Downsizing your home is an overwhelming task. However, moving away from a big house, where the maintenance charges are high and stuff magically piles up in your basement and attic, can be relieving. There can be various reasons as to why you are moving to a smaller house. Perhaps you want to cut the living costs, or you do not need a bigger home anymore. Also, if you have retired from your job and have to live on a fixed income, you might want a smaller house in an affordable city, such as Lewes, Delaware, which is one of the most tax-friendly places in the US.
Whether you are relocating by choice or necessity, your head will be swirling with questions. How do you decide what to bring and what to leave behind? What will you do with the excess stuff? How can you make a smaller space fulfill your needs? To make your move to a smaller house easier, here are some tips for you.
Decide on How to Purge Your Belongings:
Deciding how to get rid of all the unneeded items and part with those close to your heart can be exhausting. Here are some things you can do:
- Rent a Storage Space: This option makes sense if you plan on eventually moving to a larger house, renovating, or wish to buy some time before deciding what to do with your stuff. Moreover, the median home value in cities like Lewes, Delaware, is $540,200, which is quite higher than the national median home value, which is $204,900. Hence, if you’ve bought a small home, you probably won’t have enough bucks to renovate and incorporate extra storage just yet. It would be best to opt for a self-storage facility. Use keywords such as self storage Lewes De to search for and book a facility ensuring secure and transparent storage of your items until you can make space to move them in.
- Pass Down the Family Heirlooms to Your Relatives: Finding it hard to part with the sentimental items? Don’t worry! You do not have to say goodbye to them forever. There might be an easy chair in the corner of your living room that belonged to your grandma or vintage cutlery of your mother you have always loved. These things would be too dear for you to sell or donate. So instead of parting with them forever, you can consider passing them down to your relatives who will cherish and value those things as you would.
- Sell Your Items: If you have ample time before the move, consider selling the items in good condition and make money from the unwanted stuff. You can do this yourself or take assistance from estate sale companies. They can send someone over to help you with the sale and get a good price out of it.
- Donate: Trying to sell every unwanted thing is time-consuming and will demotivate you from decluttering the rest of your house. Instead, consider selling only the valuable items you believe will bring good money and help you with the move. Other less valuable items that are in good condition can be donated.
Move Systematically:
You might not realize how much stuff you have accumulated after years of living in your large house until you relocate to a smaller one. Sorting out your entire home and life is a big task, but the process will become more manageable if you move systematically. Begin the downsizing process months before the move. You can go from room to room, starting from the least used areas of the house, and sort out the things in three categories: keep, discard, donate/sell. Keep the ‘maybes’ to a minimum, and do not hesitate to toss stuff you no longer need.
Start by making a list of your must-haves that you should bring to your new home. When you start to declutter, get rid of the obvious stuff first that you will, in no way, bring to your new home. It can be broken kitchen equipment you never use or outdated clothes you have forgotten even exist in your closet. When going about the task, try to cut down duplicate items since you probably will not have space to store it. For items you absolutely need duplicates of, consider looking for a key cutting device to make copies of essential keys, which can save space compared to keeping multiple originals.
Be Honest About the Space You Will Have:
While packing, you might find it hard to part with your stuff and delude yourself into thinking that it will, somehow, fit in. However, that won’t be the case, and it will only lead to a congested and cluttered space. Moreover, if it is your first time moving to a smaller house, overestimating its space can be easy while living in a bigger house.
So when packing, it is more practical to have an inventory of your new space to estimate how much can fit in. Measure the dimensions of rooms, doors, and windows and see where each piece of furniture will go and which curtain can adorn the windows. Get rid of it if it doesn’t fit. In this way, you will better understand how much to bring and what to leave behind.
Be Creative with Storage of Your Space:
Once you have pared down your belongings, you are halfway there. The next step is to maximize the space you have in your home and try to incorporate your things without making them look crowded. There are only so many places you can use for storage, so the more you think out of the box, the better your storage capacity will become. Also, your storage containers do not have to look dull and boring. Add a fun element to the design and match them with your color scheme to make them look like a décor.
To maximize storage in a smaller space, go for some life-saving hacks. You can use the vertical space beneath the bathroom and kitchen sinks and staircases by adding customized pullout shelves to give purpose to the otherwise wasted space. Invest in modular furniture that you can modify in different ways to meet your needs. Likewise, you can mount shelves on the walls and use the space at the back of the doors. In this way, you can store things neatly without making them look crammed up.
Conclusion:
There are so many things to love about a smaller house, from lower bills to a cozy environment that brings the family closer. Moving to a smaller house is a perfect opportunity to declutter your life and take a fresh start with the people and things you cherish. So instead of seeing it as a compromise, try looking at things from a different perspective, and you will soon fall in love with the new cozy house you are about to call home.
