At some point in all our lives, everyone has a moment where we look around our home and think, ‘this space isn’t right for me’.
Sometimes, that thought comes when you’ve just tripped over a pile of belongings you can’t find room to store, and you realise you need more space. But sometimes, it comes when you’re standing alone in a room that’s too big, and you realise downsizing is the obvious next step.
But just because you’re downsizing doesn’t mean your current home is empty. Downsizing is about cutting down on square footage to save money or reduce the cleaning or general maintenance needed on your current home, and it usually means sacrificing furniture and other items to fit into a smaller home.
A downsize declutter is often harder than expected too. A lot more daunting and thorough than decluttering a single room or a new year declutter. Which is why we’ve put together this post with some guidance on how to do it, when the best time to tackle the task is, and a few tips to make it as simple as possible.
So if you’re looking to downsize your Nottinghamshire home, read on to see how to take some of the stress out of the process.
When to declutter for a house move?
Moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do. Decluttering can also be frustrating, fiddly and overwhelming too. Tackling both these tasks at the same time makes both of them harder, so we recommend getting started on your declutter as soon as you can.
If you know you’re going to be looking for somewhere smaller, then don’t worry about waiting until you’ve found your new home to start. Allow yourself slow, steady progress, and if you know it needs to be done, the best time to start is always now.
The later you leave it, the more likely you’ll be to just abandon the process before it’s finished. But packing and transporting items you don’t need just increases moving costs and uses effort unnecessarily. If you start early, you take breaks and do it at your own pace to make sure you finish the job.
Another benefit of decluttering early is that your house looks more appealing when it’s shown to potential buyers. Clutter makes a house feel cramped, and can leave prospective buyers concerned that there won’t be enough space for their own belongings. If you’ve already cleared your clutter, there will be plenty of space, implying there is also plenty for anyone who moves in.
Your house will look overall neater, tidier and more appealing too.
What to get rid of first when downsizing
If you’re starting to declutter early, it can be difficult to know where to start. There is no essential starting place, but there are a couple of spots in the house that are prone to building up a lot of unused belongings.
One of the easiest places to start is the kitchen. Usually one of the smallest rooms in the house, it’s a common spot to run out of space by accumulating unnecessary clutter. It makes sense to start here.
Begin by emptying any and all food that has fallen to the back of your cupboards and sneaked past its use-by date. Then look for anything still in date that you have, but know in your heart that you won’t eat – put that in bags for the local food bank to avoid wasting it.
Next, go through your cutlery, crockery, and bakeware to find anything that you rarely use or is damaged. Do you have a couple of core items you always use, and a stack of niche pans that are just collecting dust? Filter out anything you don’t use because they’re really just stealing space.
Finally, look at your small appliances for any that are never used.
There are other places you can start that will also have potential for easy throw out/donate/recycle choices such as your wardrobe or your shelves, but the hard lines of ‘out of date’, ‘never going to eat’ and ‘clearly broken’ you’ll find in your kitchen can be helpful to get you in the clearing out mindset.
How to declutter a whole house in one day
We’re going to be honest with you, our first piece of advice on decluttering a whole house in one day is simply DON’T. Tempting as it is to try and power through in one day, decluttering is always a mammoth task – and when you’re preparing to downsize, it can be even more intense. Attempting it all in one day will just make it more intense, increase your frustrations, and hold you back from doing the best job possible.
Trying to sort one room in a single day is a pretty big task. Trying to do a whole house is likely to be too much and lead to paralysing overwhelm.
If you have absolutely no choice but to do it in one day, then don’t do it alone. Many hands make light work, so get all the help you can.
How to declutter when overwhelmed
Moving is stressful. Packing is stressful. Decluttering is stressful. When you’re downsizing, chances are you’ll have to tackle all these tasks at the same time and that can be incredibly overwhelming. But delaying these tasks until you feel ‘ready’ is rarely an option – it needs to be done on a fixed timescale.
The only way to declutter when you’re overwhelmed is to take your time. Focus on one small area of one room at a time, start with the things that are already visible, and weed out everything you don’t want to keep. Then start on ‘hidden’ areas like drawers and cupboards.
If this still feels too much, try setting a timer for a period that feels manageable, be that fifteen minutes, half an hour or an hour. When the timer goes off, assess your progress and how you currently feel. If you think you have capacity to do more, then set the timer again. If you have reached your limit, then finish what you have in front of you and leave the rest.
As overwhelm is a sense that there is more to do than you could possibly achieve, your only option is try and break it down into portions you are able to do. But this does take time, which is why we advise you start decluttering as soon as you’ve decided to downsize.
Slow, steady progress is better than tearing through your house and accidentally throwing out things you wanted to keep.
5 Tips To Take The Stress Out Decluttering When You Downsize
Ask yourself what you want to keep
Rather than agonising about whether you want to get rid of something, focus on whether you want to take it with you. Do you want it in your new home?
It sounds obvious but sometimes this simple reframe will reveal surprising attitudes to your belongings. An item might feel joined to an important memory in theory but when you think about your new life in your new home, is that memory a part of it? If not, if there’s no space for the item, it should be disposed of, rehomed, or placed in storage.
This tip is particularly important for large items such as furniture. As much as you love something, if it won’t work in your new home, then you should seriously consider not taking it.
Turn to self-storage
If you’re downsizing for the long term, renting self storage space might feel pointless. After all, there is a reason you’re seeking a smaller house, and in most cases, you won’t be planning to find a much bigger property in the near future.
If you’re a parent, you might want to store furniture or other useful items until your family can use them. If you’re looking to sell items, you might want to put them aside until you have the time (and capacity) to dedicate to selling them, particularly if you think they may be valuable or they’re emotionally important.
You may even be planning to upsize again soon. Maybe you’re temporarily moving into a smaller property while
Be honest about your belongings
A deep dive declutter will have you discovering things you haven’t thought about in years – and seen in even longer. But do you really have a deep emotional attachment to that tatty snowglobe you got on holiday a decade ago? Or does the coating of dust it picked up while being forgotten at the back of the shelf suggest it’s not something you ever think about anymore?
This said, if you do feel a strong emotional connection to an item, don’t be afraid to keep it even if it feels like it doesn’t ‘serve a purpose’ right now. Moving is a time of intense change, and having familiar items around your new house can help it feel like home.
Don’t forget the garden
When you’re downsizing, it’s likely you won’t just be looking at a smaller home – your outdoor space is likely to shrink too. So if you’ve got a well-stocked shed or a garden scattered with furniture and ornaments, spend some time working through these items too.
This might seem like obvious advice, but you’d be surprised how many people forget their belongings extend beyond the walls of their house.
Split your items into four categories
Rather than just thinking in terms of ‘items to keep’ and ‘items to dispose of’, split your items into four categories:
Keep: items you’ll take with you when you downsize
Donate: items you can give to charity shops, family or friends to enjoy a second life
Sell: items that hold enough value to be worth the effort of selling
Discard: items that are too damaged, unusable or unsuitable for further use
You can also include a fifth category if needed ‘Store’. Any items that you don’t use regularly but will need in the future and can’t (or can’t afford to) replace can be packed away in self-storage until they’re needed.
How to downsize and declutter your home
There are many reasons you might want to downsize your home, from house prices to wanting less space to maintain as you grow older to an empty family home. But whatever your reasoning is, one guarantee is that you will need to lose some belongings along the way.
Hopefully, now you can feel a little more prepared for that process. But if you find yourself with items you’re not ready (or able!) to get rid of, then we can provide you with safe, secure self-storage in Nottingham so your belongings are ready when you need them. Talk to us today to find out more.
