One of the most challenging moves is downsizing from a house to an apartment in Vancouver, BC or elsewhere in Canada.
Although it may seem like there is less to do, because you have less items to pack and move, and it may also seem that the moving costs should be lower. On the contrary, the downsizing process is actually longer than any other regular house-to-house or apartment-to-apartment move in Vancouver.
We prepared some tips below to help you downsize your Vancouver home in the most efficient way.
How to Prepare for Downsizing
Downsizing can be quite a challenge if you don’t know where to start from, and here’s the list to guide you step by step through this process:- Declutter. Begin downsizing your Vancouver house by removing all the clutter and garbage that you may have inside your house. Throw away all the unnecessary items, such as like broken electronics, tools which are no longer working, old fashioned clothes you’re never going to wear again, broken hoses in the garden, etc.
- Check your attic, basement, garage and garden. Continue downsizing by going through the least used rooms and premises in your house. In such areas of the house it is easy to store things you don’t want or need anymore.
- Clean up your car. If you have a habit of hoarding things, you may have been leaving stuff in your car as well. Remember to check under the seats and in the trunk.
Steps to Downsizing Your House
And how do you actually decide what is worth taking to your new home and why? These tips will help you make a good decision.- Can you use it at all? There may be items in your house that are broken, torn, or worn out and are no longer serving you. So, how about just tossing them away? When downsizing from a house to an apartment in Vancouver, this is the easiest decision to make – throwing away items that are actually useless.
- Is it old fashioned? If you really care about fashion, then this is an important decision to make. Do you have any items that are out of fashion like clothes, shoes and accessories? If you haven’t worn it for the last two years, chances are you may never wear it again.
- Is it of any emotional value to you? There are items that are dear to us which hold an emotional value, like gifts from people we love. Those could be also souvenirs and even practical items like clothes. If you really care about those items, pack them up and take them to your new home.
- Do you really need it? There are some items that we actually need and some – that only fill in the space in the shelves, drawers and racks in our home and collect dust. You don’t need to pay Vancouver movers extra to move all that! Also, think if you have room for it in your new home. It is important to take measures of your future house and decide what will and what will not fit in it.
- What do you do with the items that are in good condition and can be used but you have decided not to take with you? You can organize a moving sale and sell whatever you can. Or, you can separate kids’ clothes and shoes and toys, and donate them to an orphanage.
