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My guest blogger this month is Sophia Perry from Arizona Moving Professionals.
Downsizing often requires rethinking how to organize and store your belongings effectively. Whether you’re downsizing locally or moving to a new country, innovative storage solutions are essential for making the most of limited space, offering creative and practical ways to keep your home functional and clutter-free. So, let’s explore various storage ideas and strategies to help you transition smoothly into your new, cozier living space.
Innovative Storage Solutions Through Multi-Functional Furniture
Multi-functional furniture is one of the most effective innovative storage solutions for small homes. These versatile pieces serve multiple purposes, helping you maximize every square inch. For example, ottomans that double as storage bins, beds with built-in drawers, and coffee tables with hidden compartments are all excellent options. Multi-functional furniture allows you to maintain a tidy home without sacrificing the essentials.
A Big Step Before the Move
Taking time to declutter and then organize your belongings is vital before moving to a smaller home. Reducing what’s truly necessary can significantly ease the moving process. Sorting through your items and deciding what to keep, donate, or discard ensures your new space isn’t overwhelmed with unnecessary clutter.
This process makes unpacking more manageable and your new home more organized. Professional packing services can assist with this process. Their expertise can help you efficiently pack and label your items, ensuring everything is ready for the move.
Preparing for the Big Day
A well-organized moving day is essential for settling into your new home smoothly. To prepare for the big day, consider creating a packing strategy that includes labelling boxes clearly, making an inventory list, and packing items by room. These steps can save time and reduce stress on moving days, helping you transition into your new space more efficiently.
Utilizing Vertical Space Efficiently
In smaller homes, floor space is often limited, making it essential to use vertical space efficiently. Walls provide an excellent opportunity for storage that doesn’t encroach on living areas. Installing wall-mounted shelves can help you store books, kitchen supplies, or decorative items, freeing up floor space. Hanging organizers are also useful in closets, kitchens, and bathrooms, keeping smaller items tidy and within easy reach. Tall cabinets offer additional storage while maintaining a clean, organized appearance.
Smart Under-Bed Storage Solutions
Under-bed storage is an often underutilized area that can be incredibly valuable, especially in smaller homes. This space is perfect for items that aren’t needed daily, such as seasonal clothing or extra bedding. Rolling bins allow easy access to stored items, while vacuum-sealed bags help save space by compressing bulkier items. Custom-made drawers under the bed provide a more permanent solution, keeping your belongings organized and accessible. Effective under-bed storage keeps your living area clutter-free, ensuring essential items remain within easy reach while lesser-used items are neatly stored out of sight.
Use under the bed storage for extra supplies
Custom Built-In Storage for Maximum Efficiency
Custom-built storage solutions are ideal for maximizing space in smaller homes. Tailored to your needs, these built-ins, such as cabinets, shelves, and closets, provide ample storage while maintaining a streamlined look. A custom pantry in the kitchen can help organize groceries, while built-in living room bookshelves offer storage and a place to display items. In the bedroom, a custom closet with a mix of hanging rods, shelves, and drawers ensures all your belongings have a place.
Maximizing Closet Space
Closets in smaller homes can quickly become overcrowded, but you can significantly increase their capacity with a few adjustments. Double hanging rods maximize vertical space, allowing for more clothing to be stored. Shelf dividers keep items organized and easy to find, while stackable bins help manage smaller belongings. Slim, non-slip hangers free up even more space, ensuring your closet remains neat and functional. These simple changes can transform a cramped closet into an organized and efficient storage area.
Off-Site Storage: A Practical Option
Even with the best innovative storage solutions, some items you can’t fit into your new home may still exist. Renting off-site storage can be a practical option for seasonal items, sports equipment, or family heirlooms. This option allows you to maintain a clutter-free home while still having access to your belongings when needed.
When choosing a storage facility, look for one with climate control and secure access to ensure your items are well-protected. A reputable company, for instance, in Victoria, like Hendra Moving and Storage Victoria BC, provides a range of storage solutions to meet your needs, whether you require short-term or long-term options.
Keeping Clutter Out of Sight
Hidden storage solutions are perfect for maintaining a tidy home. Furniture with concealed compartments, such as sofas with storage under the cushions or benches with lift-up seats, provides discreet storage for items like blankets, books, or board games. These solutions keep your home looking clean while keeping your belongings easily accessible.
