Panicking over downsizing

[Hellofromtheotterslide]

Will shortly be downsizing from an average size 3 bed house/garden with shed and greenhouse to a 2 bed retirement flat. Am very happy about the move and for a variety of reasons it's the right move. Have reconciled with the fact that won't need any gardening stuff (as this is all done) but it's just dawning on me that with parking but no garage and no loft, there is so little space to put anything. Any tips for coping? The duvets, bedding and towels gwill go in under the bed storage and I'm culling as much as I can but it seems mountainous!

I'd like to avoid that if possible, but will have a look at options

If it's likely you'll have visitors that will drive to you then can always bring bedding with them if they are staying over

I would paying for storage you are just delaying the issue!

Use the height of the rooms so tall wardrobe - full height if possible. Open shelves in wardrobe hold more that drawers!! Think old fashioned gentleman's wardrobe we were astounded at how much more it held if DH clothing.

We had a full height wardrobe in old place with double rail one side. DH is tall so used the top rail but if on my own I would have just has a mini step ladder

The trouble is with hiring storage is that the value of what you have in there must be more than the cost of the rental to make it worthwhile.

Put your second duvet (doubles up) under the sheets on the single bed - can’t be seen and you can just keep it in your room if the single bed gets used by a guest

Great idea. Am looking at maybe getting a carpenter to do some floor to ceiling cupboards. Thank you for all the tips! Moving day is this week so I guess just have to cull harder as still seem surrounded by boxes and stuff!

We sized down from 4 bedrooms to 3. Basically started with what we wanted to take and eliminated the rest, even if it was nice/sentimental: it was Surplus. Eg 3 changes of bedding, certain number of towels, only regular size bowls that stacked neatly. All sorts of tat and random items gone, gone, gone. Garage sale and Facebook marketplace were very useful.

We live in a small flat as we are just 2 of us and have been saving for a place to buy. So we have gotten used to smaller sized living areas!

The bedroom thankfully has a closet, could you build a closet into the larger bedroom? If not, suitcases could go on top of the wardrobe. We keep out of season clothes in the suitcases (we only travel using the large cases a couple times per year). We don't have a dresser because our under bed drawers and a couple of built in shelves in the closet hold everything we need.

We did away with the microwave, and have a small toaster. Other than the coffee pot and kettle we don't have any other appliances that go on the counter. We also bought a little rolling trolley from Argos to use as extra counter space, very useful for food prep.

We have just a smaller hoover so it can go in the cabinet under the sink.

All of our dining room chairs and the table itself fold away, so they can be out of the way in a corner of the lounge or they can be used.

We have a little puffy bench thing which has storage inside, and that's where we keep our towels and other linens.

It is doable!! Think about what you really must keep and if you don't use or love an item, you don't need it.

We went from a six bed farmhouse to a two bed cottage. You have to be ruthless. We ditched non essentials like microwave, dishwasher and made sure that if we didn’t love it or need it it had to go.
Regarding winter/summer duvets - roll them up and make a cover to act as a bolster cushion on a bed.
We do have eaves storage that acts as a bit of a extra space but we have learnt to be minimalist.
I don’t need three dinner services, umpteen mugs and zillions of towels and bedding. Have gone back to one in the wash, one in use and one in the cupboard.

I live in a big house but I’m not a fan of ‘stuff’. We only have one set of bedding (but do have a dryer) and only one duvet. It’s lightweight so in winter we add a blanket (the blanket doubles up as a bedspread year round).

I also don’t have excessive kitchen stuff: 2 pans and 2 saucepans for example. I used to only have one set of crockery and cutlery and that was fine too.

Frankly, I don’t think a 2-bed flat is a challenge for 1-2 people at all. There’s only so much stuff people need and use regularly.

Marie Kondo hasn't been mentioned, watch one of the videos on you tube! The essence of it is: get all items of the same category out all at once (so you can see how much you have), pick up each item and if you feel you love/want it then keep, if you feel it's served it's purpose time then thank it (!) and donate or dispose of. I found it helpful to think of this as a generous donation to charity and even gave away quite 'precious' items like jewellery that I didn't wear, my local charity shop has an eBay shop for high value items. She suggests doing clothes, then books, household items, paperwork and sentimental things in that order.

Another helpful tip is to get rid of duplicates and just keep the best of each eg the best pair of scissors instead of the 3rd and 4th set you might have. Also remember that most items if you really need them can be purchased back (maybe second hand, or borrowed or even rented) at lower cost than storing everything just in case.

Frankly, I don’t think a 2-bed flat is a challenge for 1-2 people at all. There’s only so much stuff people need and use regularly. I get your point, there is. I think my hesitation is that because the rooms are small (in the kitchen, for example, there is a person space floor gap the width of the sink and then 3 sides so you can touch the sink, the fridge and the worktop) and it's the lack of space for much furniture that's causing the most pause for thought. There are some really helpful suggestions that will definitely be used. I do like Marie London but struggle with the idea of getting rid of the plunger and suit case even if they don't bring joy

My top tip, have you tried vacuum packing duvets and out of season clothes? They will shrink down to a fraction of their size, then you can pack them away in under bed storage. Lakeland do some good quality bags, or you could bulk order from Amazon.

My MIL downsized from a four bedroom house to a two bedroom flat. She had built in wardrobes made in the flat.
But basically she stepped out of her old life and into a new one, kind of like a butterfly leaving it's casing behind.
She mostly bought new pieces that fitted the new flat. Almost everything from the old house was junked, donated or house clearances. She hasn't missed any of it.