Moving to a smaller home and downsizing your belongings can be a liberating opportunity to decide what really matters to you and let go of anything unnecessary.
But choosing between your possessions isn’t always easy and many of us will have experienced stress or guilt about what to do with items.
Below, we’ve pulled together five tips to help make downsizing your belongings as stress-free and simple as possible.
1. Be prepared
Start early
It can be easy to procrastinate if you’re downsizing your belongings before a move. However, it’s best to start as early as possible to avoid any unnecessary stress. You never know what unexpected or forgotten things might pop up in the process. Plus, finding new homes for items might take longer than expected.
Make a plan
A good list can make any big downsizing task more straightforward, so you might find it helpful to make a plan of which rooms you’ll tackle and when, so you can get started quickly and confidently.
Labelled containers can be a useful way to keep organised (for example, by storing the contents of bookshelves or wardrobes together) and give you an idea of how many things you’re planning to bring to your new home. This will also make unpacking easier as you know exactly what rooms different boxes belong in.
However, when it comes to planning, it’s worth remembering the words of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said, “Planning is essential, but plans are useless.” While a good plan can bring order to the downsizing and packing process, it can also be a source of stress if you leave no room for flexibility.
So, if something changes, it’s best to try to go with the flow and rework your plan to reflect that.
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2. Decide what to part with
When choosing which items to part with, you’ll find that some decisions are easier than others. This is especially true for bigger, more permanent items like furniture – as it can often be tricky to picture life without them.
If you’re stuck on whether you need something or not, here are a few things to keep in mind…
How much space will you have in your new home?
The first consideration when deciding what to keep and what to get rid of is how much space you’ll have in your new home.
It’s important to check the measurements of your new place to know how much space you’re working with. You’ll likely have access to a floor plan which you can use for this, but otherwise, it’s worth visiting the property with a tape measure.
It’s also important to remember that even if a table or wardrobe could fit in your desired area, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be suitable. Be sure to allow for enough open space between furniture to prevent things from becoming too cramped.
An effective way to do this could be to print out a spare copy of a room’s floor plan and mark out each furniture item in pencil. This will help to visualise the furnished room before you start the moving process. Then, why not pay the house a visit with your new, edited floorplan and try to get a feel for the space using the modified floorplan as a guide?
For tips on measuring your furniture before a move, check out this article from Midway Moving and Storage. And for more advice on preparing for moving day, you might like to read our article: 4 tips for a stress-free house move.
Which items will fit your new lifestyle?
Downsizing is a great opportunity to revamp and refresh your lifestyle – and it’s worth remembering this when choosing which items to part with.
For example, you might be planning to adopt a minimalist lifestyle in your new home. In this case, it can be helpful to clear out anything that may detract from this, such as ornaments and knick-knacks that would otherwise gather dust.
It’s also worth considering how you want to spend your time in your new place – is there anything you’re particularly excited to do, and will the items you take with you reflect that? Will your hobbies be the same, or will you adopt new ones? Is there anything that you’ll particularly miss about your old home that you could recreate in your new one?
A clear understanding of how you want to live your life in your new space can make it much easier to see which of your belongings are ideal candidates for decluttering. For example, if you won’t be doing much gardening in your new home because you’ve swapped a garden for a balcony, you could probably part with many of your gardening tools.
Or, if you’re moving somewhere very hilly where walking might feel like a better option than cycling, perhaps you could consider selling your bike and investing in a good pair of walking shoes instead.
3. Consider whether you can donate items
Once you’ve found some items you’re happy to part with, you’ll need to decide what to do with them.
Here are a few things to consider…
Will family and friends want your things?
A first instinct for many when decluttering is to give away the things they can’t keep or no longer want to relatives and friends – especially items with sentimental value.
In many cases, children, grandchildren, and other relatives or friends will be happy to receive a piece of family history or a nice decorative item. But it’s worth keeping in mind that this won’t always be true.
What items are valuable enough to sell?
It’s nice to make a profit from decluttering when we can, and, in an ideal world, all our unwanted or unneeded items could be sold. Though, in reality, that’s rarely the case.
Shows like Cash in the Attic and Antiques Roadshow can give us the alluring expectation of making a tidy profit from seemingly unremarkable knick-knacks or heirlooms. However, not everything we’ve kept around for a long time will have a high cash value. So, while it’s best not to get your hopes up, it’s worth researching whether items like jewellery or artwork are worth anything.
