People don’t take enough time to envision their future, which creates a lot of headaches. What’s true in life, said Chris Harstein, owner of Home Organizing Made Easy, in Baltimore, is also true for downsizing living spaces.
When Baltimore area residents look to move from large homes to smaller houses, town houses or apartments, facing the reality of fitting their belongings into less space is the primary challenge.
“People need to face the reality of their life as it is today and will be in the future, not how it was in the past,” Harstein said, about difficult decisions concerning what household items will stay with them.
It’s a wake-up call that more Baltimoreans are facing as the job market shrinks and home values further decline. Tightening budgets have led many to reassess their pursuit of ever-larger homes in favor of smaller homes full of fewer belongings.
But the move between the large space and smaller home brings many of its own challenges, according to transition professionals.
Downsizing “is very overwhelming,” said Nancy Brown, owner of Custom Moves LLC, in Bel Air. Brown specializes in helping in the transition to smaller homes by seniors, who are the traditional downsizing demographic. A 2007 American Association of Retired Persons survey found that 6 percent of the 78 million baby boomers plan to move to a smaller residence over the next five years.
Here are some online resources that can help in making the transition to smaller homes:
» www.furniture.about.com has a free tool to help plan available floor space in a new home. Search under “furniture arranger.”
» www.nasmm.org has information of the logistics of downsizing seniors, as well as lists of area senior move managers.
» www.goodwillches.org/goodwill-retail-volunteers.php has a ZIP code searchable list of area stores that will accept donations.
Among the first steps Brown suggests downsizers undertake is to draw the floor plan of the new home, which will show on paper what furniture actually can fit in the new space. The next step is to select items that will make the move based on their functionality and the strength of their emotional importance to the person moving.
“The worse thing is to move to a new place and be surrounded by boxes and no room to move; that can be really tough on people,” said Cindy Bernstein, owner of Aim4Order, a professional organization firm in Baltimore.
Bernstein urges clients to convert many photos and videos to space-saving electronic formats, toss paperbacks, and keep only a token volume of a large reference collection.
Transition workers are wary of personal storage facilities because their use often means downsizing people will never confront their collections of belongings but will pay for its endless storage.
Another key to a success in home downsizing is enlisting the help of a professional or “caring friend,” according to Harstein. She advises against seeking family help to avoid the specter of past family battles when deciding what items to toss.
A particular challenge of many younger couples or individuals who are moving to smaller digs is excessive amounts of clothing, Brown said. One way to cut down on the danger of moving clothing that won’t fit the space and will never again be worn is to compare the linear feet of closet space in the old and new homes.
Lastly and most importantly is to start getting rid of belongings as soon as you have an idea that a move to a smaller home is likely, even if it is a year of more away.
“If they start early, it is a lot less overwhelming,” Brown said.
