6 Ways Professional Organizers Declutter to Downsize — These Expert Tips Are Perfect for Starting Over

If this is the year you are downsizing to a smaller home, the most important streamlining job you can do in the run up to the move is to declutter. Doing so will mean you can not just arrive organized, but arrive with a plan for where your belongings will go, and arrive with the items, from your favorite home decor finds to paperwork, that you simply can't live without.

Decluttering your home isn't a done-in-one-go job; it's a progression. But unlike when you're just decluttering to make your home tidier, doing so to downsize will force you to be more ruthless. The upside? Your new, smaller home will be so much more curated as a result.

Here, we speak to decluttering experts for tips on getting organized for a move to a smaller property. Forewarning: we recommend keeping this guide handy because these tricks are prized by professionals for good reason.

1. Create a Clear Decluttering Plan

It's always a good idea to start out with a proper plan when decluttering a living room or any space in your home really. Takilla Combs, professional organizer at Xtreme Audacity, tells us that the first step while decluttering to downsize is to create a decluttering plan.

"Based on the current date and the move-out date you want to plan time to declutter and then dates to pack," she says. "This will prevent you from feeling rushed and stressed at the end."

Takilla Combs

I'm Takilla Combs, a proud mother of two exceptional young men and the founder of Xtreme Audacity (Organized Solutions) LLC, which I established in January 2017 in Mooresville, NC. As President of the National Association of Black Professional Organizers (NABPO), I’m dedicated to empowering and educating minority and women-owned businesses, as well as other disadvantaged entrepreneurs, by providing essential resources and referrals tailored to their needs. My unique talent lies in bringing harmony and simplicity to spaces, identifying systems, solutions, and beauty within clutter and chaos.

2. Tackle the Process Room by Room

Briana Spruille, organizer and co-founder of Just BE, tells us that downsizing room by room will prevent you from shifting clutter and underused items from one location to another.

"In the kitchen, drinkware like mugs, cups, and tumblers add up quickly," she notes. "So if it’s broken, you have several of the same items or it’s commemorative and you aren’t using it, then toss it."

While decluttering your closet, Briana recommends purging apparel you’ve held onto for alterations or repair for longer than six months. "Also, part ways with items that no longer fit," she suggests. "Additionally, part ways with old, worn shoes."

As you work through your home, she warns against feeling compelled to keep knick-knacks, books, or personal items that you no longer want.

3. Purchase Moving Boxes Post-Declutter

According to Takilla, one of the best tips to adhere to when packing up your home and downsizing is to organize the supplies you need after you finish decluttering your home.

"I recommend purchasing boxes and packing supplies based on what you have after decluttering, not for the clutter you started with," she says. We find this to be a brilliant rule of thumb since this will keep you from carrying items that will simply add to clutter in your fresh space.

We also encourage using the post-it decluttering method as you attack each room in your home for a systematic approach.

4. Organize First, Declutter Second

According to Takilla, getting organized before you begin packing is a clever approach to downsizing. By adopting simple home organization ideas pre-decluttering, you'll have a clear idea of the things you own and how to move forward.

"If you get organized before you begin packing, packing will be so much easier and efficient," she explains. "Plus, this will allow you to categorize your belongings along the way, which will in turn make your unpacking easy and efficient."

5. Go from Low-Traffic Spaces to Rooms With High Footfall

"You want to start decluttering in the least used spaces, like the garage and storage closets, storage units, attic, basement or shed," says Takilla. "These spaces often contain items you haven’t used in years, such as seasonal decorations, old tools, or forgotten boxes."

She goes on to explain that this will help you identify what’s truly worth keeping. "This will also allow you to free up space so that you can stage your packed boxes in the newly decluttered space when you begin to pack up the other rooms," she notes.

6. Find Heart in Donating

Learning how to declutter your home ruthlessly may not be everyone's cup of tea. Perhaps you're a sentimentalist or you're prioritizing cost over home value. Either way, there's no way around ridding your home of unnecessary clutter.

This is especially true if you're moving to a new space. This is why it's important to take heart in donating your unused belongings. Trust that your once prized possessions are now going to someone who likely needs it and will treat it with the same care you did.

FAQs

What Should You Declutter First When Moving?

While preparing for a big move, it's best to declutter clunky, heavy items first. For instance, paring back furniture is a great place to start. However, if you have a couple of timeless pieces in your collection that you plan on rehoming in your new space, then you can move on to books.

While books may seem like a surprising starting spot, they do take up a notable amount of space and are known to be weighty. So if you're a voracious reader or a sucker for eye-catching coffee-table books, your library is a very good place to start.

What's the Best Decluttering Rule for Downsizing?

Takilla swears by the 20/20 decluttering rule for downsizing with ease. "As popularized by Joshua Fields Millburn is a decluttering method that states that if you can replace an item for under $20 and within 20 minutes, you likely don't need to keep it,” she explains. "It allows you to recognize items that aren't crucial and can be replaced without much difficulty if necessary."

"I am currently decluttering to downsize," says Lucy Searle, Content Director for Audience at Livingetc. "It has forced me to think hard about not just what I want to discard or keep but how living in a smaller home will be different than in my current, much larger home.

"For example, I love to read but since moving my book collection into my existing house 13 years ago, I've switched from books to reading on my phone. So, while I love to look at my home library, I'm going to sacrifice it and use the wall space those books would have taken up for displaying some of my favorite home decor accessories and art instead.

"This change in lifestyle, or how I live now and want to going forwards, will be informing all my decluttering decisions over the next few weeks."