Tips for Down-Sizing
DOWNSIZING CHECKLIST
Timeframe
Ideally items that are being kept should be identified at the consultation with all decisions being made at contract signing, we are understanding in this regard, especially with small ticket items. Allow enough time for us to properly advertise items to be sold; this is normally a minimum of three weeks.
• Your goal: know what’s being kept and what’s being sold, don’t worry about the trash or organizing items…we will handle all of that for you, we will also put aside any items of a personal, financial, historical or familial nature that we may come across, these items will be boxed for you to review and retain.
Method
• Schedule sorting sessions, daily. Set aside a predetermined amount of time daily for sorting
• Work for a week or two by yourself, then you can see if you’ll need help – friends and family are sometimes more distracting than helpful.
• Start in your least used areas, and work on large items first. This allows you to:
• Make three piles as you work:
1. Sell (items to be sold in an on-site estate sale can be left in place, no need to move them around or try to clean or organize these item)
2. Trash (limited please - only true rubbish/papers – let us decide what is trash)
3. Keep (focus on what you want to keep, try to not get bogged down with anything else)
• Deciding what to keep:
Aesthetic/sentimental items
One year rule:
If you haven’t used it in 1 year, it’s out
Exceptions:
If you didn’t use it last year but KNOW you’ll use it this year, consider keeping.
Group duplicate/similar items:
If you have another one, keep only the best one and get rid of the others. This means you have to sort like items.
• Pictures, Scrapbooks and Personal Correspondence
Place most pictures/scrapbooks/letters automatically in the keep pile, rather than digging into sorting through them. If you insist on downsizing your photo/scrapbook collection, make it your very last downsizing project.
~This cannot be a complete list, because every situation is different. However, we hope it’s a helpful guide. Happy Downsizing!
Timeframe
Ideally items that are being kept should be identified at the consultation with all decisions being made at contract signing, we are understanding in this regard, especially with small ticket items. Allow enough time for us to properly advertise items to be sold; this is normally a minimum of three weeks.
• Your goal: know what’s being kept and what’s being sold, don’t worry about the trash or organizing items…we will handle all of that for you, we will also put aside any items of a personal, financial, historical or familial nature that we may come across, these items will be boxed for you to review and retain.
Method
• Schedule sorting sessions, daily. Set aside a predetermined amount of time daily for sorting
• Work for a week or two by yourself, then you can see if you’ll need help – friends and family are sometimes more distracting than helpful.
• Start in your least used areas, and work on large items first. This allows you to:
- see quick results - improves your motivation
- tag large items as keep or sell
• Make three piles as you work:
1. Sell (items to be sold in an on-site estate sale can be left in place, no need to move them around or try to clean or organize these item)
2. Trash (limited please - only true rubbish/papers – let us decide what is trash)
3. Keep (focus on what you want to keep, try to not get bogged down with anything else)
• Deciding what to keep:
Aesthetic/sentimental items
- Keep it if you love it
- Keep it if it makes you smile
- Don’t keep it out of guilt or obligation
One year rule:
If you haven’t used it in 1 year, it’s out
Exceptions:
If you didn’t use it last year but KNOW you’ll use it this year, consider keeping.
Group duplicate/similar items:
If you have another one, keep only the best one and get rid of the others. This means you have to sort like items.
• Pictures, Scrapbooks and Personal Correspondence
Place most pictures/scrapbooks/letters automatically in the keep pile, rather than digging into sorting through them. If you insist on downsizing your photo/scrapbook collection, make it your very last downsizing project.
~This cannot be a complete list, because every situation is different. However, we hope it’s a helpful guide. Happy Downsizing!
