Downsizing - am thinking about - how have others done downsizing?

PennyForThem_2

Large 4 bedroom house but in a desireable location next to a park with view over a man made lake.  But am thinking of ridding myself of stuff and looking to move (possibly).

How have others approached downsizing - what are the tips?  What are the pros and cons?  Did family approve?  If not how did you mitigate this?

TELLIT01

If the house is bigger than you want/need/can manage * (delete as applicable) just tell family of your decision.  Those who aren't happy are more likely to be concerned about their inheritance than your well being.

A potential downside is having difficulty deciding what you really, really want to keep and the stuff that you can live without.  My main thought is not to downsize too much.  If you are in a 4 bed house, you may find a 2 bed apartment to be claustrophobic.  Also bear in mind that moving house and getting a new property to the standard you want can be an expensive exercise.  My neighbours looked at downsizing, in part to release money, but realised that in moving from a 3 bed house to  a 2 bed bungalow there would be little financial benefit.

Flugelhorn

we downsized from an impossible to heat very large 5 bed edwardian house to a much smaller 5 bed modern house, costs a fraction to heat and the roof doesn't leak. very good move but we did have to get rid of a lot of furniture

Savvy_Sue

One thing to remember is that pretty much the only thing you can't change about a house / flat / bungalow is its location. 

So if you love your current location, what's nearby? Or would you want to move properly away?

And if the answer is that you want to stay put, then consider how easily you can make the house age friendly - for example, we have wide doorways, wide low staircase etc. 

However, if you are asset rich and cash poor, moving definitely requires more serious consideration.

As for whether or not family approve, you're still the grownup. ;-)  

fudgecat

We'll, you can always do it eccentrically, like us! We moved from a 2 up 2 down terraced in a desireable area, to a 4 bed doer upper bungalow in rural  1/3 rd acre. It was half the price - literally - of our house! 

maisie_cat

We downsized from a 4 bed in Surrey to a 2/3 bed cottage in rural Wales, less inside space to heat, 8x more outside space to enjoy.
The reducing of decades of "stuff" was cathartic, in fact we left furniture with the house for the family upsizing from 2 to 4 beds. 
If I could give one piece of advice it would be to ensure that the things you are taking will fit a smaller space.
We took too much stuff after a ruthless clear out and some is still in boxes 2 years later. We also gave away a sofa and took 2 others only to find that they wouldn't fit through the narrow cottage doors. So we transported them 250 miles and then had to pay a charity to take them away.

blue.peter

Flugelhorn said:

...but we did have to get rid of a lot of furniture

May I ask how you did that? Sold (e.g., on eBay)/given to charity/taken to council tip/something else? Any problems (either practical or just hassle)?

(I'm hoping to move at some stage in the not-too-distant future, and think that I might want to get rid of some furniture that still has some life in it. Suggestions for minimal-hassle, no/low-cost, methods would be welcome.)

Savvy_Sue

blue.peter said:

Flugelhorn said:

...but we did have to get rid of a lot of furniture

May I ask how you did that? Sold (e.g., on eBay)/given to charity/taken to council tip/something else? Any problems (either practical or just hassle)?

(I'm hoping to move at some stage in the not-too-distant future, and think that I might want to get rid of some furniture that still has some life in it. Suggestions for minimal-hassle, no/low-cost, methods would be welcome.)

I think furniture could be the biggest problem. Charities will only take what sells well, and anything 'soft' must have the right fire labels still attached.

I'd be tempted to try freecycle / gumtree / FB marketplace / NextDoor, but I'd probably give it away rather than attempt to sell it.

All I know is that when we emptied my parents' house, the not inconsiderable sum paid to the wonderful house clearance company was worth every single penny.

So I might call on the services of a professional declutterer, who should help with disposal on an ongoing basis.

https://www.apdo.co.uk/

theoretica

My parents downsized (and took the opportunity to stop storing any of my stuff!).  Do make sure the furniture you take suits the new place and isn't a bit awkward because of trying too hard to use what you have. 

After family chose what furniture we wanted the decent antiques were sent to a local auction house and a charity furniture warehouse invited to take their pick of the rest - took nearly everything offered apart from a chair with no fire label.

Flugelhorn

blue.peter said:

Flugelhorn said:

...but we did have to get rid of a lot of furniture

May I ask how you did that? Sold (e.g., on eBay)/given to charity/taken to council tip/something else? Any problems (either practical or just hassle)?

(I'm hoping to move at some stage in the not-too-distant future, and think that I might want to get rid of some furniture that still has some life in it. Suggestions for minimal-hassle, no/low-cost, methods would be welcome.)

.  My advice would be that it can take a lot longer than you think - we had the problem of moving not long after lockdown and auction houses / charity shops really didn't loads of stuff - in the end gave some to charity, some to house clearance - felt bad about some bits that just ended up at the tip but they are no longer popular and wouldn't have sold if we had auctioned them

Nebulous2

blue.peter said:

Flugelhorn said:

...but we did have to get rid of a lot of furniture

May I ask how you did that? Sold (e.g., on eBay)/given to charity/taken to council tip/something else? Any problems (either practical or just hassle)?

(I'm hoping to move at some stage in the not-too-distant future, and think that I might want to get rid of some furniture that still has some life in it. Suggestions for minimal-hassle, no/low-cost, methods would be welcome.)

In the last two years we have cleared 3 houses. It was difficult. My parents were desperate for us to take some things with sentimental value to them when they were moving in with another family member, but aware that we were planning a move soon ourselves and had too much stuff we wanted to offload rather than accumulate more. Charity shops were closed / not taking stock for much of the time, due to the lockdown. 

Take time to go through stuff and be ruthless about what stays / goes. I've consistently found selling cheap is easier than giving away for bigger things. We put a table on Gumtree for £30 and it went that afternoon to someone who wanted to upcycle it. We put the dining chairs on Facebook for free at the same time and after promising them to the third person who let us down they had to go to the skip as we were out of time. There is something about people being suspicious of free stuff. They question its condition, ask for delivery, ask you to keep it for a week until they can get for it. All of that is much less likely for a transaction where money changes hands. 

You can do both - ask for money then give it away.  We had a bed we offered for £30 and in going to deliver it we discovered it was slightly broken and wasn't in the condition we thought it was. My wife felt concerned about taking money for it. We took it to a block of flats, the guy was there with a friend to carry it in and they didn't look very prosperous. He offered the £30 immediately and my wife said "We were disappointed to discover it isn't as good as we thought it was, so you can have it for nothing." We returned home and received a nice Facebook message thanking us, and saying although we were concerned about the minor damage it was much better than the bed he had and he really appreciated it.

We also put smaller items, games, toys, books out on our front wall with a sign saying free stuff, help yourself if it is any use to you. It didn't always go immediately, but would slowly disappear over a few hours. Our street had a lot of foot traffic though.