As we move through life, we expect to have to make changes. The house you might have bought when your children were young and you had a need for more space, more rooms, more things to play with might have been bigger than any other home you lived in. The bigger the house, the more room the kids had to grow – and it makes sense. The thing is, as you move through life and the kids move out, the one thing that you need to consider is downsizing.

Do you really want to spend all of your time rattling around a huge house with rooms that feel empty because they’re not filled with chattering children, laughing babies and fun. They’re a shell and you are then paying to heat and light a shell that you don’t even use. It may be a difficult decision, but downsizing is going to make a massive difference not only to your wallet, but to your future! So, how do you do it? How do you make such a massive shift so late in life without dropping the ball? We’ve got the tips that will make your downsizing plans a success.

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1. Choose where you want to live before you even advertise your home. Whether you want to buy a retirement home in a community with others of the same stage in life, or you want to stay in the same area, it can help to plan your budget effectively if you have a clue where you’d like to live. Plan this first, and the rest of the budget questions will fall into place.
2. Start decluttering. You want to start getting rid of all the things that you have collected over the years and it starts by going room to room. It can be an emotional challenge to declutter decades worth of memories and downsize your belongings. Unless you find a smaller place with excellent storage, you need to consider this when it comes to your move to a new place. 
3. Make a list. You need to know how much self storage is going to cost, where to buy boxes and where to begin with organizing your time to pack everything. You need a system and if you write it all down, you’ll make this a smooth move. Storage options should be considered for vintage antiques, too, as not every environment is right for this.
4. Picking an agent. When you are moving to a new property, a real estate agent could be invaluable to you in ensuring that you get the exact home that you need to your specifications. You don’t have to make a point of doing it alone; not when you have help at hand.
5. Ask for help. Whether it’s cleaning both properties, packing your things or getting things from your home to the tip, you need to ask for help and be okay with asking! You have a lot of rooms to get through and it’s much easier to do it when you have people on your side to make downsizing possible.