Any tips on how to downsize our house to a cottage and not feel any pain?

[Onlyaphase]

We are moving in a few weeks into a smaller house....and I mean much smaller (moving to a small 3 bed terraced cottage)

We have lots of stuff - big bits of furniture, hundreds of books, all the normal stuff a baby needs, lots of kitchen kit. I'm sorting though this now and freecycling/skipping/donating to charity everything that we don't use or won't have room for, but I wondered if anyone had any tips on downsizing? Someone else must have been through this recently and can offer a ray of hope as to how lovely it will be when done!

Should I plan for lots of built in storage? Or throw everything possible away? Should I plan to leave space for more toys etc as DD's collection grows? Any ideas?

not pain free but worth it (like babies... ..)

we've just done a massive down size and it is tough getting rid of stuff, but I don't miss any of it. One tip is if you can give things like furniture to people you know, so that you can 'visit' it, and it's easier to give it away to people you like.

Stuff you're not sure about put in storage or a friend's garage for 3 months, then revisit it - see how you feel about it then.

Children always expand to fit the space available - so you can get rid of early years stuff when they are older.

We have justified upgrading items such as furniture because we have less stuff, it has to be nicer - down sizing has its advantages!

Good luck!

Good luck!

you'll get double good luck now (oops)

You need to stop buying as much stuff. Sorry I know it sounds obvious but living in a cottage myself, here's what I discovered:

(1) Your kitchen cupboards may not fit large packs of anything and you may well not be able to take advantage of 3 for 2 offers because you'd have to keep the extra pack of kitchen towels in the car boot because the cupboards are full.
(2) Once a week, throw away/recycle as much as you can. In particular papers etc. You can't afford to clutter up your space with things you don't need. It's a pain in the arse but if I don't chuck out the daily papers once a week and all the post we don't need to keep you get a pile of crap in every room and when you only have small rooms, it's a problem.
(3) Toys - think vertical storage. Floor to ceiling stacking boxes are very good. Also consider toy hammocks.
(4) Vacuum storage bags for bedlinens are v good, also for out of season clothes.
(5) Use suitcases for storage, then if you haven't opened them for a while, just take the contents to the charity shop.

On the positive side, less space means less cleaning!

I can beat ya, we downsized to a tiny TWO bed terrace

OK my tips are partly what you're already doing; donate, freecycle, sell stuff that won't fit; and be ruthlessly honest with yourselves, don't keep something you just hope to fit in somewhere, because it won't.

Have less than you think you need. Small houses can look spacious and roomy when you have got the minimum stuff. Agree with keepcalm, you won't miss it.

Main point is LOTS of storage. We have lots of books so have gone for built in shelves in the living and dining rooms and that has been one of our absolute best buys.

Regarding toys, we've bought ds a storage bed, like a cabin bed but also with shelves going right along the bed so that ALL his toys pretty much are contained in that area. We have a thing of getting rid of old toys to make room for the new so I don't necessarily think you need to leave space for more toys, just keep on that rotation of old and new!

Shelving, storage, will basically be your way of coping and you cannot have too much!

Good luck. I love having a small house, far less to clean

ha! Same thoughts re the cleaning, whomoved!

All the above tips are great and i have to try and do that aswell, as our house is tiny Most important thing to me is Storage!! I haven't got enough, always arguing with dh about needing more but he just doesn't 'get' it....

Don't think in terms of what will you throw away-think what can you not live without and get rid of anything else. We move every couple of years (tiny army houses-and we never know what the new house will be like) and that is the only way that works.
Trouble with storage is that it will always be filled unless you are very disciplined. We have a cellar here and i am always just throwing things in it that i don't need to keep and i know i will regret it when we move!