Is smaller better? Some might argue that downsizing into a smaller home is indeed much better than “living large”.
There are many reasons why people decide to downsize. Maybe all the kids have moved out. Another reason is that people are just tired of looking at all the stuff in their home.
Are you trying to decide if downsizing your belongings is right for you? Here are a few benefits you may want to consider…
We live in a consumerist society where we’re constantly bombarded with marketing campaigns to buy this or that. Next thing you know you have a house full of “stuff” that doesn’t necessarily bring meaning to your life. If you consider the fact that clutter affects your mental health, you might seriously consider downsizing to live a less stressful life.
“I enjoy cleaning my house” said nobody ever. When you have a big home full of furniture and knick-knacks, it means that there are more things to maintain and clean. Well, you might have a housekeeper so you personally don’t have to clean, but then you have to pay for that help.
How much time do you think you spend cleaning, maintaining, and organizing a big home full of stuff? When you downsize your assets, your weekends aren’t taken up with miscellaneous home projects. If you love to travel, you’ll have more time to actually go on adventures as opposed to being stuck at home cleaning or organizing.
If you decide to downsize your assets, you could sell anything of value and make extra cash. If you have highly collectible items, even better!
Ok, so now that you’ve decided that it is time to downsize, what do you do now?
You can start by organizing items into 3 areas in your home:
* Donate
* Sell
* Trash
If you want to save time when donating items, you can call your local Amvets or Goodwill to see when/if they offer pickups in your area.
As for selling items, you can try a yard sale. It can take awhile to sell all of the items if you go this route. You could also look into selling through online auctions via an auction house if you want a hassle-free option. We think online auctions are so much better, but we are a little biased!
If you live in the Southern California area and thinking about downsizing your home, contact us and see how we can help! Also, check out this previous post about estate downsizing versus the other options to sell your assets.
