What have been your experiences of downsizing? Any advice? Tips? Second thoughts?

[HelenHywater]

I've recently seriously been considering downsizing and am actually de-cluttering and tarting up my house for sale.

But I thought it would helpful to get your actual experiences of downsizing. For me the reason is mostly financial - I've stopped working due to burnout and don't want to have to put myself in the same position and require such a high salary. I also have a mortgage (due to divorce) that I'd be paying until I was close to 70.

I also can afford to lose a couple of bedrooms as children have left home. But I still have 2 kids at home full time and another one visiting in uni hols. Also am concerned that I won't find what I'm looking for and/or will regret downsizing (in terms of house size). on the upside if I buy cheap enough, I will be mortgage free.

Have you done this? How did it go? (I'm not elderly yet, so not sure that your parents experiences of moving to a bungalow are quite where I'm at!).

Thanks all.

We downsized in our early 60s four years ago, paying off our remaining mortgage and a few debts and swapping a five-bed Edwardian semi for a 12-year-old townhouse with four bedrooms (one v small, which is now the study). We managed to stay in the same area near friends by compromising on size of garden, and the bedooms are relatively small, but the big, square, airy kitchen/diner is wonderful. Being a much more modern house, it is well insulated and has three bathrooms and downstairs loo. It's also in a tranquil cul-de-sac. A pint of milk and newspaper available within half a mile's walk. Really, it was a fantastic move for us, and the process of detaching from our beloved old house (lived in for 33 years!) wasn't too awful, as we could see the huge benefits. Also, the act of decluttering to show off the house, tarting the place up to maximise the sale price and giving away a lot of unused/no-longer-needed/excess belongings was cathartic. Go ahead!

We downsized and have never regretted it, especially as the choice of home meant virtually zero maintenance in the years to come. Life is short, I want to focus on other things than looking after a big house!

We were mortgage free in our previous home (abroad) and had to take out a mortgage to return to the UK, where downsizing was inevitable. But it's worth it!

If you get the downsizing as well as the lack of mortgage, I'd say that's a win-win... especially as it reflects in the amount of spare time you'll have at your disposal.

I'm thinking of doing this in a couple of years so am slowly decluttering /questioning if we need something new in the home.
Ive 2 that will be off to uni in next two years, one already left home. I became disabled and unable to work many years ago so my needs are different to most 40 somethings. I can no longer drive so will be looking at areas with good transport links/local amenities. I'm also looking for bungalow/ground floor flat as currently i may as well live in one as I dont go upstairs (that's dcs floor). My one concern is having room for dc 2&3 needing to come back during holidays/after uni or staying at home. I sometimes think I'm going to need to stay here longer but not sure how I'll keep paying the bills on a 4 bed house. If your looking for longevity look at how you'd live if you can't manage stairs, can you use a downstairs room as a bedroom and is there a downstairs bathroom? If you downsize and its wrong you could end up in a worse situation. My dp downsized early, are now retired, are getting to the point of not being able to drive, the transport system is not good where they are, but to move will cost them money they dont have. So I'd say do it but dont make the wrong decision, future proof the move.

We did at the end of last year. We were mortgage free anyway, but maintaining a large four bed house, plus cleaning, was becoming arduous. The area wasn’t what it was when we moved there eleven years ago either.

We decluttered massively, sold some furniture to our buyers, sold some more after we moved and now have a three bed detached in a cul de sac in a nicer area. Cheaper insurance and council tax, basic shops within walking distance and reasonable public transport.

The bedrooms are smaller and we’ve turned one into a dressing room. Downstairs space is fine.

I have downsized as I returned to London after ten years away, and my old house, though twice as big, was worth half of what my house is now.
I had a four reception four bed detached house with large rooms (my bedroom and guest bedroom were 20ft by 15ft each) to a small three bed terrace (the third bed being the converted loft) with small office. The plus side is our reception area is pretty much one big room so more practical. I like the layout and as I can only sit in one room at a time it’s fine. My son had one of the old reception rooms as a games room but he’s moved out, and I now have a kitchen table rather than a separate dining room. The layout just works better.
The con is the bedrooms are very small other than the loft room which my DD has. The family bathroom is very small too (it does not fit a full size bath). My DD has an en suite but I don’t.
And of course little of our furniture fit. My bed was too big for my room, I now have what was in the old guest bedroom. Our old dining table and chairs sat 10 so has been sold. Our old sofa was also too big. I was able to sell some but gave away loads.
But the biggest issue is storage. I had not only wardrobes in all the bedrooms before but a large storage area off the kitchen (the old coal store), about 15ft by 8ft. And I had it packed. Here there is NO storage other than an under (steep) stair cupboard. I had to build in wardrobes in the bedrooms. I did make a cupboard to house my upright vacuum cleaner in the kitchen but have now gone back to a Henry and he’s too fat! He doesn’t fit under the stairs either. So that’s the main problem with downsizing. I can live either way smaller rooms, and as only one child at home three beds plus small study is adequate. But really wish I had more storage!

Thank you all. @Glassesforclasses I have one child at uni already and one going next year. I think I will need to keep bedrooms for them. But won't for my older children. I figure that they come back a couple of times a year and I can rent an airbnb for that. I currently have 2 bedrooms permanently empty.

I want to find somewhere with 2 reception rooms I think. And yes I have a super-king size bed. I'd be so upset not to be able to use that!

I downsized from a large four bed detached with a huge garden, to a two bed Edwardian semi, also with a huge garden. I was already mortgage free, and my kids had left home, so one spare room/office sounded okay.

Turned out to be an (expensive) step too far, and within two years, I’d upsized a bit to a mid-century three bed semi, with larger rooms. I have a smaller garden, which annoys me, so I now have an allotment as well.

@ReignOfError what was the issue with your first move? The lack of bedrooms?

I need to make a decision about whether I stick to the same area (and a much smaller property) or move further out to a bigger one.

We downsized last year to a much nicer but smaller property. Visitors have to sleep on a sofabed in the snug but it works out OK.I figured we could worry too much about visitors and there comes a time, unless you have a small family and huge house, putting up DCs , DGs etc becomes pretty tricky anyway and we'd sort out an air bnb if necessary. I have not regretted our move at all. It's quite liberating getting rid of loads of accumulated stuff and instead really enjoying what you have. Finances are much healthier too.

Combination of things, really. The second small double bedroom wasn’t really big enough to work as a spare room and my office; there wasn’t enough storage, despite a utility room extension, and what there was was in the wrong place - the stairs were central, so the understairs cupboard was in the dining room and the hall was too narrow for adding storage; it had a large (maybe 15ft by 20ft) shed in a concrete slab, but it wasn’t in the right place and would have been expensive to move, and no garage. There was a ‘conservatory’ useable for less than half the year, which was, as I’d hoped, great for propagating and overwintering plants, but I hated how it affected the light in the kitchen. I think all this could have been resolved, but I didn’t like the place enough to spend the money and effort.

If I’m honest, a big part of it was location. We moved in a rush as my husband was diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, and didn’t research the large village we moved to well enough - it didn’t offer us the lifestyle we wanted, despite having a good range of services and amenities.

I also learned, I think, not to buy a garden with a house included, no matter how keen a gardener I am!

we retired/downsized/moved all at the same time.
although it went very smoothly we had our home custom built but it's a touch too tiny. not many options at this point, so I make do.