Now that you know what potential problems to look for when moving into a mature property, you might be interested in some ways of making that move smoother—especially if your new home has less square footage than you’re used to. A PropSocial reader describes a three-step strategy of conserving space, planning the move in advance, and being flexible, to ease your move into a smaller home.

So, you’re doing the unthinkable and moving down the square footage scale.

No big deal, you don’t have to change everything about the way you live. Your life just has to occupy less space now. To ease you through this difficult transition, I’ve outlined a three-step strategy to help you move into a smaller home and come out of the experience looking and feeling awesome.

Really, it’s all that extra money you’re saving on rent that is the most awesome, but I’m happy to take credit for making that change slightly easier. Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash.


Step #1: KonMari Everything

Common sense, I know. You’ve got a lot of stuff, and you obviously need to ditch some of that if you’re planning on moving into something with less space. So, grab a cloth, put on that dust mask, make up a different haiku of gratitude for every little thing, then hand everything down to your friends and family, or donate them to charity—your things, not your friends and family.

Speaking from experience: You should also check all your boxes for any furry stowaways. Photo by Brent Jones on Unsplash.

Even after tossing out everything you thought you could bear to part with, you’ll find that there’s still a shortage of space. It can’t be helped. Our emotional brains tend to underestimate the physical size of our possessions (tears make everything blurry) and we tend to overestimate our tolerance for tight quarters. Think about how many times you’ve busted a toe against a piece of furniture that someone in your household refused to get rid of—or the number of times you’ve said to yourself, “I’ve got too much stuff”.


Step #2: Plan Everything

To help narrow that gap between what you’ve got and the space you have to fit all of it, I highly recommend measuring and planning everything. Measuring all my larger possessions and sketching my new house (everything accurate to the centimetre, of course) helped me to figure out exactly how much space I had.

Sure, it’s tedious work, but so is constantly having to rearrange furniture by hand. Photo by Sven Mieke on Unsplash.

Having all that digitised, I could virtually test arrangements of whatever I needed to keep without having to physically move lots of heavy things around—and while still in bed. These sketches also kept me from making regrettable decisions when shopping online for appliances and multipurpose furniture.


Step #3: Multipurpose Everything

I imagine it is every little girl’s dream to have the luxury of both a wet kitchen and a dry kitchen when they grow up. Yeah, you can let that go right now. You’re going to have to be flexible with just about everything, and that means letting go of conventions that dictate luxuries like separate kitchens and walk-in wardrobes.

Not enough space for both a dining table and a work desk? Push that table against a wall, swap out the chairs on one side for a bench, hang some shelves above it, and now it’s both.

No space for a coffee table and a dining table? Put a low table in front of the couch, add a dining chair, and boom! Now it’s both. Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash.

If you have sketched your space and your furniture, you’ll have an idea of how any arrangement looks even before having to lift a finger. Plus, you’ll have some idea what your new home will look like while still in your pyjamas.

There’s even more you can do to make your move to a smaller home rewarding. Stay tuned for tips on how to make the interior of your home seem bigger.


(Contributed by Giselle Markaz, edited by Kevin Eichenberger, 10th March 2020)