How to Downsize Your Home for a Better Life

Have you been thinking about downsizing your home and all the benefits it will introduce to your new life?

Giving something up doesn’t mean that you won’t win something else in return, right?

And when it comes to downsizing a home, that principle of “Give and you shall receive” is stronger than ever.

Giving up unused space, surrounded by objects that you have no use for, will reward you with a simpler, cheaper, and easier life.

And if you are lucky enough to have equity in your home, then you may be able to use that money to realise a lifelong dream, or maybe see your children get on the housing ladder?

Of course, there may be downsides, which we explore later, but for most people, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

You may also like to read: Everything You Need to Know About Making a Small Home Work for You. From how to organise the available space in your smaller home, to practical day-to-day living tips, this guide is invaluable if you are considering downsizing your home.

Reasons to Downsize Your Home

If you:

• have just retired from years of hard work and are looking for a good way to stretch out your life savings by moving into a smaller home and thus lower your outgoings
• have had your adult children move away from the family house and have been wondering what to do with all the unused rooms in your home
• have been feeling overwhelmed by the countless useless stuff in your home and are looking for a fresh uncluttered start in a new smaller but completely clutter-free home,
• have been feeling exhausted by the tough work of maintaining your property
• have been looking for ways to increase your disposable income as the financial situation you’re in right now is definitely not looking very promising

then yes, you must have considered moving into a smaller home at least once.

So read on to discover all you need to know about downsizing your home.

You may also like to read: Intentional Community Living. One option when downsizing is to go and live in an intentional community, that is, a community that has a shared goal or passion. In this guide, we tell you all you need to know about intentional community living.

Is Downsizing Your Home A Good Idea?

Depending on several factors, downsizing your living space can prove to be not only the right move for you but also the stroke of genius that will bring the refreshing and much-needed change in your life.

You may now be able to afford to live in an area that was previously out of your budget, you could move to the city which can be a great option if you are about to retire, or get a beachfront flat with stunning sea views.

When it comes to downsizing, think about what you gain rather than what you will lose.

You may also like to read: Tiny Houses – An Affordable Way to Get Your Own Place? Many people are choosing to live in a tiny home when they downsize, so in this guide, we tell you all you need to know about tiny living.

Downsize your home to save money

In most cases, the decision to downsize your home when moving will let you save money and even get more cash in several different ways.

First of all, you can pocket some additional money from selling all the no-longer-needed household items and personal possessions that won’t fit in your new home.

Every home move is preceded by a serious decluttering process which will help you redefine your views on household practicality and living space management, and this is even more important when downsizing.

Read on to find out more about the tough decisions that await you while desperately attempting to reduce the staggering number of items you have managed to accumulate throughout the years.

Secondly, if you’re selling your present big house or apartment and purchasing a smaller and less expensive home for you and your family, the price difference will go straight into your savings account.

Finally, the maintenance costs of your new smaller house or apartment should be much lower than what you’re paying right now.

Downsizing your house is a great way to revitalise your disposable income and give it more breathing room – your monthly mortgage or rent payments will be more affordable, as will be property tax and home insurance; also, your energy bills (heating during the winter, cooling during the summer and overall utility costs) will be considerably lower.

You may also like to read: Small Home Moves – Moving With No Furniture. One of the benefits of downsizing is that you will have fewer things to move to your new home. In this guide, we share some ways you can save money when moving with no furniture and explain some cheap moving options.

Downsize your home to save time

Having less living space to maintain will magically free up more time to do all the things you’ve never found enough time to do until now – dedicate more time to yourself, get to spend more time with friends or family, take up a new hobby or resume an old one, travel more often to exotic destinations, meet exciting people, fall in love.

You will be the master of each and every extra minute and hour that the act of downsizing your home created for you.

It’s possible that you get the occasional pangs of nostalgia for your old big house where there was always something to do and where the term “free time” was only a sweet dream.

If that happens, remember all the times you wished you had lived in a smaller, cosier, and less cluttered home with much fewer daily chores to tend to.

You may also like to read: Is Retiring to the City a Good Idea? With all that free time you will want to fill it constructively and living in the city opens up so many possibilities. In this guide, we share 16 great reasons why moving to the city in retirement makes so much sense.

Downsize your home to free your mind

Downsizing from a big house to an apartment or a smaller house can be a mentally freeing experience as well.

The mental freedom usually comes from not having so many useless possessions and unused space around you.

The idea here is that the more material things one owns, the more energy one will require to keep their mental equilibrium.

The welcoming sense of liberation is usually a direct result of the sudden realisation that, with fewer possessions to weigh you down and a perfectly decluttered, eco-friendly, and manageable home, life can be so much easier, simpler, and more “natural” than ever before.

You may also like to read: 10 Best Housing Options For Older Adults. Whilst primarily aimed at people looking to move in later life, there are some great suggestions in this guide for downsizing to not only ‘regular’ homes but also some suggestions for alternative living.

