4 Steps to Downsizing Your Home Prior to a Move

Are you planning to move to a smaller property from your current home? If so, you’re not alone in that regard. Whether it’s due to retirement, divorce, a drop in income, children leaving home, or another reason, more and more people in the United States are deciding to downsize their homes.

Yet before making the move, a lot of work is required to downsize effectively. This involves the challenging and tedious process of deciding what possessions to keep and which to move on. If you get it right, however, the entire process can be liberating.

To help reduce your stress levels and make the move a successful one, here are four steps to downsizing your home. 

1. Start early

Downsizing is not something you can complete in a weekend. In fact, depending on how many possessions you have accumulated over the years, you might need a month or even longer to complete the process.

As a result, it is essential you start early. This way, you won’t be rushing around trying to get everything done – ideal for a less stressful downsizing experience.

2. The picking and passing process

This is where most of your work will be done during the downsizing. You have to pick what items you will keep for the big move and which you will have to pass on – either due to lack of space or not needing them any longer.

Start by downsizing the big stuff like beds, sofas, and tables. You have greater room for error with smaller possessions as they obviously don’t take up as much space. Plus, always try and avoid throwing away items that you will later need to repurchase.

3. Sell what you can

Certain items will be destined for the dumpster. That’s only natural. However, most of your possessions will still have value to others. If you don’t plan on donating them to goodwill, there are various ways to sell your items. Not only does this help to move on your belongings, but you can also make some money at the same time.

Yard sales and flea markets are always an effective way to sell, while the internet has many options to list your items and maximize their selling price – including eBay, Craigslist, and various smartphone apps.

However, there sometimes may be items that you just can’t sell or donate, perhaps because it’s too damaged or simply just not wanted by anyone. If this is such then a house clearance of the remaining items may be in order, and for this a dumpster proves to be an excellent tool as it will allow you to get everything taken away at once by a professional service. You may be asking yourself, however, how do I choose the right dumpster? It is a perfectly easy task, and all you’ll need to do is have a look at the supplier’s site to see what options they have and which they’d recommend for a house clearance like yours.

4. Pick the right mover

Once you have all of your remaining possessions packed and ready to go, there’s one last step required: getting them to your new home. Once you type into Google “movers near me“, don’t automatically assume the first moving company to pop up is the best option. In fact you may narrow your search by putting something like “long distance movers in London Ontario Canada” in your search bar.

There are various points to consider. For instance, you want a mover who has a strong reputation and has years of expertise under their belt. Plus, while you will want to find an affordable service, don’t simply go with the cheapest choice available. The last thing you want is for any of your items to become damaged during transit, which will cost you more than that initial cheap price.