You have made the decision to sell your lifelong home and find a smaller place to live with fewer demands on property maintenance, house cleaning, and yard work—not to mention all those stairs. It is now time to enjoy your life in a smaller home, maybe even a condo or retirement community. Either way, a decision needs to be made on what to keep and what must go.

Our Tips for Preparing to Move:

Give Yourself Lots of Time

The second the thought crosses your mind to sell and downsize start the process of going through your home determining what to keep and what to keep, sell, donate, store or trash.  The more time you give yourself for this process, the more stress-free it will be.  Remember to make a plan and a timeline so you don’t find yourself making rash decisions the week before your move.

Work Room by Room

As with anything, it is much easier to accomplish smaller tasks than one large one. By tackling each room in the house one at a time, you will feel like you are accomplishing something with each room completed. It will also help you deal with specific items all related in an easier manner.  Making decisions about each of the items in the garage, is easier than making a decision about the garden hose while at the same time, looking at your son’s high school trophies.

Create a System

In each room, get 4 boxes or create 4 spots, labelling them as: Keep, Sell, Donate, Storage and Trash

Keep: Those items that you need, are useful in your daily life, or that you just can’t part with (give deep consideration to this last one, or you will find yourself with everything in the keep pile). This is where a professional can help you make decisions.  A good rule of thumb: if you haven’t used it, touched it, looked at it in a year, you probably do not need to keep it…

Sell: Items that someone else would find of value and be willing to buy

Donate: Items useful to others that can be donated to shelters, your church, libraries, second-hand stores, or family members that would value the item, etc.

Storage: Items you are not willing to part with just yet but are too big for your new home or you are not sure whether they will fit or not. These items may also include heirlooms or items of value you would like to give to a family member, collections, or items to sell in the future once values have been obtained and the time is available to do so.

Trash: anything of no value to anyone; be sure to recycle where appropriate. If you think you will have many items for the trash, consider renting a dumpster.

Selling your items:

Determine how the selling process will work. Will you have an estate sale, a yard sale, or sell items individually online? There are many online services for this purpose, including estate sales. Yard sales are labor-intensive, as is selling items one-by-one on Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace, or classified ads. Do you really want this headache?

Pack As You Go

For those items you are definitely keeping, take the time to pack them as you complete each room. Label the box(s) accordingly, and look at that—you’re one step closer to your new home.

If all of this seems too much, contact us for assistance. As Residential Transition Specialists, we have the expertise to make your move as stress-free as possible, including what to do with all your stuff!