wendiq

It's time for me and my DH to move to a much smaller place....our age and physical problems, do not allow for us to stay in our 2400 square foot home. We don't have a ton of money, but will probably be moving to a 2 bedroom-two bath unit in a Senior community The average size of the homes are in the 1000 sq. ft. range....I am overwhelmed with the thought of getting rid of things.....not sure how to do it. Heavy furniture and do not want to have people walking through the house. Any suggestions from anyone that has had to do this? Really appreciate any thoughts here.....

francie yuhas

Change is good...you go first! I haven't done that...yet. The first thing I would do is measure out the space,measure out the furniture and figure out ahead of time what will fit. The next thing would be to call the kids and ask for help. Just thinking....it'll all work out in time. I'll be thinking of you.

Nammie to 7

Go through one closet, cupboard or drawer at a time - weed out anything you don't want to take with you - send a bunch to Salvation Army, Goodwill, whatever, put aside what you want your kids to have. Then when it comes time to pack you don't have to sort everything - just pack and go. Decide what furniture you don't want - you can always have a consignment shop pick it up or donate to one of the charities. Good luck in your move. You will be glad when it is all done and you are nicely settled.

needles3thread

My grown daughters want things of ours that I had no idea they would want. If you can get them to look for
themselves, it is a good idea.

selm

francie yuhas and Nammie to 7 have excellent ideas for your move. We're getting ready to downsize after over 20 years here. We've barely begun to de-clutter but that has to be done first as Nammie said. Another suggestion: if you have sentimental items you don't have room for take pictures, get rid of the items but you'll always have the pictures for memories. If you can get a layout of the new place you can better visualize where furniture, etc will go.
Is it possible to find a place a bit bigger than 1000 sq ft? As a sewer/quilter you'll want as much space as you can get for that.
Good luck in your journey ahead.

Tartan

My first priority would be what I want in my new sewing area. This is your chance to make your spot nice for you there. The next would be family heirlooms and photos that have to come on the move.
Start weeding to the thrift store, going with you and garbage. Decide on what pieces of furniture are going with you. If your family wants things that don't have tags on them to go to the new place, have them come and pick up what they want. Look into a storage unit if you end up with a few things you still want but have no room for. Pay for a year to store them and reassess at the end of the year to sell or keep.

alwayslearning

We have moved from a five bedroom home to a two bedroom in a senior community. We had 2 yard sales. The first was just a small one getting rid of knick- knacks. One little old lady nearly cleaned us out of our brass without anyone noticing her. The next one we hired professionals and included things like furniture (don't think anything walked away unpaid then). Then I donated the rest to The People with AIDS Coalition. They use some things directly for clients, the rest they sell in a well run thrift store. The store was staffed by volunteers and a few full time employees who also were patients. YES, we still brought too much with us. Be brutal. Your most important rooms are going to be bedroom, sewing, tv, kitchen and baths. Be brutal. Good luck. You will love it!

sall

we downsized after bringing up 5 children from a 10 room house to a 2 bed house. We had what we call here in Uk a couple of carboot sales. The furniture we had was much too large for our new house, so we could only take a few pieces but as luck would have it , the person who bought the house was from South Africa and needed to furnish the house. He was more than happy to buy our furniture, which was great for us as well. The only thing was, when we moved, I has not been introduced to quilting, so the second bedroom is now my sewing room, cum bedroom for visitors. I manage fine but cannot do any sewing when there are visitors.

Jan in VA

I've actually done this several times and found, after the first time, that it was best to sell much of my living room furniture and start over with fewer pieces that would fit into the new location better. This also allowed me to "redecorate" which made the moving process more emotionally appealing.

I found that smaller scaled pieces were much more appropriate than what I had owned in a family home. I also found that "visitors" were fewer than when I had lived in a larger home.....I didn't actually "need" a sofa - a love seat would do.

I eventually came to this place - the rural cottage I am in now - that doesn't even have a sofa! I have a recliner a floor lamp, a chair side table (actually an 8 drawer unit in which I can hide all sorts of things like cds, remote, binoculars - I live on a farm near the woods and the view is wonderful - extra napkins and salt and pepper for my dinner tray, and so forth) and one pretty wooden side chair for the occasional guest. The rest of the living room is my sewing space.

I believe that thinking outside the traditional box of “this is how we’ve always done it;” or, “we love that chair/table/lamp/sofa;” or “my husband would never agree to selling that”, then you will have a much easier time of finding your new home to BE a home for you.

I wish you the best; it’s not an easy decision.

Jan in VA

GrandmaPeggy

We moved to a 753 sq. ft. condo in downtown for a couple of years (for work) after the children were grown and gone. The view was wonderful. It had only one bedroom, one bath, one balcony, but 6 closets. The china cabinet became our dresser, with limited display & bookshelves. One closet in the bathroom held our computer desk (we had it wired appropriately). We re-purposed, stored, sold or donated lots of our things. It was hard, but we lived through it. We got to experience a different life than we ever expected and really enjoyed it. Now, in retirement, we live in a house that has two small bedrooms for company and a large master. We get to entertain the grands with sleep-overs, even though we retired to their hometown. Our children do not want our family heirlooms, so we will dispose of those too, someday. I have started taking photos for an album, in advance of the things leaving us. Still so much to do and little time to finish the project (retirement keeps us busy). It is kind of like a quilting UFO I guess....on the back burner until motivation kicks in.