Whether you want to reduce the expenses for the utility bills or you are about to finally start living alone, finding a new, smaller home place is a great idea.
Indeed, you will save lots of money in the long term, but right now, when the removal is ahead, prepare to spend a lot of cash. You can reduce the moving-out final cost by reducing the number of items you carry.
In all cases, from now on, you will have fewer free spaces to accommodate them all. But how to consider what to take and what to leave? It’s not an easy task, but with our step-by-step guide, you will fit this simple and very useful downsizing initiative.
Get Ready to Declutter and Purge
First of all, get the big picture in front of you. When you have all your things on display, it’s easier to consider what’s essential and what’s not.
For this purpose, prepare for some solid de-cluttering. While you pack your things, don’t hesitate to throw away something damaged or something you have in many copies. That can also help decrease spending when hiring your local moving services.
Divide Things Into Piles
All of these heaps of things confuse you? It’s normal!
This is why it’s time for some quick sorting out. The best way to categorise your belongings is by following Marie Kondo’s method. She recommends that chaotic people with messy homes sort out things by categories.
Here’s what you can do while packing your items, too:
- Things that are too old or out of fashion. By all means, you will be able to give from many of them.
- Things that are broken and damaged and you don’t need so much to repair in future (or you have already delayed their repairs many times). For sure, you should better throw them in the garbage bin rather than try to sell them.
- Things you have in many copies. Why do you need 4 knapsacks? Or a mixer in your kitchen when you have a whole all-in-one robot?
- Books. Get everything you haven’t read and leave the rest of the copies. Will you really re-read these old books? We don’t think so. Even you don’t think so if you are honest with yourself.
Work Room By Room
Usually, working room by room fits Kondo’s system for sorting out things. It’s because we store items of the same function in one place – clothes in the bedroom wardrobe, cosmetics in the bathroom, and utensils in the kitchen.
During this sorting-out process, we strongly recommend you prepare storage units with labels – cookware, makeup, and living room accessories. Except for making your unpacking process easier later, you can try this hack.
Once everything is packed, check out which rooms are bound with the biggest number of boxes. Now, take out all the kitchen boxes because you likely have filled them with too many items.
Consider Your New Lifestyle and Plan Ahead
When you wonder if an item is ok to be left or not, think about the new life you are going to.
Do you move out because you have found a new job? What’s its dress code?
If you can go to work casually, you definitely don’t need those white shirts anymore. Save one of them and give up on the rest.
Set Your Priorities the Right Way
Forget disassembling furniture when moving, as there will be no place in your new home place for some items. You must exclude a lot of them from your next interior atmosphere.
Of course, you cannot throw away your bedroom, but you can definitely give up on that tiny coffee table.
Hire a Professional Cleaning Company
If you don’t know where to start and how to de-clutter, hiring an end of tenancy cleaning company is a fantastic way to save time.
Many of the technicians come not only with their knowledge and modern steam cleaning machinery but with many tips to offer you. Some of the experts will advise you on what to leave and what to take with you.
Here’s one more great benefit of using a professional end of tenancy cleaning company: while they clean, so you can get your tenancy deposit back, you can spend more time figuring out what to abandon forever and what not.
Donate Furniture to Charity or Sell Them
If you have already decided which pieces of furniture to give up, it’s time for some money-making. Did you know that you can earn some cash through your downsizing initiative?
Make a garage sale and back up your moving out budget with some easy money. The other option is simply to donate things you don’t need anymore.
When people do something good for others, they understand how valuable emotions, health, family and other non-materialistic things are. All these emotions might make you want to give up on buying even more items, which can help make moving in drama-free and fun!
Consider Storage Space as a Last Resort
Let’s imagine you’ve done everything possible to minimise your baggage volume. Yet, there are things you cannot sell, donate or throw away. They might be office machinery, winter sports equipment, or something your kid doesn’t want to give up.
Don’t worry–there’s one more last chance for you to fit your new smaller living space. Simply hire storage space and keep your items there until you figure out what to do with them.
Conclusion
Minimising the materialistic things in life is something that everyone should go through at least once in their life. It’s so freshening up!
We cannot recall a better moment for this step than the relocation into a smaller apartment or house.
You will feel so free after getting rid of those heaps of unwanted, old and dusty items that you will never make the same mistake – keeping yourself stuck with material things rather than embracing values, emotions, experiences, activities and memories.
