Downsizing and struggling to imagine where it will all go.

[ecocredentials]

How the heck do we fit it all in! We are going from a large 4 bed with loads of storage space to a 3 bed with no storage (new build). We’ve been extremely brutal with the loft clearing but we still have a lot of Christmas decorations, a huge box of photos - probably about 3-4 very large plastic crates (lidded) with things that we want to keep for sentimental reasons.

I cannot compromise on these - we will have a garage which is something we don’t have now. Does anyone keep airtight crates with photos and books etc in a garage? The brick is only single skin but the garage walls are reasonably well sheltered. Do things go damp out there?

The developer says we can’t board the loft but I think we will have to with those loft legs over the insulation as we’ve nowhere to keep suitcases, Christmas decorations etc.

How do people downsize to tiny homes? Any tips on clever storage solutions please?

are you using all three bedrooms for people who will actually live in them or essentially having one bedroom and two spare rooms. If the later, you could get a bed that has built in storage (like ottoman style and pack loads of extra storage space in there for stuff you don’t use much. Also, with floor to ceiling wardrobes you can often use the top hard to reach cupboards for storage and leave the lower sections for guests to put their clothes.

nice photos can be converted to Photobooks which can go on bookshelves and/ or electronic albums.

typically I find people fill the space they are in. I certainly do! You just have to be super ruthless with what you really want to keep.

Storage unit.

Honestly? You need to get rid of a lot more of your stuff and compromise on what you’re keeping. With the sentimental items and photos? How often do you look at them? Set yourself a target to reduce everything by 50%.

Lots of storage shelving everywhere.
Store things everywhere - under beds, behind sofas etc. Furniture with built-in storage.
Also get rid of more stuff.
Last resort: pay for a storage unit.

I know lots of people in new builds who have boarded their attics. Nothing has fallen through any ceilings yet. But I'm not a structural engineer so don't believe me.

Just DH and I. Second bedroom will have a double bed. I think the issue is that at the moment I have long 1.5m chests of drawers that I need to fit in. Now I probably could do with taller, narrower ones so I can get wardrobes or more chests in.

Ottoman beds are good for storage without taking up any more room.

If it’s just you and DH, what are you planning to use the two spare bedrooms for? If they need to remain permanent bedrooms because you’re expecting a lot of guests then choose bed frames with built in drawers or Ottomans for storage underneath. If they’ll only be occasional bedrooms, a Murphy bed in one of them allows a lot of room for wardrobes and bookcases for storage.

We store things in plastic crates in the garage and have never had a problem with damp. I probably wouldn’t put anything valuable or absorbent out there, but Christmas decorations and other sundries will be fine.

We store a lot in the garage. Remember to keep a path to boiler etc! We use Really Useful Boxes, we have two sizes which means they can be safely stacked.

As for damp, overall we’ve not been too bad, but I did find my Christmas bedding, pj’s etc all had to be thrown out last year as I couldn’t shift the musty smell, but they had had a good few years. Overall stuff stores well. I do put a layer of bubble wrap around as this just gives a bit of insulation.

I feel for you. We are in the process of moving and Ive been trying to have a huge clear out, but it’s proved to be really difficult. We are late 60s/early 70s and This will be our final move until one of us goes into a home, but we decided we just didn’t want to downsize and lose the space we’ve got used to, and we didn’t want to part with a large proportion of our belongings. So we’re moving about four miles from a ridiculously overpriced area of London to an area where we’re getting much more for our money, and were upsizing 😆😆

Maybe a walk in wardrobe for one bedroom? Flip up beds, bin more stuff! We moved from a 5 bed to a 2 bed cottage with zero storage it was so lovely getting rid of stuff. Enjoy the move!

I second ottoman bed in the spare room.

I do think when you move, you very often have to buy furniture that works in the new house. Its not just about size but room shapes etc dictate what works.

We moved from a large four bed to a smaller three bed. We were ruthless, sold loads of stuff, some of it to our buyers, some went to the tip and craft stuff to the local school.

