Most everyone will admit that they have more stuff than they need or use regularly. Perhaps you’re an empty nester or are considering a move to smaller quarters. If so, a major downsizing project may be in your future.
The problem is that people often don’t know how to get started downsizing. They get stuck and procrastinate because the whole project seems overwhelming. If you are planning to downsize, before you do anything, give some thought to these downsizing tips:
Remember the Math
If you are planning a move, but you don’t yet have a destination, remember you probably have many years of accumulated possessions. You will need to determine what to do with them – bring them with you, give them to relatives or friends, sell them, donate them to charity, or dispose of them. If you’ve spent 20, 30 40 or more years accumulating items, it will realistically take quite some time to go through all of the accumulation in detail and determine what to do with it. More realistically, you should focus on what will definitely go with you in the move and understand that items tucked into attics, cellars, closets, cabinets and other “hidden spaces” may deserve and require only a cursory review to determine their final disposition. If you have the luxury of an extended time period before your move, don’t delay in addressing your possessions! Use the time when you’re not under pressure to give due consideration to your decisions.
Remember the Math – Part Two
If you are downsizing or moving to a smaller space, you are most likely moving from a 3,000 sq.ft. home (or more) to a residence of 1,200 to 1,500 sq. ft, at most and there will likely be much less storage space, closets and kitchen area. That is a significant difference! A floor plan created to scale is very helpful in knowing exactly how much furniture, accessories, and household goods you can move to your new home.
Consider Your Lifestyle
Your current home may have a formal living or dining room with all of the associated china, crystal and sterling, but in the future, is it reasonable to think that you’ll be entertaining to that scale? Be realistic about how to use the space you’ll have. An uncluttered floor plan where you maximize the living space to match your lifestyle is more practical. Consider how much time – and stuff – you need to eat, sleep, do hobbies, watch TV, read, work on your computer or pay bills, etc.
Pick Your Battles
Determine what items are most important to move. Partners and couples often find that they need to work out space assignments in the new, smaller home to accommodate all of the possessions and rooms each person had in the previous residence. Work independently to review and make decisions. It’s always the other persons “stuff” but my “treasures”. Avoid increasing the stress of the move and decision process by thrusting heirlooms on family members. Instead, open a discussion of what they might like. Our clients are often surprised by the answers as the desired items tend to be of significant meaning vs. value.
Understand Your MOST Important Role:
It is very easy to get sucked into the gratification of making some decisions and immediately dealing with what will likely be small amounts of your possessions – perhaps making multiple trips per week to the dump or dropping off small loads of books to the library or clothes to the donation drop boxes. Again, if you have the luxury of an extended period of time before your move, this may be a good use of your time and energy. If you are looking at a significant downsize within a 6 month period, you need to understand that anyone can do all of the lifting and toting necessary to disposition items. What NO ONE else can do is make the decision to keep an item or not. Only you can do that and the process can be time consuming and exhausting mentally, emotionally and physically. Leave the heavy lifting for someone else and embrace your role as Chief Decision Maker.
Family and Friends to Help
What role would you like family and friends to take in assisting with decluttering? Often family and friends have the best intentions of being able to assist with this process but then find that their schedules or sorting and organizing styles don’t mesh with yours. We find that our clients usually need to balance assistance from multiple sources including professionals.
How to Get Started
Pick a category of items or space to start your downsizing project. Tackle the books, for instance, or clothing, tools, expired medications and food, or paperwork. Or you can work on a specific space such as closets, kitchen, etc. Concentrate on this one category area before moving on to another. Don’t flit from space to space or your home will soon look like a bomb went off with unfinished piles everywhere.
Dedicate the Time
Schedule your decluttering sessions and treat them as you would a doctor’s appointment. You should plan for at least once/week and perhaps more depending on how much lead time you have until your move. Dedicate a solid three-hour increment for each session. Don’t take telephone calls during this time. Plan for no distractions. Downsizing is a process that needs to be worked on in successive sessions. Otherwise, you will find you haven’t completed the tasks when you are ready to move.
Even with proper planning and diligent scheduling and decluttering, your efforts may need a review and a second round of efforts by a professional move manager who will assist in bringing the project to completion. A move manager’s responsibilities include arranging for a moving company; shipping of items that you are giving to family or friends; providing resources for the sale and/or donations of some furnishings or household goods; and organizing the disposal of unwanted items.
If you have questions about downsizing or want to get started with a move manager, call Marie at 617-513-0433 or email her at Transitions Liquidation Services.