Downsize and declutter! Those two words may strike a feeling of dread or even fear in the pit of your stomach. However, there are many benefits to downsizing and decluttering such as saving money on a smaller house, spending less on utility bills, starting a new chapter in life, and making new memories while still holding on to the old ones. If you have decided it is time to downsize and declutter, don’t rush into this without a plan. You can find many plans online and in articles that can help you in the process. As Alexander Graham Bell famously stated, “Preparation is the key to success.” Plan and get ready to meticulously go through every area (even the attic, the basement, and the garage!). Here are some suggestions that we have pulled together we feel are helpful for your plan.
Find An Unbiased Friend To Help You Make Decisions.
If you feel that making decisions to rid your home of some of the many items that have followed you from one year to the next for many many years, we suggest someone to nudge you in the right direction. A friend can help you ask the right questions about if you should keep something or get leave it behind. Often they can help by arguing with you just a bit and pushing you to get rid of some of the items that you really do need to part with after all these years.
Use Four Major Categories for Sorting Your Things
- Keep – These are the items worthy of your time to pack and take up space in a new home.
- Donate – Items that are still useful to others and can help a charity.
- Sell – Items that have some value and are worth the time to list on Facebook Marketplace, Ebay or other sites.
- Trash – Get some big construction grade trash bags and fill them up.
Start By Downsizing And Dealing With The Big Stuff
Sofas, bedroom sets, large tables, recliners, and more should be decided on first. These are the pieces that will likely take up the most room in your new home. If you plan to keep them, great! But if you have been wanting to get a new sofa for years and this is your chance, sell it or donate it and start fresh.
Make Good Choices Regarding The Smaller Things
As long as it is in good condition, keep anything you now use, use occasionally, has sentimental significance, or serves a useful purpose, even if you don’t use it frequently. However, be ruthless with the items that have not been used for months or year. A move is a fantastic opportunity to get rid of baby items, outdated toys, or pregnancy clothing if you’re done having kids and your kids have outgrown the clothes or toys. These make great items to donate to the local Goodwill or other charity organizations.
Be Careful With The Keepsakes – Use Alternative Ways Of Preserving Memories
This one may sound logical, but it is frequently ignored. How many boxes of “keepsakes” do you have that you haven’t opened in a long time? Examine the contents of these boxes before shifting them around needlessly. Children’s artwork, photos, cards, and scrapbooks that are stored in boxes can be digitized by scanning and condensed. Even some nostalgic items like the t-shirt from that concert you attended in 1983 can easily be photographed. A digital picture on your smartphone will probably allow you to see the item more often and share the memory with others than if you left it in a box in the basement.
Some smart decisions about keepsakes will help you gain important and useful room in your new house as a result while still hanging on to the memories and sharing them with your friends and family through digital pictures and PDF files. If you haven’t looked inside the boxes in a while, chances are good that they contain items you are unaware of and won’t really miss in the long run.
Appliances, Electrical Equipment, And Tools – Use The Rule of One Year
It can be very tempting to hold onto things you previously used often but are no longer using. Especially things that you anticipate using in the future. The fact is that you are less likely to utilize something in the coming year if you haven’t used it in the previous one. This suggests that it could be time to part with your pizza oven, sewing machine, old craft project paintbrushes, and exercise gear. Of course, every rule has exceptions. Use caution when donating items that are extremely expensive, sentimental, or serve a specific purpose.
Digitize Old Financial Records
Did you know that you may digitize all your critical documents and save them to the cloud or a hard drive to free up space? You should maintain tangible copies of some documents, such as birth certificates. You can scan and store other financial or personal documents. Many papers can be scanned and stored as PDF files, or they can be transferredf to the cloud using programs like Google Drive or DropBox. Just remember to destroy any paper papers with personal information after digitizing them. Forbes has a good article on what to keep and what to destroy. The general rule of thumb for financial documents is keep documents less than seven years old.
Feeling Overwhelmed Already With The Clutter In Your House?
Perhaps in reading this article, you have come to realize that your house or perhaps your parent’s house is too big of a monster to tackle. What options do you have if the task is just too big, or your time is too valuable to spend on such a huge project? Consider an estate sale. You can usually find someone who will come to your house, go through your things, price them and host a sale. They will take a percentage of the sale for their time and effort. With all the goods that are left after the sale, you should consider a cash sale for the house and all the left over contents.
Professional Home Buyers Can Help You Declutter And Sell Your Home For Cash
A professional home buying company like 717 Home Buyers will make you a cash offer on your property in Philadelphia or other cities in Pennsylvania. You can simply walk away from clutter, needed repairs, and mounds of junk with cash in your hand. If you are ready to sell your property and move on from the hassle, we would be happy to make you a no-obligation cash offer today. We buy houses in as-is condition in Pennsylvania, and we would love to help you too!
You can declutter to the extent that you want or need to and leave the rest for us to deal with. This allows you to close the deal much more quickly than in a tradition sale where repairs, cleaning and leaving an empty house can take months.
Our team is standing by to assist you in selling your home quickly for cash so that you can move on from the clutter and mounds of stuff that fills your basement, attic, and storage areas. You can learn more about how our process works by clicking here. You can read our Google reviews by clicking here or watch some videos of satisfied clients here. If you would like to talk more to one of our friendly professional experts, Call us at 717-639-2164 today. We can give you a no-obligation quote usually within 24 hours. If you accept the offer, we can close the sale and give you cash within just as little a one week. There are no fees, commissions, or closing costs. We hope the best for you. Let us know if you feel we can be of help.
About Josh Eberly
A native of Lancaster County, Josh’s roots run deep in his commitment to this community. He especially enjoys helping people find solutions through real estate. Josh is a seasoned investor with experience in many sides of buying and investing in real estate. Josh enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, digital marketing, and hanging out with his family. Feel free to connect with him here.