We still had to sell more when we got into the house and saw what would go where. The main bedroom isn’t massive and we have a super king bed. There’s an alcove and we’ve had a wardrobe built in there. The second bedroom is for guests and has a wardrobe and the third bedroom is really a dressing room with storage, dressing table and chest of drawers.

The loft has so much insulation there’s no room for storage, but one of the wardrobes has things that won’t go anywhere else. Christmas decorations etc are in the top of the garage which is partly boarded. DH has racking and shelving in it and a workbench and the car goes in too.

In many ways it’s better because cleaning is easier and takes less time. We have a utility room too, which, although small, helps. We had walk cupboards added and all the rarely used kitchen equipment goes in there. Our living room isn’t much smaller than the one we had previously. The kitchen is smaller, but better laid out and there’s space for a dining table, which extends when family come.

I agree that some furniture may need to be changed, but downsizing means there’s cash to do that and we got decent prices for things we sold.

Go through your 'sentimental items' and enjoy the memories, take photos if you must and then get rid of them. They are just clutter. Don't be tied down by baggage, consider what is really important, boxes of old stuff or getting on with life and making new memories? #toughlove

We downsized in 2024 and having previously had six, we now have three bedrooms. Before selling we got rid of some of the larger furniture, of which we had a lot - much was sold to an antique dealer who specialised in the particular stuff we collected. We opted to keep smaller pieces that would hopefully fit in whatever smaller house we bought...and I'm so glad we did!

I also went through all the memento and photo boxes (many passed down through the family which I wasn't prepared to part with), reducing what I could by more than half. These are divided between the attic (in Really Useful boxes, as are the Christmas decorations) and garage, although we're currently converting the rear section of the latter to a boot room and office.

We ended up buying a Georgian cottage in need of major work (which we're doing ourselves), so took the opportunity to reconfigure the layout which was last done - badly - in 1965. There's only DH and I living here so we decided to use the second bedroom for us (our super king ottoman bed fits snugly, but perfectly!), put our gorgeous Art Nouveau double in the guest room and use the 15' x 14' main bedroom as our TV room (mainly as it was the only space that could accommodate our rare Persian rug 🙄)

Downstairs (as well as the converted garage) we've swapped kitchen with old living room and made the kitchen semi open plan with the dining room which works so much better. We now have a good sized snug (and lootility) where the kitchen, a lobby, cloakroom and oversized utility previously were - this has allowed us to fit in things we'd assumed wouldn't be possible, eg a huge wall of books, which, thankfully, we'd kept! We were even able to put in a reclaimed fireplace as the previous owner had removed all traces of character.

We've actually had to buy more furniture since moving and we plan to upsize again in a year or two as we both feel the cottage - and garden - is a bit too small for our needs, but it's been a good exercise in decluttering stuff we'd not looked at for 10+ years!

It does feel very cathartic clearing out, I can’t believe how many suitcases we owned! I have bought 6 of the 62l Really Useful boxes, two for photos and mementoes, one for DH”s football memorabilia and the rest for some children’s toys that we just can’t part with and will be used for any grandchildren that may come along. The lids seem to clip down quite tightly so I’m hoping they should stay dry in the garage. Photos and really sentimental stuff I will have to try and find room for indoors.

Just DH and I. Just DH and me.
There's only DH and I ... There's only DH and me ...

Good luck with the sorting and house move.

We have just done this.

We have gone from a large 3 bed with outbuildings and a cellar etc to a small 2 bed. We had to get rid of so much stuff its unbelievable but actually it felt nice to get rid of all the stuff we had been hoarding for years and make a fresh start.

We were brutal in our clear out. Anything we hadn't used for years was gone. Lots of sentimental stuff that we halved and put the rest in heavy duty plastic boxes with lids which would go into the boarded loft area in the new house. Furniture we wouldn't be able to find place for was sold or given away for free on Facebook sites. We went through our clothes, coats, shoes and were very strict in what we kept and the rest went to charity shops. You have to be prepared to let go of stuff and not be too sentimental. Its hard, but necessary for a downsize.

