If your plans for 2024 include moving into a smaller space, you can’t wait until next spring to do some serious decluttering. As daunting as it may seem to sort through your belongings, weighing out what to keep, what to toss, and what to donate, the results are well worth investing your time and effort.
To help you jump into the process, we have selected seven downsizing tips our realtors have given their clients and used themselves over the years. Let’s get started!
1.) Envision Your Desired Lifestyle
Downsizing is an ideal time to examine your lifestyle as it currently exists; then envision how you plan for it to be this same time next year. For example, if you plan to entertain frequently, you may wish to hang on to kitchen items that will help you do so, as well as allow more room in your new home for a larger table and chairs. If you plan to garden, you will want to hang on to more “dirt-friendly” clothing than you would if your plans centered around wandering through art galleries.
Allow your vision for your future to guide you as you sort through your belongings, and we believe you’ll be happier with the results.
2.) Focus on the Benefits of Your Work
Rather than allowing yourself to get bogged down in the emotional mire that can be associated with letting go of one’s items, you may benefit from remaining focused on the good things you will obtain on the other side of the decluttering process. Your mental health may well improve, you will have fewer objects to take care of, and your new home will be far more comfortable because it will not be over-stuffed.
3.) Sort Through One Zone at a Time
Rather than tackling your home as one singular project, we recommend breaking it up into zones. These zones can be rooms, sections of rooms, categories of belongings (i.e. books or clothing,) or any system that works for your brain. As long as you’re focusing on petite slices rather than the whole pie, your experience of the process will likely be far more pleasant.
4.) Rethink Your Wardrobe’s Purpose
Over time, a great many of us fall into a pattern of buying clothing because we like individual pieces, enjoy shopping, or feel as though we need new versions of an outfit for occasions like weddings, graduations, holiday parties, and even funerals. The result? A closet bursting with more clothing than we know what to do with.
If your new home has limited closet space, imagine that you are going on a month-long vacation this summer. Choose the items you love the most, “pack your bag,” and let the rest go. Repeat the process for each season. Then, choose three party outfits, two holiday outfits, and two funeral outfits. Add accessories for each season and occasion-specific outfit, and you have the makings of a robust wardrobe that will carry you for years to come.
In the future, when you are shopping to add to your wardrobe, consider committing to a “one in, one out” approach. Your wardrobe will stay manageable, and you will be less likely to make impulse purchases.
5.) Weigh Form and Function vs. Sentimental Value
Most of us have formed sentimental attachments to items that aren’t the most practical. While there isn’t any harm in keeping some sentimental belongings, even in your new, smaller home, it makes sense to opt for form and function for the most part.
We can’t keep everything in life, but ultimately your experiences are what makes the things you love special! If you are having mixed feelings about parting with some emotionally charged items, consider taking photos with them, then creating a scrapbook or digital album that includes notes of your most cherished item-specific memories.
6.) Spend on Quality over Quantity
If you plan to purchase new furniture for your home, we suggest splurging on quality now that you don’t have to purchase as many items to fill the space. You may have just one armchair and one small sofa, but if they are beautifully built and sublimely comfortable, they will bring you more joy than a whole fleet of flat-pack furniture ever could.
The same mentality goes for rugs, art, dishes, window treatments, house plants, clothing, and anything else you buy over the course of your life. Less can truly be more when you swap a packed house for a curated collection of special pieces.
7.) Embrace Your Emotions
In a perfect world, your downsizing would be a simple, linear process. You would be delighted with each stage of the journey, and you would never regret having let go of any of your belongings. In the real world, though, this is seldom how it goes. You will experience a range of emotions throughout the sorting process, and down the line, regrets about specific items will hit you. You may even cry!
The good news is that all of this is perfectly normal. Give yourself grace, and keep reminding yourself that pangs of regret do not mean that you made any huge mistakes. Instead, this is your mind and heart adjusting to the way your life is now, and from time to time, you will mentally seek equilibrium by grasping for the past. Accept these feelings as they come, phone a friend for support, then work your way back to the things you love about your new home and your lighter lifestyle.
The Takeaway
You’re about to work very hard to achieve a happy, newly downsized existence. While you’ll experience bumps, bruises, and challenges along the way, you will find a renewed sense of pride and ease with yourself on the other side. Stick with it, and leave us a comment below reporting on your progress!
Posted by Parks Compass on
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