If you are considering moving into a smaller home, there are steps you can take to keep yourself on track.
There is no perfect age or ideal point in your life to downsize your home. Everyone’s life situation is different. You might just want a smaller living space or maybe some members of your family have moved out. Downsizing your home is completely situation dependent. If you are considering moving into a smaller home, there are steps you can take to keep yourself on track.
Our 5 Tips When Downsizing:
- Identify your top reasons for downsizing
- Assess space on your second viewing
- Be ruthless with your belongings
- Consolidate where you can
- Use a storage facility
Identify Your Top Reasons For Downsizing
Are you downsizing to save money on utility bills? Have your kids moved out and you have too much space for just you or you and your partner? Have you recently gotten out of a long term relationship?
There are numerous reasons for downsizing. Whether it’s to reduce costs or extra space, keep this in mind as you look for new properties to find the perfect one that suits your new needs.
Assess space on your second viewing
It’s normal to view a house more than once. The first time around there is a lot to take in such as the new layout, what the garden looks like, how many bedrooms and bathrooms there are.
In your second viewing, go in with a clear goal, to assess if your belongings will fit. You can measure your furniture ahead of time and take a tape measure with you to make sure your couch and bookcases will fit. This can also help you identify items that you might have to donate, throw away or put in storage.
Be Ruthless With Your Belongings
When you downsize your home, it’s a given that not as many items are going to fit in your new house as your old one. You may need to spend time going through each room and deciding what you are taking to your new home or what you are donating or placing in storage.
Being forgiving with this process only means that you will have a similar number of belongings in a much smaller space, leading to more clutter as items fill up smaller rooms. Getting a house clearance is a great way to prevent hoarding.
Consolidate Where You Can
Do you have two existing rooms that could be combined into one? For example a study with a desk in it that could be moved to be in a living room? You may have items in multiple rooms that could easily be combined into one room in your new house.
Take note of what could be consolidated as this will help you when moving in.
Use A Storage Facility
Our Irvine storage facility exists for a reason - to help you get belongings out of your house to create space. Even when being ruthless with your belongings, there may be items that you want to use again but currently don’t have a place for.
With your own private storage unit, you can place items in storage for either the short or long term. You also have access to your unit whenever you need, so your items are never far away.
Downsizing your home can enable you to save money and gives you an opportunity to clear out old belongings you no longer need. Follow our advice for an even smoother downsizing experience.
Contact Us
Thinking about downsizing to a smaller home? Reach out to Hanlon Brothers today to discuss what your removal requirements are. Our dedicated house removals team is happy to help with any enquiry and aims to provide the right service for you at all times.
