Decluttering Your Life: 5 Tips for Downsizing Successfully

Downsizing involves clearing out a lot of clutter, but there’s more to it than that. It’s a process of simplifying your life, giving you more room—physically and mentally—for what truly matters to you. 

Whether you’re moving to a smaller home, or you simply want to embrace the minimalist lifestyle, downsizing can feel incredibly freeing. For many people, it’s completely life-changing. If you’re ready to dip your toes in this spacious pool of personal freedom, here are five handy tips to help you declutter your life and downsize with ease: 

Invest In A Middle Ground

Sometimes people will declutter with ease and get everything in boxes ready to go. But then those boxes never actually make it to their end location, whether that’s goodwill, a friend’s house, or Facebook marketplace. 

Whether it’s indecision or lack of time holding you back, an affordable, flexible self storage unit will give you the space to remove clutter while you decide on its final fate. You can use it as a kind of halfway house for items you’re feeling uncertain about and pieces you need to get valued before selling. Having this middle ground means you get to enjoy a clutter-free space without feeling rushed into decisions you might regret. After all, you’ll kick yourself if you discover one of those old knick-knacks you gave away is actually worth a fortune! 

Break It Down Room By Room

Thinking of decluttering the entire house would overwhelm anyone. Research even confirms that seeing endless clutter has a negative impact on how we feel, causing sleep disturbances, anxiousness, and trouble focusing. 

Instead of tackling the whole house, downsizing room-by-room feels more manageable. It also gives you a clear moment of achievement once each section is done. If room-by-room is too big of a task, you can do it drawer-by-drawer, or shelf-by-shelf—whatever works for you. 

Choose The Decluttering Method That Suits You

There are so many methods to try when you declutter a house—one of them is sure to work for you. Swedish Death Cleaning, The Marie Kondo method, the four-box method, 20/20, coat-hanger method—the list is endless. The best thing to do is try any method first and see how it works. If it doesn’t hit the spot for you, it’s time to try the next method. 

Commit To Change

Learning about minimalism as a lifestyle makes decluttering so much more meaningful. It helps you be a bit more ruthless about the process in the present moment. Beyond that, it helps you make the most of your new downsized life. This is vital if you want to avoid slipping back into your old, supersized ways. 

Studies tell us that decluttering makes our brains feel better. To keep enjoying these great feelings, it’s important to ensure that you maintain your newfound simplicity and avoid over consuming new things, making poor storage choices, and creating a chaotic home environment again. 

Set Yourself Up For Success

How you set yourself up for decluttering success is going to be personal to you. For some people, having all the boxes and bags laid out and ready is the way they will get the task done. For others, listening to an audiobook, decluttering in small sessions, putting on music, or having a friend’s company is how they’ll get to it. Recognizing how you need to set yourself up for success is essential. 

“The things you own end up owning you.” — Joshua Fields Millburn

You can create space for a simpler, happier life. It will likely be an emotional journey, but by decluttering and downsizing, you’ll finally have the room you need to truly thrive.