Minimize Your Home Now to Have a Simple Downsize Later

Do you ever think about moving to a smaller place? Whether this is an event in the near future or one that is still years down the road, it is never too soon to get a head start. At a recent meeting of the virtual Minimal Quest group, two professional organizers and I talked about how to minimize your home now to have a simple downsize later.

The process of downsizing is the ultimate “minimalism” experience. It challenges us to clearly identify what matters most in our lives, and then to let go of everything else. The good news is, decluttering with this mindset not only eases the process of downsizing, but it also helps us experience a more pleasant home right now.

At Tuesday’s meetup, we discussed six steps to keep in mind when you are downsizing.

1. Start With the End in Mind

With any project, it is important to have a clear idea of exactly what you are trying to achieve. Clarifying your “why” is always a good idea because it helps you make decisions. For instance, you may want to downsize because:

• You want to be responsible for less home maintenance.
• You want to move to a home where you won’t need to take care of yard work.
• You want to live all on one level instead of in a home with stairs.
• You want to be closer to family.
• You want healthcare assistance close by or on-site.
• You want to be able to walk to town.

Knowing your goals for moving will help you prepare to move.

If possible, it is very helpful to have an idea of what size and type of living environment you are moving to. When I work with clients who are downsizing, we draw up a digital floorplan of the new place so we can see which pieces of furniture might fit.

It is also a good idea to have a timeline in mind. For example, do you wish to move in a year? Six months? Within five years? Having an “end date” will help you set deadlines for the various pre-move projects you need to complete.

2. Embrace Limitations

It might seem like moving to a smaller home is mostly a negative process. People dread letting go and living with less. However, limitations can actually be incredibly freeing. When we have boundless space, it is tempting to just keep everything. In contrast, if we have limited space, it is physically impossible to keep everything. Knowing that we truly cannot accommodate all the things we currently own helps us feel less guilty about letting them go.

Rather than think about the limitations of your new space as restrictions, think of them as parameters that will help you make decisions about what to keep and what to let go. For instance, if you are moving into a one-bedroom condo with a small kitchen, you likely won’t need your large set of holiday entertaining dishes. You also won’t need to hold onto three sizes of bed sheets, but instead can simply bring the size that fits the one bed you will be using.

3. Assemble Your Team

Preparing to downsize a home is not a minor undertaking, and it is one that is most easily accomplished by assembling a team to help you throughout the process. Your team might include:

• Professional Organizer or Senior Move Manager
• Realtor, Real Estate Attorney
• Stager
• Cleaning Crew
• Charitable Organizations
• Junk Hauler
• Auction House/Reseller
• Electronics Recycler
• Shredding Company
• Mover
• Family
• Friends

Few people downsize all by themselves, so don’t feel guilty about calling in some reinforcements. Reviewing and making decisions about a house full of belongings can feel overwhelming and emotionally challenging. Professionals typically have access to tricks, resources, and processes that the average person does not.

4. Be Prepared to Look at “Everything”

Decluttering (aka “cycling items out of your space”) should be an ongoing process, whether you are downsizing or not. The main difference between everyday organizing and downsizing is quantity. With daily organizing, we can pick and choose what we wish to focus on, whereas when we are downsizing, we will need to tackle everything we own. This is why time is always an ally when downsizing! Now will be the time to deal with some common categories of belongings that you may otherwise have set aside to deal with “in the future.” Common items include:

Old audio and video

Lots of us have collections of LPs, CDs, DVDs, VHS-Cs, VHS tapes, and other “antiquated” media. Whether we like it or not, technology is constantly changing, and most music and videos are now enjoyed in a digital format.

As a result, now is the time to honestly assess how important the contents of your old media is, and in what format you wish to keep it going forward. Since the hardware for playing old media is getting harder and harder to access, any content that you truly wish to preserve should be digitized. You can purchase devices on Amazon to transfer media from the older formats to digital files, or you can hire a company like Legacy Box to do this for you. Be aware that this process will cost money, and it might be time/labor intensive. Admittedly, if this is a DVD of your daughter performing the leading role in her high school musical, it may be worth the investment. However, if this is an old video that you could simply stream for a couple of dollars, it might not be.

Photographs

Most people above a certain age have a collection of printed photographs. Some may be in albums, while others may be loose in boxes or bins. The first step in tackling photographs is to gather them together. Once you have them in one place, I suggest that you chip away at your collection (e.g., one pile a day) to decide which photographs are truly worth bringing to your next home. Generally, I tell people to let go of photographs that are:

• Blurry
• Unflattering
• Duplicates
• Photos which have no emotional importance (e.g., the animals you saw at the zoo)
• Damaged

Once you have whittled your collection down, you can simply move it “as is” to your next home or digitize your collection. For instance, you can send your photos to a company like Fotobridge.com who will scan them all and give you digital versions in return. Again, as with the analog media, this will cost money and/or take time on your part.

Old Electronics

Most people have old computers and cell phones lying around. We may not be sure what to do with them, and we may worry that there is data on them that we want to save.

The first step is to charge the old devices. Once you can turn them on, extract anything you want onto a thumb drive or transfer it directly to your current device. If it is photos you want to save, you can use a product like Picture Keeper to find and save them.

