8 Great Reasons to Downsize Your Home

Is your home still meeting your needs? For most people as they start their adult lives and possibly their families, they start upsizing to larger homes with bonus rooms and big backyards. What happens when the kids move out or your lifestyle changes? The word “downsize” may bring to mind recently retired folks who’ve decided to sell their big family home and opt for a sparkly new condo somewhere sunny, and with a pool a few steps away. While that is definitely one of the ways to do it, there are many more reasons to downsize. You don’t even have to be retired!

1. More Cashflow

The housing market in the Greater Seattle Area has been booming for years, and downsizing is definitely one way to create more cashflow. You could free up more cash with a lower or even no mortgage. With a smaller home you’ll also have lower utility bills and homeowner’s insurance; you may even save more with no more HOA dues or yard maintenance costs. It’s also a viable way to consolidate a lot of debt—and lower financial anxiety. For example, sell your home and with the profits, pay off your home equity loan, college loan, and credit card, then pay off most or all of your mortgage. If you’ve been in your home for at least 10 years and it’s value has gone up significantly, you can use that equity to your advantage.

2. Freedom

A smaller home is much easier to maintain. With our eldest launched, one in college, and one in high school, we no longer needed such a big house and yard. We downsized to a smaller but still spacious home with almost no yard, and with the house being brand new, there is nothing it needs in terms of updating or remodeling. Less to clean and keep up = more time for leisure! I’ve got a friend who is loving the freedom of her downsize from a single-family house to a condo in a doorman building. She calls it a “lock and go” setup because she literally turns one key and she can travel and work remotely from anywhere in the world.

downsizing, moving

When Your Empty Nest Refills

Has your empty nest been refilled in light of this year’s unprecedented events? Guess what, you are not alone! According to a recent survey by Country Financial, 1 in 5 parents have had adult kids move back home in 2020. For younger millennials (24-29 year olds), 39% of them are either planning to move back home or have already done so. In some cases a child who was supposed to move out is staying home instead because their university is currently still remote-only. Whatever the reason, having a kid or two at home when you were expecting to be an empty nester is probably a surprise. We’ve got some tips on how to keep things positive and harmonious while enjoying this extra time together.

Set Expectations

Your kiddo is now an adult, and not only should you treat them as such, but they should also behave accordingly. Let them do their own laundry, give them chores, take turns doing groceries and making dinner—you get the idea. Unless you want your house to feel like your adult children’s personal “bed & breakfast,” set these expectations early on. It’s easy for your relationship to regress to the parent-child dynamic, but really try not to let it. Instead, move it towards more of an adult-roommates dynamic.

Communicate Needs

Everyone will have specific needs and these should be addressed and agreed upon. For example, if you and your spouse are accustomed to having dinner at 6pm but your late-working daughter likes to eat at 9pm, work out a compromise involving cooking and heating up leftovers. If your son has a daily 8am call with his boss, move your daily morning treadmill date with Van Halen earlier or later (or get AirPods!). It’s also important to communicate about finances. If your child is working, do you want them to help pay for utilities and groceries? If not, do they need financial support, and how much? Talking about it and clarifying details will make it a bit less stressful for both of you.

empty nest

What Happens During A Simplify Experts Assessment?

If you’ve been reading our monthly newsletters, following us on social media, or checking out our website, you are probably familiar with Simplify Expert’s amazing offer of a complimentary consultation. Founder Denise Allan visits your home and spends about an hour meeting with you and assessing your organizing needs and goals.

I am a Simplify Experts employee, but I am also a homeowner with current decluttering needs! With one child launched, another off to university in the Fall, and only one teen left living at home, our family will be downsizing to a smaller home in a couple of months. Our current home has 10 years’ worth of accumulation. Going from a fairly large home to a medium-sized home means getting rid of significant pieces of furniture; toys, games, sports equipment, books, and clothes that our older kids no longer need; and all kinds of household items we no longer use.

The closing date for our new home was looming, and the listing date for our current home was moved up. We weren’t quite in “panic mode,” but we did need to speed up our process and get the house ready—fast!—for the video/photo pro, and then to list a few days after that. You’d think after four months of quarantine we would have already completely organized and decluttered the house (as well as learned a new language and kept a sourdough starter alive). Our home wasn’t particularly messy or disorganized, but once we started the process of going through everything, it felt and looked like a small tsunami had hit. My kids took everything out of their closets, shelves, and under-bed storage. My husband and I did the same with our offices, the storage room, rec room, and study. The hallways and larger rooms became depositories of everything and we could barely even walk through! Overwhelmed much?

Professional Organizer

5 Simple Ways to Update Your Home That Will Add Value

How long is your home’s to-do list?

Take a moment and think about how many tasks around the house you’ve been putting off. Perhaps a bathroom coated with chipped paint or an outdated carpet has been lurking in the back of your mind. Or, maybe your home requires more serious home renovations like replacing a leaky roof or redeeming some worn down siding.

Whether it’s a major haul or a project you can squeeze into one day and do it yourself, your newfound downtime could be perfect for making some of those updates. Before you set any plans in motion, ask yourself if the project is worth both your time and money. In other words, you shouldn’t make any serious alterations to your home simply for better looks because oftentimes it isn’t guaranteed that your home’s value will increase as a result.

So, which updates are worthwhile? Read on to find out which efforts, from largest to smallest, you can make to improve your home along with some insider tips on being smart with your money.

First, let’s take a look at a couple of bigger renos that are both popular and profitable.

