It goes without saying that moving is stressful. Moving from a larger home to a smaller home can be even more stressful. Sure, when you lived in your large home you had the square footage to hang on to every meaningful knick-knack and item of memorabilia, grandma’s antique credenza, and that bread maker that’s been collecting dust in your food pantry (but you swear you’re going to use it! You just found a cool bread recipe on Pinterest…).
Zillow.com has formulated a way to go about downsizing, through this easy to follow how-to:
Inventory
Making a list of everything you own, its current condition, market value, and any additional details you think should be taken into consideration about the item is a good place to start. Double-check you've included everything on your list by doing a walk-through of your house – this will help you weigh what goes and what goes away, and it can serve as a packing list for later.
Make a plan
Planning the furniture scheme of your new place will easily reveal what furniture pieces fit and which ones will not. Be as precise as possible when creating your floor plan – you don’t want to short yourself on space but you also don’t want to grant yourself too much room either. Consider your bulkier pieces of furniture and whether or not you can fit them through doorways of your new place. This step alone can help you cut down on the pieces of furniture you’ll bring to your new, smaller home.
Weigh the options
Ask yourself, is it truly worth the move? Consider these factors before opting to move all your personal property:
- Climate - Ditch anything that doesn’t make sense at your new location (i.e. your lawnmower probably doesn’t need to go with you to a condo or apartment where landscaping is often taken care of by your landlord).
- Cost vs Value - Is it more cost-efficient to sell the classic car you’ve been working on for a couple of years than it will be to find a storage situation at the new place? Maybe hanging on to your kid’s old toys and the priceless painting you inherited from your grandfather is more valuable to you than some other, more space-consuming belongings?
- Sensibility – Anything that is broken or dated you should consider discarding. If you haven’t touched it in a year, it should probably be tossed.
Organize
The time to purge old food, papers, and anything teetering on the edge of “clutter” is now. Check out our Spring Cleaning blog to help guide your decluttering spree.
Stay focused
Give yourself plenty of time to evaluate your belongings, their condition, and what will make the final cut. You don’t want to rush your process and discard something you may actually need or the opposite, and end up with too much stuff for your new space.
Source: http://www.zillow.com/blog/5-steps-to-downsizing-193633/