Five Tips For Downsizing
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- Communicate your plans with your family and/or support system. Enlist their help…if you want it J When everyone is well informed, it makes the rest of the road smoother!
- Go through your home with 4-5 different colored sticky notes. This will help you visualize what you will be bringing with you and what you will be getting rid of.
- Green - items you absolutely can’t live without
- Blue - items you would like to take if you have room
- Yellow - items you want to give to family members
- iWrite the family member’s name on the notes
- Orange - items you plan to sell
- Pink - items you wish to donate
- If possible, get a floor plan of your new apartment/home that is drawn to scale so you can play with different layouts – again, this will help you visualize what your home will look like!
- Live with this arrangement for a week or so – this is a big move, and an emotional one, be patient with yourself! Let the visuals sink in so that you have a chance to get used to what you will be keeping, donating, etc. Don’t worry how old or ‘unfashionable’ the items are, if you love them, keep them.
- Don’t do a yard sale! Especially if you have lots of antiques and valuable items. Interview a few estate sale companies to help you with the sale of items you aren’t taking with you – and if at all possible, do it after you move. This seems counter-intuitive, but many people fill the moving trucks with much more than they need, so this gives you the opportunity to sell whatever you can’t fit without having to have two sales. It is also safer than having strangers come to your home while you are still living there.
