Moving to a new home is always a challenging process for a multitude of reasons. Whether you are moving locally in New Orleans and you have to hire New Orleans local movers, or you are moving to Los Angeles and you have to plan a move across the entire country, having to deal with hiring movers and other things such as packing and dealing with all the paperwork, things can get quite complex. One thing that people often forget to talk about is what happens when you are moving to a different-sized home? If it is larger, it may feel empty a bit, but that is something that will be easily solved by buying a piece or two of furniture. The question we are asking today is what happens when you are moving into a smaller home? Here is our guide on how to do just that.
You need to make an inventory list of your belongings
One of your best friends, as you go about planning and executing your move, is going to be your inventory list. Inventory lists are sometimes disregarded as overrated, but that simply couldn’t be further from the truth. It is not just that it is useful for when you are moving into a smaller home, but it is useful in a wide variety of ways. For instance, if you opt not to hire a quality moving company you risk that some of your belongings end up damaged or even lost. In such cases, you will need to file an insurance claim and that means preparing a lot of documents. One of the documents that you will need is the inventory list. However, that is a circumstantial situation that does not happen that often.
What is the best way to use the inventory list?
The situations where inventory lists do shine is when getting ready to pack your belongings. The key use of it when moving to a smaller place is that it is easier to see what are the things that you simply do not need anymore. Human beings are hoarders. We have a natural tendency towards piling up things that one day may have utility in some specific circumstances. Over the years, the number of such items can really grow and this is a great chance to do something about it. So, by using the list, you can denote which ones you will need to temporarily store in on-site storage containers and which items you do not need anymore and can get rid of, thus relieving the pressure.
There are three groups for you to categorize these belongings:
- Trash – Throughout the years are have gathered a lot of things that you objectively do not really need anymore. These can be books and notebooks from school or remnants of old hobbies. Maybe it is some damaged clothes. that you don’t want to throw away for some reason? There are plenty of possibilities. Whatever they are – Throw them away.
- For sales or for giving away – There are also probably quite a few of your belongings that you do not need anymore but that you can sell and thus actually strengthen your moving budget. Those can be different items that you got as gifts or that are older versions of newer things you bought in the meantime such as microwaves. They take up space, so you can either sell them, give them away or store them for the time being in one of New Orleans storage facilities.
- Save for later – Some things you probably will not want to get rid of in either way. However, since there won’t be room for them in your new home, you need to get rid of them. Extra pieces of furniture are the likeliest candidates for this. You can borrow them to someone or store them in the aforementioned facilities.
Plan the new home and prioritize the furniture
Before you start moving into a smaller home, you need to see what you are working with. That means that you need to make a plan on which room will serve which purpose. Bigger appliances are a good example of this. Some people hold the washing machine in their bathrooms, but there may not be room in the bathroom. That is why maybe it will be best if you put it in the kitchen, for example. In any case, you need to see what are the possibilities and limitations of each room in the new home. Some pieces of furniture may eventually end up in different rooms and will certainly combine in different ways. The best way to go about doing this is to measure the rooms in the new house or apartment.
When you do that, you should measure all the wardrobes, sofas, and other pieces of furniture and start forming potential solutions. Depending on the size difference between your new and old home, you may need to get rid of some of the furniture. The easiest way to do this is to choose which are the things that you will definitely use and then go from there. The best choices are always those pieces that save more space. In such cases, the more drawers and shelves there are, the better. The furniture pieces with double roles are definitely a top priority. Doing the prioritizing is overall basically what you will be doing the whole time anyway. This is where the inventory list really comes to focus.