Is Downsizing Your Home A Bad Idea?

All in all, the decision to start living smaller is an important choice that will influence how your life unfolds in the foreseeable future.

While it’s an indisputable fact that downsizing your home comes with clear advantages, as just discussed, the idea of drastically decreasing your living space may prove to be a bad decision for various personal reasons.

This is why, the downsizing dilemma should be resolved only after extensive and productive discussions among all family members – everyone should be aware of exactly what they’re losing and what they’re winning after the home downsizing process is complete.

Of course, the most obvious obstacle that could make you reconsider your decision to downsize your house or apartment is the fact that you will have to say goodbye to a lot of your current household items simply because you cannot fit them all in your new smaller home.

As liberating as that purging experience can be, you may be one of the many people who have serious trouble parting with personal possessions no matter how impractical they may have become.

Not necessarily a hoarder, if you tend to have stronger emotional attachments to the things that surround you, then the process of downsizing your house will prove to be a hard pill to swallow.

Or you just may end up missing your old lifestyle with all the available space, organised clutter, and an endless list of chores to do around your spacious home.

Some things can temptingly look much rosier in theory and then, unfortunately, turn out to be much grayer and darker in reality.

For some downsizers, the emotional pain of scaling back can be too much to handle, so do your best to weigh carefully your downsizing options and their potential consequences before you make the decision to downsize your life.

You may also like to read: How to Leave a Home You Love. One of the hardest home-moving decisions to make is leaving a home that holds so many memories and that you love. In this guide, we share ways to make the transition to your new home emotionally easier.

Tips for Downsizing Your Home

Now it’s time for some practical downsizing tips to help you handle this emotion-filled transitional period in the best possible way.

First and foremost, you’re going to need to know how to downsize and declutter your home at the same time.

Time to start decluttering

Start by deciding upon the things that you will definitely take to your new home and then the things that you will certainly leave behind.

Make a floor plan to help you decide which furniture, if any, will fit in the available space in your new home.

Do this early on in the moving process so that you have time to get rid of any furniture you are not taking with you.

This is also a great opportunity to pass down some family heirlooms so that you get to see the joy they bring to others.

You may also like to read: How to Create a Floor Plan. In this guide, we show you how to measure your furniture and how to create a simple floor plan for your new home.

Here’s a quick downsizing tip that may or may not help you ease your decision-making pain.

Relocation experts agree that if you haven’t used a specific item in over a year, then you don’t really need it and you’d be wise to just get rid.

You have a few good options when it comes to downsizing the household items you’ve decided not to take to your new house or apartment:

• you can do the right thing and give away to friends, family, or charity anything that is still usable. Why not let somebody else make good use of the things that just don’t work out for you anymore?
• alternatively, you may as well decide to profit from all that is forgotten, useless, or unwanted by attempting to sell them either online or at a car boot sale.
• Needless to say, any items that won’t do anybody any good should be thrown away for recycling or disposed of in an eco-friendly manner.

You may also like to read: The Epic Guide to Decluttering for a Home Move. In this guide, we share tips on how to declutter each room of your home and how to let go of your possessions emotionally.

Packing your downsized possessions

The good news is that the fewer items you take with you, the cheaper your packing and relocation costs will be.

Pay attention to the following top 6 packing tips when downsizing your home for a trouble-free move.

• Get hold of far more packing supplies than you think you will need (cardboard boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap, various padding materials, packing tape, and so on)
• Start the packing process as early as possible, packing takes far longer than you would expect
• In order to keep your packing areas from being overly cluttered, start packing from the rooms you use least frequently and work your way towards the ones you occupy on a daily basis.
• Pack your seasonal items, ornaments, pictures, and non-essentials first
• Don’t skimp on your packing supplies as that “cost-saving” method could prove to be rather costly in the end.
• It’s imperative that you label your packed boxes properly because it will make unloading and unpacking so much easier.

You may also like to read: Alternative Packing Materials for Moving Home. To make your home move cheaper, use items that are commonly found around the home to protect and transport your possessions. In this guide, we share some useful tips on packing with things around the home.

Finding the best removal company when downsizing your home

Our tips for downsizing your living space will end with a few words about the importance of finding a professional removal company to help you move into a smaller home.

Nothing will make moving day mentally and physically easier than hiring a good removal team to relocate your things.

And because you are taking fewer items hiring a good removal firm will also be cheaper than you might expect.

Finding a trustworthy removal company is not that hard either.

Simply spare 60 seconds of your time to fill in our easy moving quote form and you will be contacted by a professional removal company that will support your moving route, meet your individual moving preferences, and satisfy your relocation needs.

You may also like to read: How to Pick a Good Removal Company. In this guide, we take you step-by-step through the process of picking a good removal company for your home move. It is essential reading for an easy moving day.

Good luck with your move and new life and don’t forget to visit our home moving blog which is packed with tips and guides to make your home move easier, cheaper, and quicker.