We’re getting ready to move into a house that’s less than half the size of our current home, so we’ve been carefully evaluating everything we own to decide what to bring, what to donate, and what to sell. Below we explain the four simple questions we ask about every item, how we’re responsibly disposing of things we don’t need, and a recent tactic that helped us sell a lot at once. We also share an update on how the coronavirus affected our moving plans and answer the frequently asked question about those shutters we considered installing on the exterior.
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What’s New
- Our original plan was to rent a truck and travel with my parents—similar to how we moved furniture into the beach house before—so they could fly home afterward.
- To minimize contact and avoid unnecessary travel, we switched to a POD-style storage solution we can load on our own schedule. The unit will be collected by a machine and transported to the new house, where we can unload it when we’re ready. This reduces outside contact and gives us more flexibility with timing.
Update: Shutters
- We discussed our decision about shutters in a past episode, so listeners who missed it can find the conversation there.
- We ordered shutters once and received a massive crate that was too big to keep—so it had to be loaded back onto a truck. For scale, we often joke about an oversized delivery like the infamous Tom Tom motorcycle with a sidecar we’ve referenced before.
Downsizing Our Home
- We’re using four core criteria to decide what makes the move with us to Florida and what doesn’t:
- Size / fit: Will the item fit in our new home? Is it a duplicate? Could a smaller version be more appropriate? For example, the current house has both a living room and a bonus room full of living-room furniture—we won’t need two full living-room sets in a smaller home.
- Function: Does the piece still work well and serve a purpose? Is it in good condition or would a different item be more useful? For instance, our acrylic entry table looks nice but offers no storage—our new entry needs something with drawers or shelves to handle daily clutter.
- Style: Knowing the aesthetic we want for the new house helps prevent bringing items that clash with that vision. Our Florida home will lean modern and beachy, so lighter, cleaner-lined pieces make sense. Heavy, dark traditional furniture—even if loved—would likely feel out of place. Style is a preference, not a rule: fill your home with what makes you happy, but think ahead when downsizing.
- Emotional attachment: Sentiment matters. If a piece is deeply meaningful, we’ll find a way to keep it even if it’s not the best fit by other measures. For example, we rescued and restored a secondhand dresser that both of us love—we’ll make room for it even if we aren’t yet sure where it will live in the new layout.
- Before public health restrictions, we donated many small and medium items: winter coats to local drives, spare pet supplies to shelters, books to drives, and various household goods to local charities. Below is a snapshot of our kitchen a few weeks ago—those aren’t trash bags but donations organized for drop-off.
- We’ll share another post later with specifics about what we decided to keep versus what we let go, so stay tuned for a follow-up.
We’re Digging
- One bright spot lately is spring arriving here in Richmond. With so much uncertainty, being able to garden in the yard and take family walks around the neighborhood has been a welcome relief.
- We’ve also discovered a family-friendly card game called Low Down from the makers of UNO. After a stretch of playing UNO and UNO Flip a lot, it’s been refreshing to find another game everyone genuinely enjoys.
If you want to revisit something we’ve recommended in a past episode but can’t remember which show notes to check, we keep a master list of everything we’ve highlighted in previous shows, including a page that lists books we’ve suggested in our Book Club.
A quick note of thanks to Agility Bed for sponsoring this episode. They’re offering 20% off across their site with code COMFORT20 for anyone looking to upgrade sleep during these unusual times.
Thanks for following along and for listening—more updates on the move and our downsizing decisions are coming soon!
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