Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

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CoastLawyer2030
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Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by CoastLawyer2030 »

My wife and I (both 34 YO), plus our two little toddlers, are downsizing from a 3,100 square foot house to a 1,600 square foot house. The new house has three bedrooms and two full baths. We are also having about 1,000 square feet of the basement finished before we move in.

While we do try to be as "minimalist" as possible, we still have two toddlers and quite a bit of stuff. My biggest area of concern is the kitchen. We are transitioning from an absolutely massive kitchen with tons of storage to a pretty standard size kitchen with probably 50-60% of the cabinets.

I am wondering what others here have done for a similar downsize move. What process did you use to get rid of stuff? How did you evaluate what to keep and throw away?

Also, dare I ask -- did you regret your move, or was it the right decision?
HomeStretch
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by HomeStretch »

FIREChief had a good thread on downsizing that includes posts about decluttering:
viewtopic.php?t=262071

As far as decluttering goes, give yourself plenty of time to get it done. You might start with planning your room layouts in order to decide which furniture you currently own will fit comfortably into the new house. Same thing for new kitchen storage availability v. Your kitchen-related items. You could always create storage outside of the kitchen for less frequently used cookware, dinnerware and small appliances.

Best of luck.
Last edited by HomeStretch on Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
quietseas
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by quietseas »

So you are going from 3100 square feet to 1600 plus a 1000 square foot basement so I'm not sure I really call that minimalism or extreme downsizing.

Do what has been done for generations. Put shelves and cabinets in part of the basement. Put the less frequently used kitchen items and bulk food storage in the basement, maybe add in a chest freezer, and train the kids to go down to get the items and bring them up the stairs when told to do so as soon as they are old enough.

I don't think decluttering needs to take a lot of time. Pick up an item and make a decision whether you want to keep it or not. Takes one second per item. Donate items you don't want. If you feel the item is too valuable to donate it keep it and put it in the basement storage area until you decide you really don't want it after all.
sailaway
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by sailaway »

Only take the stuff you actually use in the kitchen (and elsewhere, for that matter). A standard kitchen in a 1600sq ft home will fit plenty of dishes and pans and a fair few appliances.
Topic Author
CoastLawyer2030
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by CoastLawyer2030 »

quietseas wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:59 am So you are going from 3100 square feet to 1600 plus a 1000 square foot basement so I'm not sure I really call that minimalism or extreme downsizing.

Do what has been done for generations. Put shelves and cabinets in part of the basement. Put the less frequently used kitchen items and bulk food storage in the basement, maybe add in a chest freezer, and train the kids to go down to get the items and bring them up the stairs when told to do so as soon as they are old enough.

I don't think decluttering needs to take a lot of time. Pick up an item and make a decision whether you want to keep it or not. Takes one second per item. Donate items you don't want. If you feel the item is too valuable to donate it keep it and put it in the basement storage area until you decide you really don't want it after all.
Leaving aside that current house also has 750 square feet finished in the basement (so 4,000 square feet total), I guess all the bizarro stuff about "tiny homes" has made halving your housing not officially "downsizing."
jebmke
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by jebmke »

We moved from 3,800 sf + semi-finished basement to 2,500 with no basement and smallish attic space for storage. There was an overseas move in between which helped.

We have move a lot; our general approach is to lay out the new location before leaving the old, picking the things you will put in the new. Everything else gets jettisoned. Make sure to leave a space for the two kids to stand; hate to see them jettisoned in the process. I grew up in a military family so we moved a lot and we had a standard routine for thinning stuff out so I got used to it.

We now have a new policy that we keep to fairly well. If you buy something that can't be eaten or otherwise consumed, you have to jettison two things. 2:1.
Stay hydrated; don't sweat the small stuff
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GerryL
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by GerryL »

sailaway wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:28 am Only take the stuff you actually use in the kitchen (and elsewhere, for that matter). A standard kitchen in a 1600sq ft home will fit plenty of dishes and pans and a fair few appliances.
When I remodeled, I had to empty the entire house. Even though I would have more storage in the kitchen, I wanted to limit what was in the new storage space to make everything easily accessible. I put only what I would use frequently in the new cupboards/drawers. I put items I would use occasionally in a new storage rack in the garage. Everything else went into boxes in the garage for eventual donations or dumping. This has saved me from re-cluttering. But it may be time to go through the kitchen again to make sure no revisions are needed.

BTW, having limited space makes it easy to resist the temptation to buy new small appliances.
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Bogle7
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Re: Share Your Downsizing Experience/Advice

Post by Bogle7 »

Just throw stuff out.
Leave in the alley with a “free” sign on it.
Old fart who does three index stock funds, baby.
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