DIY, home improvement, moving

Say Goodbye to Your Storage Unit

Are you one of the 9.4% of U.S. households that own a storage unit? Be honest and think about the last time you needed to get something stored in your unit. Has it been three months, six months, or even a year? Chances are you could get rid of that storage unit and most of its contents, saving you an average of $89 a month. If you rented the unit as a temporary storage solution, consider the “temporary” part and recall why you had to rent the unit in the first place. Was it to store overflow items before or after a move? Did you rent it after you downsized your home or an aging parent’s? Were you using it to store items for a future estate sale? Whatever the reason, it’s probably time to clean out and say goodbye to your storage unit.

Step 1: Prepare yourself

It’s a big project that could take more than a day. Work in 4-hour time chunks if you can (it may take multiple sessions!). Do a last-minute pit stop at the location bathroom, and have a water bottle and a protein bar on hand. This is physical work and you’ll hit decision fatigue by the 4-hour limit. If you haven’t been to your storage unit in a long while, you likely won’t remember every item in there. Bring in extra hands, not just for heavy lifting and sorting, but for emotional support. You may come across items you have not seen in ages, such as your departed grandmother’s favorite dishes. It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed and sentimental about things you have dear memories of, but know you need to part with.

declutter and thrive, home organizing, professional home organizing, Professional Organizer, saving money, storage, storage unit

Stress-Free Guide: Planning and Surviving Your Major House Renovation

If you’re planning to give your home a major facelift, you’re in for a very interesting time in your life. Renovations can be super fun, but also more than stressful, especially when they involve a big part of your home and last for a long time. However, renovations do not have to end in tears and nervous breakdowns! Here’s how to pull off a smooth and breezy reno.

Collect as many tips as you can

Make sure to do your homework before doing any renovation work. Talk to your homeowner friends and family, consult with neighbors and surf the internet for tips. You’re guaranteed to collect a good number of tips that will come in handy during your reno. These tips and information can greatly affect your renovation and even your end product. It’s always good to know what works and what doesn’t pay off.

Plan your budget

One of the first things to do before you grab a sledgehammer and start tearing down walls is coming up with a good budgeting plan. Check the internet for material prices, ask quotes from your contractors and see whether you need to pay for permits. Also, don’t forget the price of hotels in case you need to get away from the noise of renovation. Once you come up with a good budget, add 10% for emergency situations and you’re good to go. No matter how hard you try to make everything perfect, there are situations that you simply can’t predict. When you’re set on a budget, stick to it like crazy. It’s easy to get carried away with renovations and end up blowing your entire life savings.

home organizing, home remodel, home renovation, house

Top Ten Dorm Room Must-Haves

My eldest child will be moving back to campus next month to start her sophomore year. Just over a year ago, we were up to our eyeballs in Pinterest and other websites with tips on what students need for their dorm rooms. First off, let me just say that, unless your kid is rooming with two friends and they have completely coordinated their color scheme and décor—or they’ve got a single room—there is no way their room will ever look like a Pinterest board!

A dorm room is going to be their home for nine months, so it should reflect their personality, be practical but comfortable, and not too cramped—a place they’ll sleep, study, eat, and socialize in. Most likely the university will provide the minimum: a bed, a desk, and a chair. Everything else is on you.

Here’s the “Top Ten” list of items that are beyond the basics (e.g., bedding).

College, college students, dorm organizing, dorm room, dorm room must haves, must-haves

5 Things You Need to Know Before You Move

Moving can be stressful and disruptive, so if you have a move on the horizon – use these five strategies to save yourself a lot of headache! Recently, my family moved to a new house just minutes from our home town. Here are some of my biggest take-aways for making any move easier.

Declutter Way Ahead of Time

Who wants to pack and move old and unwanted items and outgrown clothes? We certainly did not!

We began decluttering several months before our move. Over time, we decluttered every space in the house. I worked with both of my sons individually and donated old toys and clothes which no longer fit. When we were finished, their bedrooms

decluttering, Dolly.com, moving, U-Haul

7 Reasons You Might Need to Hire a Professional Organizer

When it comes to organizing your home and your possessions, it can be hard for anybody to know where to start and the best way to go about making your house work for you. With all the various stresses of life, like moving home and having children (or anything that requires deep forward planning with time), it can be hard to even find the time to begin the process of organizing your home.

Professional Organizers are a great option for people who need a little bit of extra help with the process of organizing their things. Whether those things be a reorganization of the interior of your home entirely or having assistance organizing stacks of important paperwork, professional organizers can make the process much easier.

Here are seven reasons you might want to hire a professional organizer, and some ideas of what they can do for you.

1. You Want To Declutter, But Don’t Know Where to Start

Without even getting into situational specifics, if you feel that you are having a hard time even starting the organization process, a simple and short meeting with a professional organizer can help you to plan out your moves and come up with ideas for decluttering efficiently. A professional organizer can still help with the process itself, but they’re available for advising on organization projects as well!

2. Reorganizing the Whole Home

When changing around the interior layout of your home, you should probably be thinking

decluttering, moving, new baby, paperwork, Professional Organizer

Moving? 6 Reasons Why You Should Get Help from a Professional Organizer

Whatever the reason for your move, the process of moving is at once exciting and overwhelming. You may be managing a long to do list to get your home ready for sale. During the moving process, it can feel like a thousand different pieces are moving at the same time, all in addition to the demands of your daily life.

Working with Simplify Experts, we can help with every step, manage the move

moving, moving services, unpacking