Downsizing Your Home for New Needs

Have your children moved on to college? Are you planning for retirement? Perhaps you’ve found yourself frustrated with clutter and want to live a life of minimalism. No matter your reason, downsizing your home can offer various benefits for your new priorities.  

This process may be more challenging than you imagine, especially if you’ve been in the same home for a long time. However, we have some strategies to help make the journey of downsizing your home smoother and more efficient.

The Benefits of Downsizing

Whether you’re experiencing a life change or can just no longer keep up with your current living situation, there are some advantages to downsizing as a homeowner. Here are some of the biggest benefits. 

Saving Money

A smaller home may mean a new mortgage payment that works for you, fewer maintenance costs and a reduced utilities bill. Even if you change nothing else about your daily habits, you can inherently save some money when you move to a smaller home. This money can be put towards other priorities in your life, including other bills or certain luxuries.  

Less Space, Less Maintenance

It can get hard to keep up with home maintenance, especially if family members have moved out and aren’t around to help out. A smaller home can make daily cleaning less of a chore, and if you move into a condominium, some of these maintenance tasks can be dealt with by other people. 

Reduced Clutter

It’s normal to have obtained more items over the years, especially if you’ve lived in one place for a while. However, too much clutter can induce stress and make your home feel cramped. Moving to a smaller home will help you decide on your necessities and get rid of items that no longer serve you a purpose.

Preparing to Downsize

So, how do you start the process? Here are some simple ways you can begin downsizing for a new home. 

Take Inventory

Understanding what you currently have in your home will help you get rid of duplicates, find items that you didn’t realize you had and determine what you do and do not need. Multiple slow cookers or several of the same hand towels in different colors probably won’t serve you well in your new home. 

Determine Essentials

You likely have belongings that help make your life comfortable, and unless you’re planning to live a life of extreme minimalism, you don’t have to give them away or throw them out. Find out what you need to take with you to your new home, including certain pieces of furniture, appliances, dishes, clothing and more items that you use every day. 

Consider Sentimental Items

There are likely more things aside from your essentials that you want to consider keeping. Even if they don’t serve an everyday purpose, you might have a hand-me-down dress from your great grandmother or an heirloom vase passed down from generations. These sentimental items are worth keeping if they mean a lot to you.  

Measure Furniture

Since you’ll be moving into a smaller home, it’s imperative to ensure that your current furniture fits or determine if you need to buy new, more compact furniture. Take measurements of your existing furniture or appliances to ensure everything you want will fit in your new home and in each room. Even if they do fit, you’ll want to consider how much remaining space you have to ensure it’s not too cramped. 

Digitize

Physical documents, framed photographs, prints and artwork can take up a surprising amount of space. You can still keep the memories and important information by digitizing them. Scan and convert them into digital files and save them to a hard drive or the cloud to save valuable physical space.  

Budget

Your new home requires a new budget. Include your monthly expenses like your new mortgage payment, utility bills and property taxes. Some of your expenses may stay the same like your entertainment budget or subscriptions but you may need to assess where you want to or need to put more money. 

Break it Down

Preparation can seem like a daunting task, but you don’t have to tackle everything all at once. Take it room by room, measure anything you need one day and digitize your documents the next. You’ll likely already know your essentials or discover them as you go through each room.

Get Ready for Your New Life

Preparing to downsize might take some time but it ultimately can help you manage your finances better, have less to take care of and help simplify and declutter your life. Take it in small steps and day-by-day for a smooth, efficient process.