Me and the GF are moving from a large home (4 x 2) with large yard, to a smaller apartment (2 x 2) in town. Will be much closer to work and should be able to walk/cycle/skate to 80% of my destinations
The move happened suddenly as my rental agreement ended as the owners wanted to move back into their house.
Anyway, I’m a little nervous as I have never lived in a smaller apartment before. Any tips on how to live in a smaller space? Anybody else have experience with moving from a larger house to smaller one?
@SkyzykS: your wife sounds like me. Although Im like that with old clothes… for example there is one t-shirt I cant throw away because it used to be my favourite training shirt 5 years ago etc etc.
Lol, I’ve been fighting to pre-emptively “downsize” as we approached our first kid. I spent the last two weeks (when I wasn’t helping the wife or doing house chores) getting rid of as much crap as possible now so my wife doesn’t look around in five years and tell me that we need a bigger house…
Downsizing can be cathartic if you want it to be. You have the opportunity to really exam your own life, and figure out what ‘things’ are important to you. And some things you thought were important, you’re able to let go of. There’s a sense of relief that can be drawn from that. Owning fewer things can lead to really appreciating the value of the things you do end up keeping. I like it. I moved from a big 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment when I got divorced, so I went through this just a couple years ago.
Homes feel so much better when they’re uncluttered. The biggest thing I would suggest is get rid of enough to make sure it doesn’t feel cramped. A mistake I’ve seen people make is moving to a smaller space, and ‘making it work’ with too much stuff. They keep boxes and boxes of stuff they don’t need, and they end up never really making the space work for them, it never feels like home. They cram too many pieces of furniture into rooms because they just can’t part with the giant sectional couch they once purchased for a much larger room, or the multiple bookcases and end tables they once needed to fill more space.
But yea. Embrace the process, it’s much easier that way.
Half way through the process at the moment. Another good tip I got from a buddy is to throw away 3 items every 1st of the month and to make a little ritual about it. And also only buy something if you are replacing that item with something else (minus some exceptions of course).
Moving closer to town I am considering purchasing an electric skateboard to get around town on, as most places will be a walking distance from my new residence.
Looking forward top this uncluttering phase of my life.
