calling up a donation service that will come pick up your stuff for you. This is a great opportunity to go through your clothes, old kitchenware, rarely used sporting equipment and small pieces of furniture to which you have no attachment.
Next, consider all of the things that you may want to give to relatives. This will include items that you like but don’t love, but still may have a hard time just letting go of. By asking relatives to take these items you know they are still getting used an appreciated.
It may be that you need to get rid of the sofa in the living room since you’ll only have room for one in the new place. Maybe your cousin is happy to take it off your hands for you. Or, perhaps you have an expensive formal dining room linen set that you won’t need since you won’t have a formal dining room anymore, but you don’t want to just donate it away.
Once you’re done donating and finding relatives to take some of your things, you may want to consider selling the rest. Chances are you have some valuable home items that you just can’t take with you. It may be worth trying to sell these items online to help with the moving costs.
Bulk Up on Storage Solutions
The last thing to do before you move into your new, smaller home is ensuring it’s decked out with plenty of storage solutions in every room. Storage solutions come in a variety of options, so making it best fit the style of your new home is easy to accomplish. Bulking up on storage before you move in means easier.
Once you’ve moved in you may find that you’ll need to get rid of a few more items. Don’t panic. You may miss them at first, but you may quickly find that you don’t miss those things after all, especially since you’re enjoying a simpler, more cost-effective way to live.
