How to Successfully Downsize Your Home

How to Successfully Downsize Your Home

The following contribution is from another author.

There are many reasons why people choose to downsize their homes. Sometimes, it can get too hard to pay for a big house if you aren’t working as much or you may not need the space as much as you once did, so downsizing your home is a good option. But there are ways to downsize successfully so that you don’t lose any money and so that everyone involved gets the outcome that they are looking for, so you need to think about things carefully. 

Think about your needs

If you are looking to downsize your home, you need to think about your needs and what you want out of your new home before you move on. This will involve thinking about your future and what you want to do with your life in your new home. A lot of people downsize their home when their children grow up and move out, whereas others downsize in order to move to a different location. But whatever your reason is for downsizing your home, it is important to think about why you are downsizing before you actually do it. For some people, downsizing your home can be a way to lower monthly expenses, because you won’t have to pay as much to buy or rent a smaller property. It can be hard to get used to a smaller space, but if you are saving money by downsizing your home, it may be worth it. 

Go through your things

The perfect time to go through your things is when you are downsizing your home. This is because you will be packing and moving your things when you leave anyway, so it is the perfect opportunity to go through your things before you get to your new place. Try making a list of things that you will need at your new place, and then keep the rest of the things that you won’t need separate. Then you can go through your things and throw away what you need to. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you haven’t used something in over a year, you probably won’t use it again in the future, so try to be realistic about things that you don’t need. 

Throw some things away

Cleaning out your house is inevitable when you are downsizing your home, so you need to be prepared to throw things away where necessary. It is a good idea to start getting rid of some of the bigger items that you no longer want or need first. Larger items can be harder to get rid of on your own because they can’t be just thrown in the garbage like other trash that you may have. It is also difficult to transport larger items because they can be heavy and you may not have the means to move them on your own. If you have a few old items like furniture, old appliances or other household items that can’t be thrown away, you might need to call in the professionals to help you out. 1300 Rubbish are specialists at getting rid of household items and junk and can help you to throw away anything that you need to get rid of before you move away. 

Consider storage options

If you have a lot of stuff that you want to keep when you are moving into a new space, you may want to think about storage and the options that you have at your new home. If you are moving from a house to an apartment, you may not have access to a space where you can store the things that don’t fit in your home. If you have a space like a backyard or garden, you may be able to buy a shed to put some things in, but it is not always possible to do this, depending on where you decide to live. If you have some treasured items that you really need to keep and you don’t have the space for them, you should consider hiring a storage unit for your things. Even if you hire it for a small period of time and you get rid of some other things in the meantime, it is a good idea to hire a storage space because you will know that your things are protected and looked after, even when they aren’t with you. 

Think about your home insurance

If you are downsizing your home and moving to a new place, you will need to think about your home insurance. When you move into a new place, you will need to change your coverage, depending on where you are living and what your arrangements will be. For example, if you are going from owning your own home to renting, you should purchase renter’s insurance, but if you are buying a new place you should look for deals with home buildings and contents insurance. NRMA home insurance is great for people who are looking to downsize because they will help you to find the cover that you need for your new home based on your individual needs. So you can feel safe and protected in your new home because you will have home insurance incase things go wrong. 

Author

Eric is the creator of At Home in the Future and has been a passionate fan of the future since he was seven. He's a web developer by trade, and serves as the Director of Communication and Technology for a large church in Nashville, TN (where he and his family are building a high tech home in the woods).