Born and raised in Portland, Milly has had a lot of experience moving and writing about the relocation process.
Tips and Tricks to Make Moving to a Smaller Home Seamless
Relocating to a house with less living space can be difficult. You have to consider all the logistics – from the emotional toll to how you’re going to downsize your belongings. However, with careful planning and execution, moving to a smaller home can be a breeze. Check out our tips and tricks below to make the process as smooth as possible.
As With Every Other Move, Make a Plan Beforehand
Before you start packing up your belongings and loading them onto a truck, it’s important to have a plan in place. This will help ensure that the move goes smoothly and that everything arrives at your new home in one piece.
Start by creating a list of everything that you need to do in order to appropriately prepare for the move. This should include packing all your belongings, arranging appropriate transportation, and making sure that your new home is ready for you. Once you have a detailed list of all the things that have to be done, you can start tackling each task. This will help you stay organized and on track throughout the entire process.
Additionally, It’s important to plan ahead when you’re downsizing your home since a lot of your time will be spent on purging the house. Make a list of the things to keep and figure out what can be left behind.
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Before Moving to a Smaller Home, Prepare for It Mentally
There are many pros and cons of moving to a smaller home, but it’s undeniably a significant life change. It’s easy to get used to a certain amount of living space, but when you’re downsizing, you’ll have to make do with less. If you’re not mentally prepared for this change, it can be tough to adjust. If you’ve lived in larger homes for the majority of your life, dealing with the lack of room will be one of the most difficult aspects of relocating to a small residence – especially when you add the stress of relocating to another state.
Focusing on relocation benefits can help you prepare emotionally for such a big change. After all, homes with less room are usually less expensive and much simpler to maintain. As a result, you can use extra time and money for some more exciting things.
Living in a small space has plenty of benefits but can be pretty challenging at first
Even Though You Are Downsizing and Moving to a Smaller Home, You’ll Need to Create a Budget
When choosing to downsize for a move to a tiny space, it’s likely that your monthly living expenses will be reduced. It’s especially true when relocating to a new home in a city with lower costs of living than in your current one. However, there are still other costs associated with relocating and owning a house that need to be considered.
When creating a relocation budget, you must determine how much you can afford to spend on your new residence. Be mindful of the additional costs associated with owning a home – think of property taxes, insurance, and maintenance alongside mortgage installments. It’s a good idea to make a list of your current monthly expenses and track where your money is going. This will help you identify areas where you can cut back or make adjustments to your spending habits.
Additionally, make sure to factor in the cost of furnishing and decorating your new space. You may need to purchase different furniture or make other changes to accommodate a smaller living area. If possible, think about other financial goals and make contributions to savings accounts as well.
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Whatever reasons for relocating you have, don’t forget to factor in the cost a long-distance move brings. Your costs will, naturally, differ depending on where you want to hire white glove movers or relocate by yourself. However, even with a DIY move, there are still some expenses you need to count on (like the cost of packing materials, renting a relocation truck, fuel and meals for the trip, accommodation for a cross-country relocation, and so on).
If you have a room in your budget, it’s always a better solution to get white glove moving services. These high-end long-distance movers will help take care of logistics, heavy lifting, and many other relocation tasks in order to help you move efficiently and without any worries. If you’re not looking to save on relocation costs and want the best relocation experience, getting help from a white glove moving company can be an excellent solution.
In order to plan your move, you must first realize how much money you have at your disposal
Declutter Before Moving to a Smaller House
How to start the task of moving from a large home to a smaller one? Before getting packing services or starting packing on your own, you need to downsize. It means purging through all of your belongings and getting rid of everything you won’t use. Keep in mind that you’re relocating to reduced living spaces – too much of your belongings will only create unnecessary clutter.
Don’t wait until the last minute to start decluttering because you’ll end up either throwing a lot more or not enough of your belongings. Additionally, note that it’s only a pre-packing phase – a lot more work will be left after this task is done. The sooner you start, the less overwhelming it will be.
