When you move to a new location, you don't want to take any unnecessary items with you to the new home. You should downsize as much as possible so that you can free up space for the new items you'll place in the home. Here are some tips to help you make a downsizing move to another home.
Tackle One Room at a Time
When it comes to downsizing your home for an upcoming move, you want to tackle one room at a time. Each day you will focus on a certain room. Here is an example:
- Monday: You can declutter and get rid of items in the living room
- Tuesday: Tackle the kitchen and pack the items you plan to bring to the new home. Donate the kitchen items you don't want
- Wednesday: You can declutter and organize bathroom items
- Thursday: Your bedroom
- Friday: The kids' bedrooms
- Saturday: The garage and basement
By doing one room at a time, you'll be more organized as the moving day approaches.
Only Keep The Most Important Things
You may have certain items that have a lot of importance to you, and these are things that are okay for you to keep. On the other hand, it's probably not a good idea to keep every piece of furniture that friends gave you when you first moved into your current apartment. Some important things you might bring to the new home include:
- Your kids' scrapbooks
- Your wedding photo album
- Boxes that have your essential documents such as life insurance policy, bank statements, health insurance papers
- Basic wardrobe items that you know you'll wear every day
- Toys that your kids will want to play with at the new home
- Your most used electronics such as the computer, TV, or iPad
Digitize Your Billing Statements
Another thing you can do is digitize your billing statements before you move to your new home. Visit your creditors' websites and sign up for paperless billing so that you won't receive a ton of paper clutter at your new home. The good thing is that you'll be able to print out your digital statements when you need to present them to lenders or other people for documentation purposes.
Purchase Multipurpose Furniture for The New Home
Now that you gave away your bulky furniture, you can start fresh by purchasing furniture that serves more than one purpose. Buy a sofa for the living room that doubles as a bed that you can pull out. This is a neat idea if you're moving to a smaller apartment. Buy a coffee table that has drawers to store your mail or stationery. For the kids' bedrooms, buy some ottomans that serve as storage for their small toys.
Don't Keep Duplicate Items
If there are duplicates that you have, get rid of them so that you won't have excess items to pack. Maybe you have six to seven pairs of black jeans but you only need two pairs. Donate the extra pairs to relatives and friends. Or you might have duplicate food staples. Place those in a large box and bring them to a food bank or church as donations.
Find a Temporary Solution for Items You Don’t Want to Give Up
Downsizing means having to shrink down what you’re able to have in your home, but it doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything that won’t fit. A self storage locker can be a great, safe way to store what you don’t have room for. They’re easy to get, easy to manage, and available to you whenever you need your belongings again.
These strategies will help you downsize and have an organized move but, if you need effective self-storage for your next move, contact us today. We're here to assist you in establishing a smooth moving process as you go from one place to the next.
