When Should I Start Downsizing?

Earlier Than You Think. No, Earlier Than That.

I get asked two questions all the time:

“When should I start preparing for a move?”

And:

“How long does it take to downsize?”

After years of helping people move, I have developed a highly sophisticated professional answer:

Before you think you need to.

Really.

Please do not wait until the house is listed.

Please do not wait until you have a moving date.

And for the love of all things cardboard, please do not wait until the night before the moving truck arrives to decide whether something is coming with you.

There is a reason.

Downsizing is not the same thing as packing.

Packing is relatively straightforward.

You point at something and say, “That goes.”

We wrap it. We put it in a box. We label the box. Done.

Downsizing requires you to make a decision.

• Do I need this?

• Do I use this?

• Does it fit where I’m going?

• Does someone else want it?

• Is it valuable?

• Is it sentimental?

• Why do I own 47 tiny hotel soaps?

And suddenly you’re standing in the bathroom holding a miniature bottle of shampoo from a Marriott you visited in 2006, wondering whether throwing it away somehow constitutes waste.

This is why downsizing takes time.

Not because there is so much stuff to physically move.

Because there are so many decisions to make.

Your future self does not want to do this under pressure.

The best time to make decisions about your belongings is while they are still your decisions to make.

Here’s another thing I’ve learned:

People tend to assume they’ll deal with their belongings when they “have to.”

The problem is that the moment when you have to move may also be the moment when you’re least equipped to deal with it.

Health changes.

Mobility changes.

Memory changes.

Energy changes.

A move that once seemed like something you’d tackle “eventually” can suddenly become something that needs to happen now.

And then you aren’t thoughtfully deciding what belongs in your next home.

You’re paying someone like me to put it in a box.

There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes that’s exactly what needs to happen.

But it is much easier—and considerably less expensive—to make those decisions before the moving truck is scheduled.

Also: do not start with the 25-year-old paperwork.

I know.

There is a box in your office containing records from the nonprofit board you served on during the Clinton administration.

And for reasons I cannot fully explain, that box will suddenly become extremely compelling when you decide to downsize.

You will want to read things.

You will want to sort things.

You may discover meeting minutes.

You may begin reminiscing about Bob, who really was impossible to work with.

Put the box down. Bob can wait.

If you’re preparing to move, start with the things that will actually affect your new home:

Your clothes.

Your kitchen.

Your furniture.

Your linens.

Your garage.

Your pantry.

Your bathroom cabinets.

Your closets.

First make the big, obvious decisions that reduce volume.

Then, if there’s time, we can revisit the 1997 Beautification Committee minutes.

And please don’t wait until after you list the house.

This is another surprisingly common mistake.

The house goes on the market.

Then someone says:

“Okay! Now let’s clean out the closets!”

No.

Because now your house needs to look presentable every time a potential buyer walks through it.

Pulling everything out of three closets and creating Mount Belongings in the guest bedroom means you have to put Mount Belongings away every time the Realtor calls.

That’s an enormous pain in the neck.

If you’re planning to sell, do as much rightsizing as possible before the listing photographs are taken.

Your Realtor will thank you.

Your closets will look better.

Your house will show better.

And you won’t find yourself frantically shoving half-sorted possessions behind doors five minutes before a showing.

So how long DOES downsizing take?

There isn’t one answer.

But here’s the rule I wish more people understood:

Think in months, not weekends.

If you’ve lived in a home for 20, 30, 40 or 50 years, you accumulated those belongings over decades.

You do not need to undo all of that in two Saturdays.

Start six months before you think you might move. A year is not too early.

And if you’re planning to age in place?

Start anyway.

Because rightsizing isn’t only about moving.

It’s about making your current home easier to live in: creating safer pathways, letting go of things you no longer use, making important belongings easier to find—and preventing someone else from someday having to make hundreds of decisions on your behalf.

Start while you still have choices.

That’s really the point.

Do it while you still have the energy to decide whether you want 17 neckties.

Do it while you can comfortably reach the top shelf.

Do it while you can spend 30 minutes going through a drawer and then go do something more interesting.

Do it before a health crisis.

Before the photographer.

Before the SOLD sign.

Before the moving truck.

And definitely before somebody is standing in your kitchen at 4:20 on moving day wondering why there is meat in the freezer from 2019.

Your future self will be very grateful.

And if you don’t know where to begin?

That’s okay.

We do.

Lyn’s Daughter | Moves Made Manageable