What to do when it comes to downsizing
Downsizing your property can be quite an emotional upheaval. You can feel really sad to be leaving your home, but at the same time excited to be embarking on a new adventure and starting a new life.
People downsize for many different reasons, it could be due to your children flying the nest, or perhaps you are moving in with a significant other. Either way, you are going to have to work out how to make the transition as smoothly as possible:
Choose a Suitable Home
You need to consider the main reasons that you are downsizing in the first place, in order to find the right house to move into. Decide what is most important to you in terms of location, lifestyle, friends and family, and then get in touch with an estate agent.
They will be able to provide advice on different areas you are considering moving to, but it always helps to do a bit of research yourself too. Make sure you don’t rush into anything, as downsizing is a big step.
Assess Your Belongings
Write a list of all your belongings and one by one go through them and decide whether it is something you use regularly and if it came to it, whether you would replace it if for some reason you were without it.
You may find that a few of your things have actually just been sat gathering dust for a while and you could actually do without them when you move – this is a great place to start when it comes to packing up your belongings.
Measure Your Furniture
You may love your king size bed and the dresser in the spare room, but If you are moving to a smaller house how can you be sure that all your furniture will fit in the intended rooms?
Measure all your furniture one by one and then measure the space you have to put it in – take a floor plan away with you if possible. There is also software you can use that will help you visualise your space online so you know where everything will fit before moving in.
Prepare for the Move
If you are going to need a removal van to help with all your belongings, then make sure you have booked them a couple of months in advance so they know which day to come and help.
Check you have changed your address with the bank and your utility providers, and set up a redirect service with the Post Office for a few months so that you have the chance to give everyone your new address.
Pack Systematically
Once you have decided what you want to keep, what will fit into your new home, and what you are going to throw away or give to charity, it’s time to pack everything up.
Use a clear system that will help you unpack at the other end, such as categorizing boxes by the room they will go in and the level of priority they have when it comes to unpacking them.
Unpack Systematically
Move larger items into your new home first, you will have more energy at the start of your move and it will help to give you a better indication of what fits where, and how you can fit smaller items into different rooms.
Place your furniture and belongings in the correct room as you go, because you don’t want to end up wading through boxes when you are trying to unpack smaller bits and bobs.