Once you have removed what you want, go online and look up instructions for how to wipe sensitive data from your specific device. If you cannot charge your device, or if you are concerned that your efforts to wipe your device may be insufficient, another alternative is to remove the hard drive and smash it with a hammer or drill holes in it with a drill.

Once you feel comfortable with the ‘cleanliness’ of your devices, take them to a place for electronics recycling, such as your local transfer station’s recycling program, or a national resource like Green Disk or Best Buy.

Memorabilia

When we have a large home, we may accumulate memorabilia without realizing how much we have kept. When preparing to downsize, it is time to review and curate the collection. First, gather some clear, plastic bins into which you can put the memorabilia you decide to keep. Now go through what you have, boxing up the “keeps” and pitching the rest. Remember, this should actually be a fun process – that’s why we keep memorabilia in the first place! While decluttering is good, don’t feel like you have to get rid of everything. After all, memorabilia is the one type of possession you cannot easily replace. Focus on keeping the things to which you have a strong and positive emotional connection.

Broken and Unused Items

Many of us have items in our homes that are broken. We kept them with good intentions, but never got around to completing the repairs. Now is a good time to have an honest conversation with yourself to decide whether or not to invest the time/money to get these items fixed.

You may also have some items that you’ve been keeping because you had plans to use them (a garment in a smaller size, a fancy pasta maker, an electronic gadget, etc.), but just never did. The same advice applies in this situation. Do you want to pay to move these “good intentions” to your new home, or is this a wise time to let them go?

Hazardous Waste

One category of belongings that is notoriously difficult to shed is hazardous waste, including:

• Motor Oil
• Pesticides
• Paint Thinner
• Antifreeze
• Driveway Sealer
• Chlorine
• Various Cleaning Products

These, and other products, cannot be thrown into your normal trash can, and movers and junk haulers will not take them. The easiest way to get rid of these is via your annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day. If a move is anywhere on your horizon, put the date for the next collection day on your calendar now so you don’t miss it. If you need to move before the next date arrives, you may want to ask a neighbor to do this for you.

5. Look Beyond the Dumpster

Letting go can be hard. We feel bad about tossing things, especially nice and useful things, into a dumpster. If you are under extreme time pressure, this may be your best option. However, if you have sufficient time, before you start decluttering, identify a few alternatives for where you prefer your unwanted belongings to go.

For instance,

• A charity, such as the Vietnam Veterans or the Salvation Army (you may be able to schedule a pickup at your house).
• An auction house for high-value items (you can snap a few photos and email them to get a quick estimate).
• Your local community, via Facebook™ Marketplace, Facebook™ Buy Nothing, Freecyle™ and Nextdoor™
• Online auctions, particularly when you have a large quantity of items
• Local consignment stores
• Your local animal shelter (for old linens)
• Your recycling center (for batteries, lightbulbs, old paint, electronics, etc.)

Knowing that your unwanted belongings will be going to a good place makes letting go of them easier.

6. Work Through Your Home in A Smart Order

Once you have set your goals and gathered your resources, you are ready to start decluttering your way through your home. Remember, the primary objective is to identify what matters most to you (i.e., what you use, need, and/or love) to be brought to your next home, and clear away the rest. If you get stuck, finding yourself unsure if you should keep something, I generally recommend you keep it. You don’t want to have regrets later on. You can always donate more after the move.

Not sure where to start? Here is a pathway you can follow:

#1 Begin with the garage.

This is a good place to start for a couple of reasons. First, the items here tend to be less sentimental, and therefore easier to make decisions about. Second, once you clear space in your garage, this becomes a great “staging area” for items that you will be bringing out from the rest of the house for donation, recycling, sale, etc.

#2 Move on to the basement or crawlspace.

This may seem “low priority,” but again, you are quite likely to find some items here that you won’t be moving on to your smaller home. Any storage space you clear here then becomes a perfect place for holding and/or “hiding” other belongings. For instance you may have some projects that you will be working through before you move, or maybe you have items that you have boxed to move, but that you don’t want to be on display in your living spaces when potential buyers come through.

#3 Move up to the attic.

Same philosophy as the basement. Since attics tend to be weather-sensitive, ideally plan to work here in the spring or fall.

#4 Review your living spaces and their associated closets.

Work through each of your living spaces with a laser focus on identifying what you want to take with you vs. what you want to get rid of.

#5 Finish with your home office and paperwork.

This tends to be the slowest room, and one that requires a large/clear surface area for review. This is why we don’t start here. We may need to declutter other areas first in order to have space to spread out and look at it all. At the same time, since paper is a relatively “small” item when it is stacked up, we can pull it out, work on it in batches, and then put it back into boxes as needed until we can return to it.

Granted, each of these spaces is a blog post in itself. Therefore, if the reviewing and decluttering process feels overwhelming, my best advice is to bring in reinforcements. This can be a friend or family member, but if you go this route, be sure to share your process in advance so that everyone is on the same page. Of course, professional organizers do this work every day, so hiring one of us will make the process quick and efficient.

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Preparing to downsize captures the essence of minimalism by focusing us on what matters most, and then eliminating anything that distracts us from it.

Have you worked on downsizing your own space, or perhaps someone else’s? What tips would you share for managing this process?