Downsizing is so hard

[BG2015]

Our house is going on the market next week. We live in a 3 storey townhouse, with 4 bedrooms, 2 en-suites and main bathroom, plus an integral garage. Large kitchen diner and south facing garden. We have a great 15 foot square living room with a massive corner sofa.

We are downsizing to get rid of our mortgage. This next house will be our retirement house. I've had a number of health issues so we need to make this move to take it more financially viable for me to finish work.

DS 20, is still with us and will not be moving out anytime soon, so we need 2 large double bedrooms.

We have viewed a few houses and 2 stand out but both would need compromises if we bought them.

We knew it would be hard but not this hard.

Buy two robot vacs, one for each floor, and a dust buster. Chuck the hoover 😂

I live in a 2 bed apartment which has no shed/garage/loft etc

Storage
There was a weird nook in the main bedroom so I had that boxed off. That has winter coats, spare pillows, duvet etc
Kitchen has a ridiculous amount of cupboards and drawers (something like 20 cupboards) so I use some of those as storage for paperwork, charger cables, anything like that

Spare bedroom - I don't tend to have guests
One wall is wardrobes
Middle of room is my "gym" so peloton bike, workout mat, weights
Another wall has shelving which stores cleaning products, skincare/body care spares, loo rolls, towels and bedding and the Hoover down the side
Last wall has a a heated airer, laundry basket and dehumidifier
Under bed storage boxes also work well

Moving to save £10k + a year in mortgage payments, plus we have 2 bedrooms and a bathroom that no one uses. The radiators are turned off and the doors shut in those rooms.

I'm 55 but looking to retire at 57.

When my marriage ended I moved with 2 kids from a 5 bed house (with garden) to a 2 bed.

You have to delutter like a hero. Not just slimming stuff down, but starting from the bottom up. Hire a big skip. Get rid of everything that isn't essential or beautiful. You only need 10 mugs. You only need one shelf of books. Get a memory box for every member of the family and only take mementoes that can fit within. I had a huge number of photo albums and I took all the photos out and stored then in boxes that stack together.

Honestly it is liberating. And you will enjoy your new place so much more if you're not constantly falling over crammed in furniture or fighting through clutter.

We are just in the process of moving from a 4 storey townhouse to a 2 bed apartment. It is a bit stressful due to the amount of stuff to do, but I am finding it quite liberating to get rid of all the junk. I want to get some new bits to "see us out" as I keep telling DH though.

@BG2015 we went from a three bed house to a 58 foot by 6 foot narrowboat. That actually gives you 45 foot x 6 foot interior living space. So it can be done and could be worse!
If decluttering become too much, move anyway, take only the essentials, but box stuff up and rent a storage unit. Give yourself 6 months to a year and see that will soon sort out what you need and want and what you don’t. What you don’t need or want will be anything left in the storage unit at the end of a year.
Yes you will have the cost of self storage, but at least you will won’t have decluttered to such an extent that you have regrets or have to repurchase items. So may actually work as a small win.

We are downsizing, so massive declutter going on. It gets easier the more you do it.

Also if you get a Dyson cordless vacuum, they come with a handy wall mount.

I'm 2 months into my downsized house and it's been quite the adjustment! Im younger and live alone but wanted to be mortgage free but also future proof. I will be honest, it's been hard - some practical, I underestimated the amount of furniture and stuff I needed to get rid of. I do regret my old house. The new one has a lot of space and room for improvement and I keep thinking about how I could make it bigger, even though it is in every way big enough for my needs and most of my wants! It's a mental adjustment more than anything.

I moved a bit further out to get a big plot with a smaller house at a good price- basically I bought the last unextended house in a neighbourhood- but I was unwilling to compromise on detached and a reasonable plot size. I think knowing what is negotiable and what is necessary for you is key, plus where any big costs will be. I want to make s9me small changes but I hope they can be absorbed into a regular maintenance schedule rather than a big plan.

Good luck OP it's a hard call but I think it's worth it long term

I live in a house smaller than that with 3 children and we got all our stuff in!

We downsized from a 5 bed enormous property in another country and it took ages to clear out everything and be harsh about what we couldn't have now we are living in a smaller place.

I like this house and I really feel it is def location location location. For my retirement property I want easy access to lots of places. None of this retire to the country stuff for me 😂

The first house linked is a good example of one refurbished by a builder who probably doesn't even know you need storage for a hoover. It's just been glossed up to look smart without doing anything useful. They could have boarded and improved access to the loft and built in a few big cupboards but that doesn't tick estate agent boxes.
Because it's not being sold by a family all those useful shelves, hooks, storage areas aren't in it. You can still add them in.

Yes, the first one does look builder refurbished, everything basic and bland and no doubt on the cheap

My DP said to the builder who showed us round, you've not thought about loft access have you? And he said....well we thought about making it bigger but...?

He then said, it's boarded out 🤷‍♀️ what's the point of that if you can't even fit a small box through the hole.

It’s frustrating but not expensive to fix. My large four bedroom house had tiny access and no loft ladder. One of the first things I got changed.

It is not a pricey job though to have the loft entrance made bigger and a ladder put up, I mean hundreds, which in the long run is very little compared with the savings/price of houses. I had mine done when I cam to my current house and it made the loft very usable (which is bad as I then filled it full of who-knows-what!)

IF you're not certain about downsizing could you get a lovely lodger or two even in your spare rooms to pay the mortgage for you? I'd be very tempted to

I could only dream of living somewhere this big and lovely (in London in a tiny two bedroom flat which costs more than double this house!)

I have put in built in wardrobes which are great for storage though x

My aunt and uncle downsized a few years back and they went hard core. I have so much admiration for their choice. They've chosen a tiny 1 bed bungalow and just got rid of so much only keeping what they need for the life they now lead. I'd like to think i could do that but i can see why it would be hard for so many.

I've done it twice when moving country. The first time, I was too ruthless, and there are a few things that I'm really sad to have lost - I got too caught up in the idea of my new life, and forgot that the old life was still part of me. Then I over-corrected the second time and kept too much.

I'd say: be ruthless with furniture and impersonal things - kitchen gadgets, clothes, books that aren't favourites etc. But cut yourself some slack with personal stuff that holds happy memories. You don't have to decide all at once. On my 2nd downsize, I ended up putting some boxes in storage for 6 months after shipping it all back - at the end of that time, without it all in the house, it was much easier to work out what I really still wanted.

I still miss my big house eg at Christmas when there's no way I can host 12 ... but i don't miss the energy bills, they would have been horrific with all the increases! I remind myself that I live in a lovely location and one day the dc will leave (soonish, already mid 20's)

I see this suggestion quite a bit on mumnset - but surely very few if any people buying in this bracket would consider lodgers?

I don’t know anyone is real life over the age of 30 who has a lodger - and certain not someone who has a house in the bracket OP is implying.

I personally can’t think of many worse things than having a lodger - even if they were lovely. It would completely ruin my enjoyment of my home. Life having a house guest that never leaves!

Last year I stayed Airbnb in a fab property in Shropshire, was a 6+ bedroom Grade x listed on a huge garden house, features galore, mix of modern & 16th century, boiling hot water tap, super super nice. The owner was there & also rented the whole house out sometimes (hen parties). People with huge posh properties may rent them out, too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139155821

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139141853

Got our first viewing tomorrow.
I've started decluttering and have 4 bin bags of towels and beddings I've not used in the 9 years I've been here!

Going to view the 2 houses above on Saturday. The first one is £30k too much, the second one is gorgeous

That does look lovely. I hope it's the one for you.

They both look a lot better, my only issue would be the lack of a downstairs loo.