Kitchen Storage: Maximizing Small Spaces
Kitchens in smaller homes often have limited storage, making it challenging to keep essentials organized. Stackable containers, magnetic knife strips, and over-the-door organizers can help optimize kitchen storage. Pull-out shelves or lazy Susans provide easy access to items in deep cabinets, keeping your kitchen functional and clutter-free.
Room Dividers with Built-In Storage
Room dividers with built-in storage offer a versatile solution for open-plan spaces. These dividers, excellent space-saving hacks, help create separate areas while providing additional shelving or cabinets. They are ideal for storing books, decorative items, or office supplies, helping you stay organized in your smaller home.
Embracing Innovative Storage Solutions
Moving into a smaller home requires thoughtful planning and creative solutions. Embracing innovative storage solutions allows you to create a functional, organized, and comfortable living space that meets all your needs. These strategies will help you make the most of your new home’s space, from multi-functional furniture to custom-built storage and off-site options. Start planning your move today, and choose the storage solutions that best suit your lifestyle.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Great ideas for downsizing, moving or moving a family member
This book written by Judi Culbertson and Marj Decker is a complete guide to help you declutter and move. It has practical solutions for downsizing your clothing, collections and dealing with sentimental items.
It also addresses how to move a family member to a supervised living facility. The authors remind you that if your parent can make decisions that your purpose is to help them move happily from a large space to a smaller space not make decisions for them.
It suggests that you write a book about your life, put it down in black and white. A number of different ways of recording events about your life are provided.
It has a chapter on the step-by-step process of moving into your new home. They examine the psychology of making the scaling down change.
It is a great resource to have. Who knows when you will need it.
If you need help preparing for a downsizing move book a virtual organizing appointment with me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
If you are having trouble beginning the process of downsizing remember:
1. Embrace your new lifestyle.
2. You are still the same person; you just choose to have fewer belongings.
3. Simplicity reduces stress.
4. Saying “goodbye” to the past can open new doors in your future.
5. Your worth in is who you are and what you do, not in what you own.
6. Start with easy items to downsize and then move to the items that have sentimental value that are harder to let go of.
7. You are good at making decisions, you can let go of things and nothing bad will happen.
8. You have control of your situation, pick the time that is right for you to downsize your lifestyle.
9. You will have fewer possessions to take care of, maintain, store and organize and more time for things that are important in your life now.
10. Find a “downsizing buddy” and support each other in your project to downsize your lifestyles. It is always easier when you have someone to talk to that is going through the same thing.The things you own should help you become the person you want to be. Share on X
There are 3 ways I can assist you.
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- Book a virtual organizing appointment and we can do it together. I’ll be in your room with you watching you through your computer, phone or tablet and helping you with the process. https://mindoverclutter.ca/virtual-organizing-services/
- If you’re having trouble making changes to your room book a coaching appointment to discuss how to reduce your fears with making changes. https://mindoverclutter.as.me/organizingsession
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
More and more people are downsizing before moving. They may be moving to a smaller place. They may have decided to have a more minimalist lifestyle. They may be moving a great distance and choose not to take their stuff with them but furnish their accommodation when they know what they need. Selling your stuff is one way to fund your move.
My guest blogger is Liz Wolf a freelance writer who wrote this article for SpareFoot.com
You’re preparing to move and it’s time to declutter. Don’t just trash the stuff you don’t need when you can make some decent money selling it.
In fact, 77 percent of people said they’ve tried to sell belongings before a move, according to a new survey released by SpareFoot.com.
While there are many ways to sell your stuff, it turns out that 78 percent of tech-savvy millennials go online to sell their items, compared with 52 percent of the general public who have ever tried to sell something online. (You can download the full survey results here.)
“I think there’s a technology gap,” said Liana George, owner of Houston area-based By George Organizing Solutions. “That’s how my daughter in college got rid of a lot of stuff, like her bed and bedding, when she moved back home. Millennials are much more digital. That’s how they think.”
Whether you’re tech-savvy or not, there are plenty of ways to unload your extra stuff for cash. Here are the most popular ways people sell their items:
1. Garage Sale
Garage and yard sales actually beat out all other methods with 50 percent of movers saying they’ve hosted a sale, according to SpareFoot.
Research group Statistics Brain reports that garage sales nationally generate a whopping $4.22 million in weekly revenue.
