Downsizing Your Home: The 3 Factors to Consider

Table of Contents

1. Find the Right House
2. Sort Through Your Belongings
3. Store Your Belongings
4. So, when should you decide to downsize your home?

There are many reasons behind a person deciding to downsize and move into a smaller property, with the most popular explanation being that their children have moved out and no longer require as much space.

For some, this can be an emotional and daunting experience, not only because they leave the family home behind and all the memories associated with that particular property, but also because the massive task of sorting through and decluttering all your possessions can cause the calmest of people to sweat. If you are considering downsizing, here are some important things to think about.

Find the Right House

Downsizing is not the simple act of finding a smaller home. Rather, it is finding a house that will suit your needs on a long-term basis. For instance, you may dream about having a large garden for you to tend to, but in ten- or twenty years, will you be able to care for the plants and outdoor space? The same goes for stairs. An elegant and steep staircase sounds charming, but that staircase may not be manageable in a few years.

Luckily, there are many housing types to consider. You may want to consider a bungalow and eliminate the risks of not coping with a staircase in the coming years. Or, if you would like to surround yourself with people of a similar age and lifestyle to you, you may want to move into a retirement flat located in a retirement village.

Sort Through Your Belongings

You will not be able to take all your belongings along with you, and even if you were moving to a similar-sized property, you should always use moving as an excuse to declutter and sort through your belongings. That being said, this doesn’t mean you should throw away items you will have to repurchase once the move is complete. For example, you’ll want to pack all your cleaning supplies (unless they are dirty or almost empty) and move them into the new home. However, you should sort through and donate/sell any books, clothes, cutlery, and furniture you may have stored in the attic, basement, or garage.

Ideally, it would help if you reinforced the one-year rule. If you haven’t used something for a whole year, you should toss, donate, or sell the item in question. Enlist the help of a friend or family member who you trust when decluttering, as certain items you have no use for may be difficult to part with. They will be able to be the voice of reason and provide a good judgment as to whether you should keep it or throw it away.

Store Your Belongings

Moving house takes a lot of time and energy. You will want to start packing up your belongings and storing them out of the way a few weeks before the initial move, streamlining the whole process. What’s more, if you are unsure about a few furniture pieces, you can move them into a storage unit for the time being and move them out and into the home when you know you have space for them.

Find a personal storage unit like those offered by Safestore. Through them, you can store your furniture while moving and decluttering and decide whether you need to store your items short or long-term. By storing your items with Safestore, you can reduce the level of stress usually associated with moving to a new house and focus on settling into your new humble abode.

Moving home is no easy task, and when it comes to downsizing, there can be even more added pressure. Be vigilant when it comes to decluttering your home and moving to a smaller space. The last thing you want is to be overwhelmed and overrun by unnecessary furniture and items you have had no use for over the past few years.

So, when should you decide to downsize your home?

Others fancy a change. As mentioned earlier, moving home can cause a lot of stress, particularly with furniture and wardrobes, which you may need to move in transit. It may seem like a small thing to put off moving home, but many people struggle with the stress of moving home. If you are not one of these people and plenty, you may fancy a change of scenery or location.

You can do many things to a home, like changing the wallpaper, furniture, and other parts of the décor, but you cannot change a home’s location. If you want to be closer to walking routes or for work purposes, you sometimes have no choice but to move home. Not everyone fancies a long commute to work. That’s why a change of location would be required.

Conclusion

Ultimately, when it comes to downsizing your home, it is a matter of opinion and circumstance. Some people move home because there are memories that they hold that they associate with that home. It is easier to get away from it, particularly if those memories are not particularly cheerful.

Have you ever heard of “less is more?”. This is why some people opt to purchase a new home. Children may have moved away to University or other Educational places of residence. If your children have moved away, you may need to think about the 3 factors that need to be considered if you are downsizing your home.

Some studies have highlighted that saving money has been a reason why people have downsized previously. This is perhaps the most obvious reason, which can be attributed to many other reasons. No one wants to be paying for an empty room in their home, so it makes sense to get a smaller-sized home.

So, whilst we live in an era where bigger is better, there are many reasons to downsize your home. Whatever the reasons are, make sure you factor in all the considerations mentioned above if you are thinking about moving to a smaller but better home.

Thank you for reading!