It is often said that one of the top three most stressful things you can ever do is to move house and, frankly, it is all too easy to see why.
There is a wide plethora of reasons why someone may need to downsize their home and, correspondingly, why and where you are moving to significantly influence what you keep and what you leave behind.
With that being said, continue reading for a complete guide to downsizing and how destination and motivation play a huge part in what you take with you.
The multitude of benefits to downsizing your home
There is an oft-quoted phrase that usually accompanies any conversation that is centered on downsizing your home; ‘Downsizing your home means upgrading your life.’
Obviously, in practical terms, nothing is ever that simple and it may well be that you are being forced to downsize your home because of money reasons rather than the desire to live in a smaller home. However, there are a vast multitude of advantages to downsizing a property so, if you are one of those who is reluctantly packing their bags, being reminded of such benefits here may well help.
- A smaller home is much better for the environment, with its lower overall carbon footprint. From the beginning of the build, right through to the day-to-day running of the property, smaller buildings require significantly less resources and have fewer negative impacts on the eco-system of the planet.
- A smaller home literally affords you more time to do the things you love. Cleaning and other general day-to-day household maintenance and other chores invariably take up a significant part of your day. Quite simply, with a smaller, more manageable home there is less floor space that you are responsible for maintaining.
- A smaller home forces you to declutter and remove from your life material possessions you simply do not need anymore. If a tidy house does indeed result in the proverbial tidy mind, then right from when you begin to downsize your belongings, see it as a mental clean sweep of your life and an altogether positive move.
- A smaller home is, quite naturally and understandably, usually going to cost significantly less than a larger property. As a result, if, later down the line, you wish to sell your new home, then your house is going to be affordable to more people than a larger one.
Downsizing because the children have moved out of the home
If the reason that you have decided to a smaller home is simply that your current property is now too large for just you and your partner, it is time to be ruthless when deciding what to keep and what to give, or throw, away.
Just think of how tidy, clean and altogether organized your new home will be without one or more extra person’s belongings, mess and general presence in your home. Naturally, as parents, it is your unwritten duty to safely and securely store childhood memories, treasured toys and school memorabilia and reports from teachers, but that still leaves a lot of extra, unwanted items that you can either throw away or give to charity.
Downsizing to pay off large debt
It would be pertinent to point out that if indeed the reason that you are downsizing your home is to pay of a significantly large debt, it is wise to contact the relevant people to see if there isn’t another way to manage the debt without having to sell your home.
If, however, you have already weighed up the pros and cons and you have decided to downsize, then logically anything within your home, that you of course are not overtly sentimentally attached to, can be sold prior to the move rather than packing it just to sell it on from your new home.
As a rough guide, appliances are not usually overly sought after by buyers looking for a cheap deal, mainly due to the plethora of free websites and apps that allow people to get rid of their old appliances and furniture at no cost to either party.
Downsizing to move to assisted living facilities
If you yourself, or moreover a loved one or close family friend, is downsizing their home in preparation to move to an assisted living facility, they will possibly be unable to take a large amount of bigger, bulkier appliances and pieces of furniture.
In this particular situation, it is important to focus on the positive and, crucially, pack a ‘first morning’ bag or box with sentimental items as well as recognized daily items that you or your loved one use all the time. If there does happen to be bulkier items that you are reluctant to part with, there are a host of local storage options available as well as friends and other family members who may be able to store your larger items on a more permanent basis.
Established and experienced assisted living facilities, such as senior living Calabasas, are fully open to each resident personalizing and designing their own apartments and rooms as well as furnishing them as they desire.
Downsizing because of the breakdown of a relationship
If the reason you are moving to a smaller property is because your partnership with your spouse has come to a (hopefully amicable) end, then downsizing your home and choosing what to take with you and what to leave behind is significantly easier.
Any items that you have both agreed belong to you certainly do not have to automatically come with you to your new property and, if they have particular sentiment and memories attached, you may prefer to donate the piece and start wholly afresh.
Downsizing your home after a divorce or other relationship breakdown does not stop when you move into your new home and involves a mental decluttering just as much as a physical one.
