To Take or Not To Take – Planning for your Next Move

When you make the decision to move to a smaller place, downsizing is an important step to insure that your belongings will fit comfortably in your new home. Moving a parent or yourself can be difficult, especially when you have to give up some of the furniture that you love.

As soon as possible, at least three months ahead of time, you should begin planning the move. This is necessary so you can donate, recycle, give away or sell any large items you will be unable to take with you. Most people only use 20% of what they own. Keep that in mind when you are deciding what to keep.

Most apartments or condos have floor plans available that can be your guide. Get some graph paper and mark down the size of the new living space. Measure your furniture and see which pieces will fit comfortably into the new layout. Mark where the doorways and windows are in order to make your plan useful. If you cut out pieces of graph paper that are the sizes of your furniture, you can move them around and try different configurations to see what will work best.

This may sound tedious, but you truly need to know what will fit before you try to cram it all in the new home. It would be very stressful and costly if you move into the new place only to discover that you do not have room for half of your furniture.

If it is a parent that is moving, be gentle and as patient as possible. This is a difficult process. It took a lifetime to accumulate all of the belongings and it is not easy to part with them.

Your goal is not to get rid of everything, but to make things easier on the person moving. Take time to go through all of it. This is why a three-month timeframe is recommended. You may need to ponder each item and its significance whether you or a parent is moving.

Ask for help if you need it. Having an objective person to help you make difficult decisions can make the process go much more smoothly for everyone involved.