“I’m not surprised because sometimes it’s all people know,” said Donna Smallin Kuper, professional organizer and author of How to De-clutter and Make Money Now. “They don’t know that there are other options that are actually much better, that will net more from their sales and be faster. People who have garage sales all complain that they only got pennies on a dollar. Well, that’s because it was a garage sale!”
“I feel garage sales are too time-consuming for small profit unless you have an entire house to get rid of,” added Ellen Limes, owner of Organized by L in Columbus, Ohio. “We do more donating just to get rid of it.”
While garage sales are a ton of work – and “shoppers” can be stingy with their dollars – you do get to pocket all of the proceeds and there are tips for a successful sale.
However, Hazel Thornton, owner of Organized for Life in Albuquerque, NM has a word of advice: “I tell clients, ‘If you do have a garage sale, promise me that whatever doesn’t sell goes straight to donation,’” she said.
2. Word of Mouth
Thirty-five percent of respondents said they have sold items just by word of mouth among friends and family.
“Start by letting your family know and ask them to tell their connections,” advised Julie Stobbe, owner of Mind Over Clutter in Ontario, Canada. “Next send the information to friends and co-workers and groups you might belong to. If you’re dealing with people you know, they’re more likely to show up and buy the item than when you’re dealing with the public.”
An ideal way to sell furniture or appliances is to ask the new homebuyer or neighbours if they’re interested.
3. Craigslist
Thirty-two percent of movers have tried selling stuff on Craigslist.com.
More than 60 million people use this free site each month in the U.S. alone. Craigslist is good for selling larger items like home appliances, bicycles, furniture and yard equipment.
4. eBay
Looking to reach a bigger audience? Twenty-four percent of movers try eBay to lighten their loads.
eBay is a big e-commerce player with 25 million sellers worldwide. High-end clothing, collectibles and smaller electronics are popular items.
However, some might find eBay’s large, competitive marketplace rather intimidating. Also, eBay charges sellers for listing on the site, whether items sell or not, and takes a commission on the sale.
“Twenty-four percent is surprising, because I find that eBay is a little bit complicated, and there’s so much competition with professional sellers,” Smallin Kuper said. “There are easier ways.”
5. Facebook
Twenty-one percent try hawking their stuff on popular social networking sites. People spend a heckuva lot of time on Facebook, so why not use it to sell your belongings?
Consider offering your Facebook friends the first opportunity to buy your stuff by creating a photo album and labelling it “Online Garage/Yard Sale.”
“We have several Facebook groups just for selling in our master-planned community,” George said. “It’s easier to know somebody three blocks over has something and I can go get it… We do porch pick up where we just leave things on the porch and people put the money under the mat.”
“I sold a washer/dryer to a friend’s son and a bear rug to a friend in California,” Smallin Kuper added.
Or expand your reach and find a Facebook “Yard Sales Group” in your area. Groups can be very large and many are private, so you must join before you can sell.
6. Consignment Stores
Just 15 percent of movers try their luck with consignment stores to make some extra money. Consignment stores work well for high-end clothing, purses, home décor and furniture.
“They’re a great way to sell stuff because people are already going there looking for those items,” Smallin Kuper said. “You split the sale with the seller, but you don’t have to do anything but show up.”
Of course, these shops are picky in what they accept.
“That’s a good thing because they know what sells,” Smallin Kuper added. “If you take it to them and they say, ‘Uhh, we really don’t want these clothes.’ Great. Now you know just donate them. You have to put your ego aside when you go to consignment stores.”
7. Amazon
Fourteen percent of movers try to sell their excess goods on Amazon.com.
Amazon offers a large marketplace like eBay, but it’s less expensive to use. You can list on Amazon for free and then it’s $.99 cents per item sold on top of the commission for the sale if you have the basic, individual seller’s account. Books, DVDs and video games are best-selling items.
“It’s such an easy way to sell stuff, especially books, but anything that Amazon sells, you can sell,” Smallin Kuper said. “…You’re listed along with other used items and if you want your item to sell fast, just drop the price a little bit and boom! You’ve just sold something and all you have to do is ship it.”
8. Free Apps
Four percent of movers report using other methods to sell their stuff. There are a lot of new entrants looking to help people sell their stuff via a variety of marketplaces, mostly in the form of free smartphone apps. Some of the services include Letgo, OfferUp, VarageSale, Close5 and Decluttr.
You can find this blog post at SpareFoot
What was your most successful way of selling your items before moving?
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