For everyday items, websites like eBay and Vinted are an easy way to part with things while making a little money. And, for electronics, you might find it quicker and simpler to cash them in at exchange shops like CeX. Other options for selling unwanted items include car boot sales and auction houses.
For more advice on how to turn a profit from decluttering, check out our article: How to make money from your clutter.
When selling second-hand items online, bear in mind that HMRC has introduced new rules that mean some people might need to pay tax on the income they make from their sales. Whether you’ll have to pay tax will depend on your circumstances. You can read more about this in our article: Will new HMRC rules affect how I sell things online?
What can I give to charity?
If you think something you want to part with could be of worth to someone else, you might want to consider taking it to your local charity shop. Knowing that your unwanted belongings will find a new home and benefit a good cause can be a relief.
If you decide to donate items to a charity shop, it’s worth signing up for Gift Aid. Gift Aid allows the charity to claim back tax at no extra cost to you. You can find out how to sign up for Gift Aid on the British Heart Foundation website.
Organisations like soup kitchens, food banks, refuges, and theatre prop departments are other good places to donate unwanted items. You can find out what’s needed in your local area online.
You can also use services like Get Rid of and Donate, which pick up your items and distribute them to those in need.
Could someone in your local area be interested in your things?
Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to find someone in your local community who’s interested in items you can’t or no longer want to keep.
Websites like Freecycle allow you to give away items for free, and you can just as easily do the same on Facebook – either by joining local groups or setting up a (free) listing on Facebook Marketplace.
Could you digitise books, photos, and DVDs to save space?
Photos, books, and DVDs often take up lots of space in our homes.
When it comes to photos, it’s worth asking yourself how important it is to you to keep physical copies as digitising your photo collection can be a great way to save space. It can also make it easier to search through your collection, and you’ll be able to access them portably from your phone or tablet.
If you enjoy creating beautiful photo albums, the prospect of getting rid of your hard work might seem unappealing – but it doesn’t have to be an either-or situation. Why not digitise only those that aren’t already in a frame or album? This way, you don’t have to let go of your display collection, but you’ll save on the space taken up by the rest of your library. Plus, you’ll still be able to reprint any of your photos later if you want to display them.
If you’d like to digitise your photo collection, services like Vintage Photo Lab are a good choice. They collect your photos, scan them, and return them to you. Alternatively, apps like PhotoScan allow you to do the job yourself via your smartphone camera.
If you’re looking to discard photos, there are multiple ways to go about it. From selling them as craft supplies to donating them to local museums, this article from Zero Waste Week has some great ideas to help you out.
As well as photos, many of us have sizable collections of DVDs – and these are a prime candidate for downsizing. Chances are, the majority of the films and series on your shelf are now available on streaming services that you may already subscribe to. So, unless you’re a collector, there’s no harm in parting with physical copies.
The same goes for books: if your collection is a little cluttered, why not replace some of them with digital copies*? You don’t need to have an e-reader, as you can access e-books online.
And, just as with photos, you don’t need to give away your whole media collection. Even if you part with the majority of your books and DVDs, there’s no reason you can’t hold on to your favourites.
If you can’t find a new home for your unwanted DVDs, you can easily trade them in for cash or store credit at exchanges such as CeX and Music Magpie. Or, why not recycle them with the help of this guide from Recycle Now?
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4. Decide how to dispose of unwanted items
Inevitably, you’re going to end up with some stuff you won’t be able to find a new home for.
For any clothing you can’t donate, you should be able to find clothing recycling bins in your local area – just use the handy search tool on the Recycle Now website.
For old electronics, follow government guidelines for disposal as they can leak toxic chemicals over time so can’t be left in landfills.
5. Remember that downsizing can be emotional
Downsizing and decluttering can be a big task, so it can be easy to forget about its emotional impact. Many of us attach sentimental value to items, so having to part with our belongings can prompt some difficult decisions. In these cases, it’s best to look deeper and ask yourself why the item is so important to you.
If it reminds you of someone you love – whether they’re still with you or not – chances are they’d prefer you to treasure the memories associated with it, rather than stress yourself out over the object itself.
If you can’t keep an item but would like to remember it, you can always take a photo of it to look back on. Many people find this to be a great comfort.
Final thoughts…
Downsizing can be tricky, but we hope our advice helps make the process a little easier.
For more downsizing tips, you might want to check out our articles: Five questions to ask yourself if you’re considering downsizing your home and How to declutter and reorganise your home.
And, if your house move is approaching, you might find our list of four tips for a stress-free house move helpful.
Have you had any experience of downsizing your belongings? Or do you have any tips you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.