We filled 2 large skips of rubbish and tatt and it took us a good while to 'do the cull'.

As for storage in the new home, we are lucky in that we have a very large fully boarded loft area so we have been able to put most of our sentimental keepsakes, extra laundry, duvets, Christmas stuff etc up there. In the house itself we had a joiner in to build us two large fitted wardrobes in each of the bedrooms to our specification. So there is lots of storage space for clothes, shoes, coats and our winter clothes are in laundry bags in the loft ready to swap out once Winter arrives.

We have had a unit built in the living room by the same joiner to house books, DVD's etc.

We also have under bed storage boxes which have been great and again, fitted units built in the bathroom to add storage space for extra towels etc.

I moved to a house half the size of my old one and I’ve had to get a storage unit. It’s a terraced Victorian and the loft has been converted so no storage there, I had to build in cupboards to the bedrooms so clothes fill those. That leaves the under stairs but the fridge fits in one end that’s in the kitchen! All my Christmas boxes, paintings, my late husband’s effects and some of the children’s things plus I don’t know what are stored there (though I’d say a good 60% is Christmas related). I decluttered when I moved and have twice gone through it. I actually had two units when I first moved! Now down to one.
My friends built a damp proof home office looking thing in their back garden which they use for storage (and they have a much bigger house than me).

A 3 bed for 2 people, including a garage should be plenty? We have 5 people in a 4 bed and manage to get all of our stuff in.
We keep sentimental things in the garage in plastic boxes.

We downsized 2 years ago from 4 bed/ 3 floors to 3 bed/ 2 floors. I had fitted wardrobes with shelves built in smallest room ( which I use as dressing room) which houses everything! I have about 12 big photo albums ( the ones with acid free paper between pages) and 3 small boxes of old family photos. I am the saddo who prints photos off each month! That is my only concession to " stuff".
I got rid of all Xmas decorations as we only have twinkly lights now as we go away.
2 ottoman beds, ruthless with clothes . We have no garage but dh has 2 sheds for his gardening stuff.

Throw out all photos that are of places and not people. I sorted all the people photos by year and ended up with just three large albums with the photos mounted chronologically and labelled so future generations know who they are. then I have gave them to DS who has children. Get rid of all novels - you can always buy them secondhand and the classics are free on Kindle. Just think what your DC will do if they have to clear your stuff. My mother was amazing at ‘death cleaning’ and it only took us four days to clear her cottage.

I would get rid of some of the larger furniture. The furniture (probably) isn't sentimental, but it is dictating how you use space. If you can, buy some new furniture that better fits the rooms (not the gigantic chest of drawers) and you will have plenty of room for other things.

We've just done this after 30 years in the same house and, honestly, you need to get rid of more. We lost more than three quarters of our possessions and haven't missed a thing. It's very freeing.
You might need to get rid of furniture and buy new, smaller stuff that fits the new house - that can be exciting, we're starting a new phase of life.
Our move was prompted by clearing both our parents homes in recent years - so much stuff - and not wanting our only child to need to do that for us.
We found boxes of stuff from our childhoods - toys, games, books - it had been stored for 50 years. What a waste. If it had gone to charity when we'd grown out of it, someone would have loved it. Now, not so much 🙁
Enjoy your new, simpler life - its great.

We are in a 3 bed and decluttered the majority last year. Have you looked through the photos? Lots of ours were duplicates as it was back in the day when you got an extra set for a quid so we threw away an entire bin bag full. We got rid of all CD as ripped them. We kept our 500 DVD but they are in five folders that take up one shelf in a bookcase. We have one sentimental box each and I said if it doesn’t for in it then it’s in the bin.

If it’s Christmas stuff then it’s ok in the loft but everything else is never needed is it, think about it. We have one teddy of each child’s and then the brio and the Lego