Downsizing Tips

People choose to downsize for various reasons. Perhaps your children have grown up and moved out, leaving you with a larger property than you need. Some individuals downsize to save money on bills, alleviating financial stress; a two-bedroom apartment will generally be more economical to manage than a four-bedroom house (and the mortgage rate is likely to be lower as well!). Others may downsize due to medical needs, such as requiring a ground-floor apartment instead of a townhouse with too many stairs.

Whatever your reason for downsizing, we have outlined the best tips to help you get started:

1. Set a target

The first step to motivating yourself is to establish a target date by which you will complete the downsizing process. Essentially, downsizing your home means reducing your belongings to fit into your new living space. If you’ve had an offer accepted on a new home, the estimated completion date can serve as your target. If you’re not at this point yet, set a reasonable target that makes sense for you – be it three months, six months, or a year. Remember, life can get in the way sometimes, and it’s perfectly acceptable to push back your target date; this is for your benefit so you can work at your own pace.

2. Go room by room

Tackling everything at once can feel overwhelming, especially once you’ve set a target completion date. For this reason, we recommend addressing your belongings room by room. Some prefer to start from the top of the house and work their way down, while others may choose rooms as they see fit—there’s no right or wrong way! Don’t forget to include areas like the loft, garage, or garden shed; these spaces often contain items you forgot you had.

3. Sort your belongings into three categories

When you start in a room, it’s crucial to sort through everything efficiently (avoiding picking up the same item multiple times). We suggest sorting your items into three categories: keep, discard, and donate/sell.

• Keep: This category includes items you can’t live without. Once you have these items together, consider whether they can be stored differently or placed in another room in your new home to save space.
• Discard: This category consists of items you no longer need or want. Consider whether you can throw away those items in your regular rubbish bin or if you need to take them to your local recycling centre.
• Donate/Sell: This category is for items you no longer want but are still in good condition. It can be challenging to determine whether to donate or sell an item; sometimes, it helps to ask a friend or family member for a second opinion. If items are in good condition, consider selling them to generate some extra cash. You can sell through local community groups, car boot sales, or online platforms. Just keep in mind that factors like age and condition can influence what people are willing to pay. If selling isn’t an option, you can always donate to a charity shop or charitable cause to extend the item’s lifecycle.

A helpful tip for sorting is to apply the one-year rule: if you haven’t used an item in the last 12 months, it’s likely you don’t need it.

4. Ensure everything will fit in your new home

Once you’ve gone through your belongings room by room, it’s time to focus on the logistics of your downsizing. Will everything you wish to keep realistically fit into your new home? If you don’t have floor plans with measurements for your new place, schedule another viewing to take measurements and better visualise the space.

Consider the following points:

– Will all of your furniture fit?

– How will it be arranged?

Planning the furniture layout in advance can save you a lot of hassle on moving day and help create more space. Once you’ve found placements for the larger items, also consider the available storage space in your new property and what items can be stored there. While you won’t need to have a place for everything you own, it’s helpful to have a rough idea of how your belongings can comfortably fit in the new home. Think about your move-in day and plan accordingly – for example, knowing that one box can go directly into the bedroom and another can be placed in the under-stairs cupboard will streamline the process.

Final thoughts

It’s not to say that when it comes to the final move, plans may change and you may wish to get rid of more items than you initially thought or rearrange the furniture not according to the plan, but that’s just part of moving. Hopefully, by using these methods, you will be more organised with it and you can downsize confidently. You won’t know exactly how you want your new home to be laid out until you have lived there, so some road testing will be expected. Happy downsizing!