Let's Talk About Downsizing

As a realtor, I'm always seeing what's new on the market and it's difficult sometimes not to want the next best property that pops up. My husband and I had bought 3 homes in 5 years, which is a bit nuts if you think about it. I never really felt "at home" sort of speak. I have four kids and a full time job so the up-keep on my most recent home was overwhelming. I'd walk into my 3050 sq ft and instantly feel trapped in the cleaning cycle. I could never sit down, I could never relax, it was work all day and then slave until bed time. The worst part was that even after spending hours cleaning and straightening, I never felt done. Yes, our children helped us, but how clean can a four year old make their bedroom really? 

The Why

One day, my mom approached me on listing her rental property. It's a two bedroom 987 sq ft house with a one car garage. She had converted the garage into a large bedroom making the total heated area about 1200 sq ft. Her most recent renters had trashed it and it needed a complete overhaul. My husband made a joke and said, what if we bought it? It was like a light bulb turned on in my head. That's when the downsize began.

Keep in mind, there were quite a few people who were apprehensive about this decision. Some felt that I should buy it and keep it as a rental to further increase my investment opportunities. Some warned us of wanting to kill each other being crammed into that house. Other's saw what a project it was and immediately turned their noses. At the end of the day, we had to let go of other's opinions and do what's best for our family.

Just imagine how quickly you could tidy up a 1200 sq ft house if someone were to text you that they were going to drop in? Think about what you could do with all the money you saved if your mortgage was cut in half or, better yet, a third of what you're currently paying; Not just your mortgage, but all of your monthly home expenses cut into fractions of what they are now. These two factors alone eliminated two of my biggest daily stresses. Now, imagine how well your children can clean a room if there's three of them working together to clean one large bedroom. Yes there will always be sibling rivalry, but consider the closeness and friendship that sharing a room can nurture. No more closed doors, no more bedtime anxieties. My three boys are 2, 4, and 8. Perfect ages for sharing a room! My 10 month old baby girl has her own room/nursery. 

THE HOW

De-clutter

This part is not for the faint of heart. I suggest going through your home room by room. Pull everything out. Pack a box to keep, a box to put in a garage sale, a box to donate and a bag for trash. I had 11 vases. Why? I picked 3 to take to the new house and the rest went to the garage sale. I had books that were gifted to me and never read, garage sale. Stacks of magazines that are done being used, Donate. Toys were the hardest; I recommend doing this when your children aren't at home haha...Anything broken goes in the trash. Donate items you have all of the pieces to that your children have outgrown or don't touch often. My kids have a bin for guys, a bin for cars, a bin for Lego's, a bin for costumes/weapons, and a bin for puzzles and games.  These are flat bins with wheels and I've slid them under their bunk beds. We kept a few large items on the side of the beds, but we gave away tons.  I had my husband take all of the trash to the dump and I ran all of the donations to Big Brother Big Sister. That eliminated a good amount of clutter. Probably took a week or two to finish. The boxes that were meant to go to the new house were labeled and put on the left side of the garage, the garage sale items were priced and put on tables on the right side. That weekend we had a garage sale that we marketed on Facebook and Craigslist. We made a few hundred dollars and donated the items that didn't sell. LET IT GO! You don't need the super expensive juicer that you used for a month 5 years ago! 

Listing the Big House

Now we had to get ready to list. Find a realtor whom you trust in your area. Of course, I'm always happy to help regardless of your location! We give discounts to first responders and teachers so find someone who tailors to your needs. We send in a stager to rearrange your furniture and get it ready for professional photos. She will likely suggest that you remove personal photos, patch holes, touch up paint, and weed the yard. I was too overwhelmed to do staging, so I made the decision to sell all of my furniture on Facebook before I listed. Our oversized items were not going to work in the new house. I did it in three days lol. I don't recommend doing it this way because we were living without furniture for a while and my listing photos are of an empty house, which is not a bad thing, but our floor plan is a bit different and I think had we left furniture to stage, people would have a better understanding of the purpose of each room. Get that house active! I fully recommend doing this before getting your heart set on a purchase. Once it's active it's time to go house hunting. My next blog will be about how we got the small house ready for my big family...I hope this helped those of you who were interested in de-cluttering your home.