Downsizing: Simplifying Your Home in Berkhamsted and Tring

Downsizing is often an inevitable stage in anyone’s life. Whether it’s the kids growing up, retirement, or seeking a simpler lifestyle, moving to a smaller home comes with its challenges and rewards.

Here we’ll look at how to get started with a downsize, and make the most out of your new home.

Choosing The Right Home

Identifying the right space to move into is the most important step on the journey to downsizing. It can help to sit down and brainstorm any elements of your current living situation that aren’t suited to your existing or future lifestyle. Perhaps it’s the stairs, clutter, or the high energy bills for those unused bedrooms. Making use of a comprehensive moving home checklist can speed up this stage. These detailed lists cover every phase of moving home from start to finish, to ensure nothing is forgotten at the last minute. This includes helping you pinpoint features that are most important to you in a future property, as well as the practicalities of budget and value that will guide your choices.

Decluttering Process

Almost all downsizers will have to part ways with a good portion of their belongings to fit comfortably into their new home. Without the right strategy it can be a fraught process, but it’s worth remembering that there are real positives to living with only what you need and truly love.

The Marie Kondo method is a highly popular way of decluttering, with tried and tested mental health benefits. First, begin with emptying every drawer, wardrobe, and cupboard. By laying all the contents out on the floor around you, you’ll see how much you really own, with the sheer sight prompting many to be ruthless in their subsequent sorting. Then, pick up each item one by one and ask yourself: does this spark joy in me? If it does, it’s a keeper. If it doesn’t, it has to go.

Marie Kondo herself even admits this stage may seem whimsical but, along with the huge number of celebrities that swear by this method, you’ll be surprised at how quickly the answer comes to you.

Optimising Space

Measuring up the floorplan of your new home is a good place to start when considering how to make the most of the space you will have. Facebook Marketplace is a great place to sell old furniture that won’t fit. Access to a car or van might be useful here, to improve your sales success when negotiating deliveries.

Multifunctional furniture has come in leaps and bounds to combine appealing design with functionality, not to mention value. Sofa beds can house a child visiting home for the holidays, while ottoman beds use hydraulics to lift the bedframe easily, uncovering significantly more storage than under-bed drawers.

Vertical storage such as stacking bins, wall-hanging organisers, and tall shelving units can also go a long way to open up ample floor space in your new home.

While beginning the move to a simpler lifestyle may seem daunting, on the other side there are significant rewards such as improved financial stability and the opportunity to live closer to family. Focusing on these positive changes and taking one small step at a time can help reduce the stress of a big move. It may even make the process that little bit more enjoyable.

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