Not The End of The World: Guide to Moving Into A Smaller Place

According to some Dallas movers, In our day and age of consumer living, collecting an enormous amount of stuff is much too easy to do.

The vast amount of things we gather around us may not be all that noticeable depending on the size of home we keep until that is, the time comes to move into a smaller place. What if you decided to become an immigrant and move to a completely new country? Chances are you may face a different real estate market with expensive small places all over the local rental platforms.  There may be plenty of reasons why you may get yourself a smaller place. Today it’s time to resolve the consequences, not the reasons.

You may start preparing for your move, canceling old utilities, activating new ones, hiring a moving van, and changing your address with all of the essential entities, while never thinking about what moving into a smaller place means. You may not realize how life-changing it can be, until the day you begin unpacking your new home.

The slow realization that you have way more than your new, smaller abode is capable of accommodating will finally hit you. What you’ll be left with is a whole lot of clutter to clear out before you can start enjoying your new home, and no clue as to where to begin.

Think a few steps ahead, and you’ll be on your way to moving through a smooth transition from your bigger home, to your smaller, but more efficient new dwelling.

Create Piles

You must be objective as possible as you attempt to downsize your belongings. This process has only a small bit of room for sentimentality. That being said, you should keep those things that hold the most meaning for you, but your standards should be strict.

Start with the things you neither need nor care about. Divide those things into three piles: donation, friends and family, trash, and recycle. The donation pile shall consist of things you don’t think any friends or family will ever have a use for, but that can be useful to someone. Friends and family piles are for those items you know someone specific in your circles will want. The recycle pile is for items that aren’t suitable for donation but can be recycled. And, the trash pile is pretty apparent. It’s for all of those things that are neither suitable for the other three piles.

Move Room By Room

Begin with the easiest room first. For some people, downsizing can be an emotionally trying event. By starting with the room that contains minimal amounts of sentimental items, you can slowly work up the courage to tackle the areas that may give you the most heartache when deciding with what you should part.

For many, the easiest room to start the process is the kitchen. It’s a room most people use every day, so identifying the items they haven’t used in over a year is quick and simple. Think about what you need, and what you don’t. A smaller house means a smaller kitchen.

If you have more than one kind of a particular type of item, consider just taking one with you. If you haven’t used it in over a year, and it’s not a piece of valuable china you only use on holidays, then it may just be worth donating. If you have some items that you love, but you don’t need, those are the things perfect for gifting to friends or family.

As you finish with the kitchen and move on to the next room, each room that you create piles for should become easier and easier to process. Once you’ve completed one room, you’ll have a better sense for what you really need and what you can live without.

Plan Ahead

Decluttering and downsizing can be stressful. For that reason alone, beginning the process a few months before your scheduled move will allow room for moving at your own pace. Take a week per room, and if you end up moving faster than that, then you’ll finish ahead of schedule.

If you have a lot of items to sort through, your donation and give away piles may be quite big. By doing one room at a time, you can get those piles where they need to go before moving on to the next room. That way you don’t have massive piles at the end that become overwhelming to get from your house to its ultimate destination.

Digitize When You Can

The hardest part of downsizing is letting go of items that have an emotional attachment. There are some steps you can take to mitigate that. If you have a good deal of mementos, instead of keeping the actual item, consider taking a picture of it, and digitizing it. Once you’ve moved, you can create a photo album of all of your favorite memories including pictures of those items.

For memories that have their hold over more than one item, choose the most important of the group, and let go of the rest. For example, if you have a handful of souvenirs from your favorite vacation, but you really have no practical use for any of them, choose your favorite of the bunch, and give away the rest.

Get Creative With Storage

Once you’ve downsized your current home, you’ll need to plan on how you’ll be storing all the things you have left that will be headed to your new home. Consider what furniture items you have now that have built-in storage, and research what other storage options you can purchase that will do well in your new home. Coffee tables, ottomans, benches, beds, and more all come with hidden storage you can capitalize on. This will be very helpful if you’re making a long distance move, especially.

Pack With Purpose

Lastly, pack your items based on priority. All your must-have items: cooking utensils, small appliances, technology, and clothing, should go in boxes that are identified as high priority. The second set of boxes should contain those items you use but don’t absolutely need. The third set should include things you love, but really don’t need at all. When you arrive at your new home, unpack the first set of boxes first.

This process will get you established in your new home. Next, open the second set at your own pace. When you’ve finished, assess how much space you have left. Depending on the available room left, you may have to start weeding through the third set of boxes, again donating items you have no room for.