How to make the right moves when you downsize
Our best tips
Are you considering a downsizing move? If yes, we’ve got you!
At Downsizer, we’re 100% here to help you through the process.
There are ways to make it a less stressful and more efficient move.
Here are our best tips to help as you embark on your downsizing journey.
Our Top 3 Tips for Downsizing
1. Trust the process and do something positive today
There’s something about downsizing that brings out everyone’s inner procrastinator … but we all know that old saying …
Never put off till tomorrow something you can do today!
Every day, challenge and motivate yourself to do at least one thing that brings you closer to your downsizing goal.
For example, ordering an on-demand council cleanup, donating some kitchen utensils to a charity, putting a few trinkets up for sale on a social media marketplace, passing photo albums down to the next generation, or filling your red bin up to the brim and pushing it out to the kerb!
Any tough decisions are highly unlikely to get any easier just because you keep putting them off.
It is better to be decisive and make those choices now, whatever they may be for you.
2. Measure your new space and create a floorplan with furniture
Before moving into your new home, create an accurate floorplan on graph paper and use it as an essential planning tool. That way you can make sure to map the space available and cross check against your furniture to get an idea of how much you will be able to bring with you.
Using a sturdy tape measure — or even better a laser ruler — measure the height, width, and depth of each piece of furniture you are considering for the new space and always round up!
Be careful to capture the largest measurement for a particular dimension and beware of trims and other elements that can stick out.
Chairs can be surprisingly tricky! A pro tip to measure a chair’s depth is to put the chair up against a wall and then measure the distance from the wall to the front edge of the seat. Remember to measure recliners in their fullest extended position, including the footrest.
On your floorplan, start by placing the most important item of furniture in the room (e.g. the bed in a bedroom or the sofa in the living room) and then add other pieces around it.
Be both practical and realistic about what you can fit into your new home.
A great mindset to adopt is “less stuff … more life.”
3. Keep your eyes on the prize
Downsizing delivers lifestyle and financial benefits. It sets you up to enjoy your golden years in style.
Many people wish they had downsized earlier. If you wait until you are forced to downsize for health or financial reasons, you are much more likely be overwhelmed and regret that you didn’t do it sooner.
Downsizing is a project that takes at least 3 months, if not more like 6–12 months. That’s why buying a new-build dwelling off-the-plan works so well for many downsizers because you have the benefit of that extended settlement period to get yourself ready.
(And you can use our unique Downsizer Bond to secure the exchange of contracts without fronting up the cash deposit! Read our FAQs here.)
Inevitably your downsizing move will stir up a lot of decisions, tasks and complex feelings. So don’t try to do it all at once, or all by yourself.
Take it one room at a time. And start with the room that you use the least.
Objectively look at everything in the room and decide whether those possessions can come with you or will need to be given away to friends and family, donated to charity, sold online or thrown out.
It’s normal and natural to enjoy a wonderful trip down memory lane while you sort through your possessions.
It will be slow at first. By persevering, you’ll pick up momentum and even start to enjoy a feeling of liberation as you free up space.
Interested to learn more about downsizing? Contact me at Downsizer for a quick, obligation-free chat about your home-buying needs.