Make a plan
Sit down and make a list of all the rooms in your house. Then, go through each room and decide what to keep and what you can get rid of. This will help you stay organized and on track. Decide what area of your home you want to focus on first. The best solution is to start with storage areas, since they usually hold many unnecessary belongings, and then slowly progress towards the most used rooms.
Be ruthless
If you haven’t used something in a year (or longer), chances are you don’t need it. The only exclusions from this rule are sentimental and valuable items. Still, don’t hang onto things just because they’re sentimental. This is one of the hardest things to do, but it’s important to leave behind some of the sentimental items before you move. If you’re really attached to something, but can’t move it, take a picture – it will bring up similar memories and feelings as the object itself.
Start with the easy stuff
This includes things like clothes you no longer wear, books you’ve read, and knick-knacks you don’t use. Getting rid of these items will help you declutter your home and make packing a lot easier.
Take your time
Don’t try to declutter your entire home in one day. This is a huge task that demands a lot of time, not to mention your mental strength. Dedicate a few hours each day to decluttering, and you’ll be done in no time. Of course, you’ll have to speed things up a bit if you have a last-minute move, but even then, try not to rush this process.
Donate, sell, or throw away
Once you’ve gone through your belongings and decided what to live behind, it’s time to decide what to do with the rest of your stuff. You can either donate it to the American Red Cross or some other charity organization, sell it, or recycle it.
Earn Some Money by Selling Extra Stuff
Making a garage sale or using apps to sell your goods online should be items on your to-do list. The proceeds from the sales might be used to buy furnishings and accessories that go better with your new house. Free apps like Nextdoor can help you sell items to your neighbors, while Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Poshmark are good places that can help you reach a wider audience.
Yard sales, on the other hand, are a good choice when you need to sell your stuff as soon as possible. If you’ve never organized one, take a look at the video below for some helpful tips:
Measure the Furniture You Are Bringing to the New Home
Generally speaking, relocating to a small living space implies small rooms. It’s possible that the furniture you had in your spacious house would not fit in a new space. If possible, get the room dimensions for your new residence before packing furniture – you don’t want to end up with a couch that is too big for your new place or a closet that won’t even fit through your front door.
After getting these dimensions, it’s time to start measuring furniture – take into account the width, depth, and height of each piece. It’s one of the most common things people forget when relocating, but the one that will help you avoid any problems later on.
Things That Don’t Fit Can Be Left in Storage for a While
If you need to declutter when downsizing from a house to an apartment but don’t want to get rid of everything, consider renting a storage unit. This can be a great way to keep things that don’t fit in your new place but that you still want to hold onto.
Renting storage is also a good option if you’re relocating furniture to a different city and don’t have a permanent address yet. In this case, you’ll have no idea whether your large and bulky items can fit into your future residence, so it may be a better solution to keep them stored until you find that out.
Use Long-Distance Moving Services to Make the Whole Process Go Smoothly
Cross-country relocation companies made handling all the details of a long-distance move a part of their job. You can rely on them for many relocation tasks, from packing and loading your belongings onto the truck to car shipping and unloading at your future residence.
Getting a white glove moving service is the best option when planning a move to another city. Companies that offer it will provide you with a team of professional movers who know all relocation hacks and will handle all the details of your move, so you can relax and focus on other aspects of your life. In addition, these companies have the resources and experience to make sure that your belongings are safely transported and arrive at your future destination in one piece.
A reputable cross-country relocation company can significantly improve your relocation experience
Relax and Enjoy the Beginning of a New, Clutter-Free Adventure
All that extra space and freedom from stuff can be very liberating. You’ll be able to lead a simpler but, at the same time, much more fulfilling life – free of unnecessary clutter. However, now that you’ve made this lifestyle change, it’s important to maintain it. Make sure you regularly purge, think about some small apartment ideas, and remember to be mindful of new purchases. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of buying new things, but you can’t forget about the reduced living space you’re now living in.
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