Downsizing and moving can be both energizing and overwhelming. Your first question is “What am I going to do with all the stuff I’m not taking with me?” And then you think, “How am I going to get rid of all of this myself?” And finally, you think, “Do I have the time and energy to dedicate to this?” If you don’t hire someone to help you, the process can be smooth when you develop a plan before you start.
First, create a specific time-line and/or checklist. It’s important to stay on task and adhere to the time-line. It’s very easy to procrastinate and wait unitl the last minute to worry about where all the stuff is going to go once moving day comes. However, the longer you put it off, the more stressful things can get.
When you create your time-line give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. Most people underestimate how long it will take to go through all of their belongings.
Second, plan for your new space. To begin, figure out how much space will be available in your new home. See if you can get a floor plan with dimensions to help you layout your largest pieces of furniture. This will help you narrow down which items will make the move with you and what needs to find a new home.
Next, create a tagging system to categorize items. Work to separate and tag the items that will stay behind into different categories. Categories could include, donations to family or friends, donations to charitable organizations, sell, or disposal.
And lastly, be kind ~ to yourself. This is a hard process. You may have belongings that have many memories attached to them and it will be hard to say goodbye. You will most likely get what I like to call ‘decision fatigue.’ You will be making a decision about everything in your home and it’s exhausting. By creating a time-line and plan you can work in small chunks of time so that your decision fatigue will be moderate over a longer period of time.