Tips To Downsize Your Home Before Moving

Oct 13, 2022 According to the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics census, one in every five apartments was occupied in Australia. This means there has been a shift in people’s mindset, with more and more people looking for smaller apartments and living spaces. This could be for several reasons, like saving money or branching out of your family home and living independently. No matter what the reason, when you move to a smaller space, you will need to downsize your current belongings. This can take a lot of time and cause a lot of stress if it is not handled in the right way. Therefore here are expert tips to help you downsize your home so that your removalists in Canberra can pack and move only the essential items.

1. Identify Your Purpose

Before you start downsizing your home, you need first to identify why you are downsizing your home and what your aim is. For instance, ask yourself what the purpose of your move is. Are you moving to save money or be closer to your friends and family? Do you want to cut expenses and keep the money for travel and other plans? Once you have established your purpose, you will be able to picture what items will match these goals and can thus plan your decluttering process accordingly.

2. Set A Timeline And Plan

Secondly, you must start planning your downsizing so you are not stressed out at the last minute. Ideally, it would be best to start planning your move three months in advance, but you can start downsizing as soon as possible. Once you have a set timeline and plan, you can quickly organise and sort your things.

3. Create An Inventory

It can be overwhelming when you first start downsizing your items, so creating an inventory of all your items is better. Note down the items, the room they are in, their prices, and tiny details. This will help you understand what you have and need in your new home. You may even find items you thought you had lost in the clutter. This will also help you keep track of all the items when your removalists in Canberra pack and move your things.

4. Keep Four Boxes

Now you must go room by room and keep four boxes in each room for donating, selling, recycling and keeping. Then you can start sorting and decluttering your items in these four boxes in the following ways:

• Use the Konmari method to ask yourself if you need an item and does it bring any joy to you. If the answer is no, put it in the donate or sell box.
• It would help if you also looked at things from a more practical perspective and did not let your emotions cloud your decisions. If you feel like something has lost its purpose but still want to hold onto it for emotional reasons, you can give it to your loved ones.
• You should also try giving away one thing daily to downsize all your rooms slowly.
• Try the 6-month method, where you twist your clothes hangers every time you use them. If, after six months, there are things that you still haven’t used, you should put them in the donate, sell or recycle box.

5. Digitalise Your Items

Getting rid of certain family heirlooms or sentimental items can be challenging. You can make this process easier by taking photos and writing notes about the item. This will make it easier for you to give it away as you will still have a memory of the item. You can also do this with paperwork and records and upload them online to save space and eliminate clutter.

6. Pack The Keep Boxes

As soon as you fill the keep box in each room, you should start packing it and labelling it. This will speed up your packing process and ensure you don’t add unnecessary items to the box at the last minute. You should also write the room name so that your professional removalists in Canberra know which room to place it in.

7. Recycle Your Items

Did you know that Australia produces around 74 million tonnes of waste, and only 60% of this is recycled? This is why most of our waste is piling up in landfills and damaging our ecosystem. Therefore you should also start practising more sustainable methods when downsizing your home. You can do this by recycling items instead of throwing them away. Place all plastic bottles, paper goods, and items like old phones or damaged computers in your recycle box and then give them to a local recycling centre. These authorities will upcycle and recycle your items so people who need them can use them.

8. Donate Or Sell Other Items

The remaining items you do not want to use but are still in good condition can come in handy for others. You can donate them to your local centres or give them to family and friends. You can also host a garage sale for some items like books, furniture and clothes and earn some extra money for your house move. This will help you declutter many items and feel good about giving them to others.

9. Measure Your New Home

Lastly, it is better to check the size of your new home and see what can fit in there. This way, you can start selling or giving away all your old items and only take things that will suit your new home. You should also avoid buying anything new until you have settled in your new home. This will ensure that you have a hassle-free move when relocating.

Conclusion

The above tips will help you eliminate all the clutter in your home and downsize it to fit your new space. Once you have established your purpose and methods of sorting items, you can start placing everything in separate boxes and packing them. This will make it easier for you to downsize your things, and your professional removalists Canberra can pick up your moving boxes and transport them to your new home.