Downsizing after the kids move out.

There are a lot of reasons why people think about downsizing, from planning a move to kids growing up and moving out, to just getting ready for the next chapter of your life.

Whether you are moving or just need to declutter your life a bit, going through the downsizing process will make you feel better about yourself and your home. I have outlined some quick tips below to help you get the job done efficiently and effectively.

Downsizing your kitchen

People spend a good bit of time in their kitchens and tend to accumulate items they only use once a year or so.  I would recommend that you go through your cabinets one at a time, pull everything out of that cabinet, then only put back those things that you need. You may run across some things you want to keep for sentimental value, but are not useful, just set those aside, otherwise get rid of what you don’t want or use.   When I say get rid of something, I don’t necessarily mean to put it in the trash, it may be something you want to give to a family member or set aside for donation to a charity like Goodwill.

Once the cabinets are cleaned out, you may find you have plenty of room to accommodate everything you want to keep and not feel cluttered anymore, but if not, consider shelf organizers.  Things like shelves to stack plates or bins for all those plastic lids (the ones you keep), hooks to hang pots, and so on.  Have some fun while you are reorganizing, you will feel great when it is done.

Organizing the pantry

While you are in the kitchen, don’t forget to go through your panty.  I have found that getting rid of those old food items that are outdated from four or five years ago, frees up space and makes you feel good about what you have you in stock.  It’s nice to know what is going on in your panty.

Freshen up the closets

If you are like me, I didn’t have a lot to put in an attic when I moved to my current location, what I did have I put in the closets in my office and my guest bedroom.  Using the extra closets for storage was great on my knees too as I didn’t have to go up and down those attic stairs every so often to find something. Unfortunately, over time, it turned my closets into a cluttered mess. Downsizing here can make you feel so much better every time you look for something.

Organizing closets can be a bigger job than kitchen cabinets. They generally hold more than stuff, and the items tend to be bigger too.  As you pull things out of the closet, keep the same approach as with the kitchen cabinets, does the item belong in this closet, will it work better somewhere else, or should you get rid of it?  If you run across things you want to keep like pictures, set them aside in a place where you can review them later.  Don’t get sidetracked and start reminiscing over pictures, or this task will take much longer than planned.

Donate your old clothes

I am forever on a diet and think I’m going to get into some of those cute clothes I wore 20 years ago.  I know it is not likely that I will wear them again even if I can fit into them, but I hang onto them anyway. If you are like me, now is the time to just let them go.

Like the other parts of your house you have already reorganized, work on one drawer at a time, or one section of the closet at a time. It’s tough to let go of somethings, but I promise you it will feel great to get the downsizing done.  You can do downsize over time unless you are planning a big move. Definitely schedule the time though or you will never get it done. Schedule a day and do it all at once or day by day until it is complete. Just break it down into smaller chunks and make it easier on yourself.

Once you are done, consider donating the old items you don’t use anymore to a charity like Goodwill. Someone else will get some good use of them, you will get a tax deduction and you will get an extra feel good bonus too.

Pictures

Once you have completed reorganizing the closets, you will probably find you had pictures or other mementos stashed everywhere. There are a couple of things you can do to get your pictures in order. You can go through your pictures to get them organized by year or you can scan them into your computer to deal with later.  If you scan them, I doubt you will want to get rid of the originals, so while scanning, organize them too.

You could opt to send your pictures to a third party to scan for you, but the organization will still fall to you at some point. I inherited six or seven bins of my mother’s pictures when she passed away, it was a lot of work to sort through them all. I spent time in the evenings going through them in front of the TV.

A side note about storing pictures on your computer, be sure to back them up on a separate hard drive or to the cloud. You do not want to lose your pictures if your computer crashes.

Downsizing may seem like a lot of work, but I promise you it will be worth the effort when you are done. The satisfaction you get from having everything organized and in its proper place on top of the peace of mind it gives you, will be worth the time and energy spent on the task.