Living in a large house is great for a lot of families; however, others find the extra energy costs and time taken for maintenance and cleaning to be a hassle.

Have you been living in a large home, but are now considering moving into a smaller house? Perhaps your kids have left the nest, or you are moving closer to the city, where space is at a premium. Or maybe you’ve decided to embrace the minimalist lifestyle, and only keep belongings which add value to your life – after all less space, means less clutter.

It also means cheaper utility bills. Energy Made Easy is a great resource to compare energy and gas plans and prices to give you an idea how much you could be saving after downsizing.

The process of downsizing to a smaller home is extremely draining and mentally exhausting. It also takes much more time and effort than preparing for a regular move and finding a home removalist.

Which is why we’ve come up with these 10 Tips For Preparing To Downsize When Moving Home.

Tip 1. Create An Inventory Of All Your Items

Go through your home and make an inventory list of all of your belongings and your furniture. Sort the list by what you want to keep, what to throw out, and what you will either sell or donate.

This task may seem extremely overwhelming, especially if you have a large home which is full of your belongings. That’s why it’s best to pace yourself and break it down either by room or zone of your house. Space it out over a week or weekend if required, to suit your lifestyle.

To be able to downsize your possessions, you need to separate your needs from your wants.

Tip 2. Dealing With Sentimental Items

When you are downsizing, it’s important to take a moment to realize that everything is just ‘stuff’.

Quite often it is not the physical item which you are attached to. Instead, it is the memory associated with each item – who gave it to you, who you was with when you bought it or used it.

People are worried about forgetting the memory the item triggers.

A way to keep the memory without needing to keep the physical item is to take a photo of it instead. Each time you see the photo, it will trigger the same emotions as seeing the physical item.

Then send an email, text or facebook message to all your friends and family with the photos. Offer to give the items to them, if they come and collect them within a certain timeline.

Tip 3: Eliminate Duplicate Items

Take a look through your belongings, and see what you have multiple items of.

Keep your favourites, and get rid of the rest.

The kitchen is one place where people tend to have the most duplicate items. Do you need five different spatulas? If you don’t entertain frequently, do you need multiple sets of silverware and drinking glasses?

Peep into your spice cabinet and pantry also. Check for any food or ingredients which have passed their expiration date, or that you haven’t used for as long as you can remember. All of these items will add up fast.

Tip 4: Free To Take

For items which are more hassle than they’re worth to try and sell online, instead put them on the curb out the front of your home. Place a sign “Free To Take” on the items – then watch in your amazement how quickly they will be gone!

You’ll most likely find them gone by the time you wake up the next day. Or if you are from a thrifty neighbourhood, just hours or minutes later!

This is especially useful for big and bulky items which are a pain to try and dispose of. Anything like cabinets, chairs, and any furniture is extremely popular.

Tip 5: Take Advantage of Storage Space

When you move to your new home, utilise all available storage space.

The following all make perfect storage options:

• Hanging shoe racks
• Using the storage space inside ottomans.
• The space underneath your bed,
• Built-in shelves or wall shelves

If you have an attic or want further organisation of your closet, try using bins/tubs. They help you keep all of your items clutter free and organised. You can also stack them on top of each other to take advantage of every centimetre of space you have.

If you need extra storage space during the downsizing process, professional movers can help you find cheap and secure storage.

Tip 6: Sell Your Items You No Longer Want

The old saying ‘one person’s trash is another’s treasure’ is especially true when moving home.

If you want to get rid of a lot of your belongings, try selling them on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or have a garage sale.

Popular items always in demand are furniture, tools, lawn equipment, clothing, and kids toys.

Not only will selling things you no longer want to give you extra money in your pocket, but it will also reduce your moving costs, by not having to move as many things to your new home.

Pro Tip: If you have expensive items to sell, the best place to list them is on eBay, as it attracts the most serious buyers who are willing to pay market value, rather than just looking for a ‘bargain’.

What if you have a lot of items which are not good enough to sell or donate? If you just want to throw them out, 1st Skip provides cheap bin hires which make disposing of your rubbish easy.

Tip 7: Measure Everything Before You Move

Downsizing to a smaller home, generally means that you won’t be able to have enough room to fit all the furniture you wish to keep.

To find out exactly what can fit, measure all the rooms of your new home before you move, as well as your furniture.

Measuring everything in advance lets you make sure it will fit in its new room. Rather than bringing your brand new sofa, only to find out that it doesn’t fit in the new room layout! Anything which won’t fit, get rid of.

You may have to get rid of more things than you realise because there won’t physically be any room for them.

Downsizing before you move not only reduces clutter, it also reduces the cost of moving. Because there are fewer items to move, you may be able to rent a smaller truck, and the time taken to move will be less.

If you have downsized significantly, you may no longer need to rent a full truck. Luckily removalists offer backloading services where you can share a moving truck with other customers and only pay for the space you use.

For more information on downsizing, and if it is right for you, ASIC’s Money Smart has prepared a guide to downsize your home.

Next Level Removals are the best furniture removalists, who provide fast and safe removals to make your move as stress-free as possible. Contact our friendly team today on 1300 005 400 or email info@nextlevelremovals.com.au to plan your move.