3 Things You Can Do To Make Downsizing Your Home Easier
The urge to simplify life by moving to a smaller home arises for many people as they enter retirement. For others, it’s a minimalist impulse to live more sustainably with fewer possessions and consume less of earth’s limited resources.
Whatever your reason, preparing for a move to a smaller home requires editing your possessions, getting rid of junk and clutter, and packing only what is necessary to live comfortably in your new home. It sounds like a massive chore, but here are three things you can do to make downsizing your home easier.
Start Early
If you plan to downsize, get busy getting rid of unneeded possessions right away. Even if you haven’t chosen your new home yet, giving yourself a head start on sorting your stuff will pay off when moving day rolls around.
Stop Buying Stuff
If you think you’ll need new or smaller furniture for your downsized life, don’t buy it now. Take only what you’ll need to get started in your new home, plus the things that matter and will make a new house feel like your home.
Develop a System
The most helpful tip among the three things you can do to make downsizing your home easier may be the idea of using a systematic approach. Several different systems exist for decluttering. Choose the one that makes sense to you. Some options are:
The category method: Popularized by Marie Kondo, this is a way of sorting your possessions by categories such as clothes, books, photographs, artworks, or souvenirs. Assess each item according to whether it sparks joy. If it doesn’t, it’s time to let it go.
One room at a time method: Tackle an entire room at a time, paring it down to only those things you need and love. Don’t keep broken things unless they have extreme sentimental value.
The four box method: You’ll likely need far more than four boxes for this, but the labels for the boxes are keep, donate, sell, or toss/recycle. A good rule of thumb when choosing objects for disposal is that if you haven’t used something in the past year, you probably don’t need to keep it.
Dispose of trashed items responsibly. The best way to do this with a whole-house cleanout is to rent a dumpster. A 10-yard roll-off dumpster is usually enough to contain the junk you’re tossing in preparation for downsizing. The dumpster rental company is responsible for disposing of the contents of the dumpster in an appropriate way by taking it to a designated landfill.
If you’re getting rid of electronics, such as extra television sets or old computer monitors, special rules apply. Find out from your local solid waste agency where you can drop these items off for recycling. Good luck with your move and your new, simpler life!