Have you ever drastically downsized?

[Kitchenwitchery]

DH and I sold our 5 bedroom 3 sitting room 2000 square feet Victorian house and have bought an 800 square feet new build with 3 small bedrooms, one sitting room and a conservatory. We bought the new house because of the location but I'm a bit nervous that we'll be living on top of each other and feeling really cramped. Have you done this and how did it go?

The children are grown up and don't visit very often. DH is retiring and I mostly work from home. His hobby is writing so he's getting the tiny box room as his office. I'll work from the conservatory when it isn't too hot/cold, and we're saving to have the conservatory roof changed to one that will help regulate the temperature in there better. Otherwise I'll work from the guest bedroom. We're also decluttering and getting rid of excess clothes, books etc in preparation for the move.

I'd be interested to hear other's experiences, both good and bad please.

We moved when we retired from a 4 bed townhouse to a much smaller bungalow in the countryside, mostly for a change in location and the much bigger garden. It sounds quite similar to yours, with a small sitting room and conservatory. However, we're actually using the space in a much more efficient way, so it conversely feels larger. The conservatory is great for working in; I just use a small heater in the winter and keep all the windows open in the summer. Works fine for me.

My mum has downsized twice. She did find it hard but the thing she learned is to buy new furniture that fits the space you have. and to declutter.

We downsized from a large 5 bed detached house to a 3 bed duplex apartment. For financial reasons but also to be closer to school/work/train station. It's worked out really well. We got rid of some furniture but stored some too (friend has a storage facility). It's easier to keep clean, we are spending less on petrol, less time in the car, we can walk to places, we have more spare money. Wish we'd done it ages ago.

Thank you. I agree about needing new furniture in theory although my couch is so comfortable I'm taking it even though a smaller one would fit the room better. DH and I sleep in separate beds in the same room because he's a big guy and moves around a lot in his sleep. At the moment we've each got a double but in the new house we only have room for two single beds so I'm buying new ones and will give away the old.

I'm looking forward to having less cleaning to do. I'm also finding a million times cheaper and easier to decorate than our old house was.

I think you should get the room as your office over DHs hobby space. Working from the conservatory doesn't sound great. You need a space.

Thank you! By rights I'm sure I should but I prefer for him to have the little room as it should keep him from being underfoot all the time 😅.

Gone from 4 double bedrooms to 2 bedrooms to retire - my advice is go for single storey and don't try to squash in all your big furniture - treat yourself and start again

We downsized to move into an area for better schools. What worked was going through selecting what we had space to keep then selling or giving away the rest via Facebook in bundles e.g. "big box of DIY tools/materials" "crate of baking items" "big bag of clean towels and bedding". Saved a lot of dithering with small amounts of this and that to charity shops or eBay.

DH's parents have gone into progressively smaller houses but kept nearly everything so their little rooms are crammed with furniture two layers deep.

Great idea to bundle things up to get rid of. I think I'll try that and give the bundles on a "take all or nothing" basis. Then there are things I'd like to sell but not sure whether I can be bothered with the hassle for small ticket items.

I have managed to give lots of clothes to Anglo Doorstep Collections that someone on here recommended. They'll take a few other things too but seem to mostly want clothes. They got a little sniffy once when they felt I was giving them too many books!