{"id":4287,"date":"2022-01-04T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T18:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/?p=4287"},"modified":"2023-04-30T01:55:27","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T08:55:27","slug":"downsizing-how-to-make-it-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Downsizing? How to Make it Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There are a lot of reasons for downsizing your belongings, from moving into a smaller home or just wanting to reclaim space in your home. It takes time and hard work but you\u2019ll feel much better once you\u2019re finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever your reason for getting rid of some of your\nbelongings, there are a lot of benefits of downsizing: there\u2019s less stuff to\nmaintain, less stress, and more time for fun activities. Are you ready to free\nup some space in your home? Here are a few tips to help you get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Start small<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Downsizing is a deceptively complex project. We often\noverestimate how much we can accomplish in a day. Instead of attempting to\ndownsize your entire house, plan to focus on a single room at a time. This will\nkeep you from becoming overwhelmed and abandoning the project. You\u2019ll be more\nlikely to see the progress you\u2019re making and be encouraged to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don\u2019t get extra storage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Save yourself time and money by not renting a storage unit. What starts off as a temporary solution, off-site storage often turns into black holes of storage, steadily collecting more items you promptly forget about. Instead of shuffling your items out of sight and out of mind, tackle them head-on and use that rent money for something fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use the one-year rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When deciding what to keep or toss, ask yourself this\nquestion: <em>\u201cHave I used this in the last year?\u201d <\/em>&nbsp;If the answer is no, chances are you won\u2019t be\nusing it in the future. This goes for everything: clothes, sports and fitness\nequipment, bags and baggage, unused furniture, electronics, kitchen gadgets,\nand more. Donate, give away, or sell any usable items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Make definitive decisions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As you downsize, quickly decide what stays or goes. Using\nthe five-second rule will keep you focused on your task and doesn\u2019t give your\nbrain time to rationalize keeping a questionable item. Your gut instinct is\nusually the right one. It may be helpful to skip the \u2018maybe\u2019 pile and force\nyourself to make a decision in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Digitize what you can<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Paper clutter is the sneakiest enemy of downsizing. It\nquickly accumulates and soon takes over. Do what you can to reduce the amount\nof paper in your home: digitize photos and kids\u2019 art pieces. Opt for paperless\nbilling whenever possible. Only keep the most important items like passports,\nbirth certificates, social security cards, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let go of guilt<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s natural to have some emotional ties to your belongings.\nParting with these items can bring an overwhelming sense of guilt. Set aside\nitems with strong sentimental value to review later. When you\u2019re ready, review\neach piece and consider if this item is something you use or enjoy. If you\u2019re\nonly keeping it because you feel guilty otherwise, it\u2019s better to get rid of it\nor else you may begin to resent it later. Only keep what truly brings you joy.\nFind new homes for pieces you can\u2019t bear to toss or donate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keep reevaluating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Downsizing isn\u2019t a one-time event. As you continue to\ndownsize your items, you\u2019ll begin to need less and less stuff. Every so often,\nreevaluate your belongings and see if you\u2019re ready for another round of\ndownsizing. Also, as you bring new items in, see if there\u2019s something else you\ncan remove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s amazing how quickly items can accumulate in our homes\nover time. By strategically removing things you no longer use, you can reclaim\nyour space and make your home feel even larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bellaterra at North Forty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Our homes at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/north-forty\/\">Bellaterra at North Forty<\/a>\nare perfect for those looking for homes with a smaller footprint. With 1 to 3\nbedrooms and ranging between approximately 857 to 1,532 square feet, we offer Bay\nArea homebuyers a unique opportunity for streamlined living in Los Gatos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SummerHill Homes remains committed to building distinction\nthroughout the Bay Area. Our new homes are filled with modern finishes and\nfeatures. We\u2019re sure you\u2019ll find the right home for your family. If you\u2019re\nlooking for a new home in the Bay Area, visit us online at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/\">SummerHillHomes.com<\/a> to learn more\nabout our new home communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are a lot of reasons for downsizing your belongings, from moving into a smaller home or just wanting to reclaim space in your home. It takes time and hard work but you\u2019ll feel much better once you\u2019re finished. Whatever your reason for getting rid of some of your belongings, there are a lot of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,452],"tags":[462,526,402,385,442],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Downsizing? How to Make it Work - SummerHill Homes Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Downsizing can be a daunting process - but it doesn&#039;t have to be. Our blog post has helpful tips and insights to make the transition as smooth as possible.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downsizing? How to Make it Work - SummerHill Homes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Downsizing can be a daunting process - but it doesn&#039;t have to be. Our blog post has helpful tips and insights to make the transition as smooth as possible.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SummerHill Homes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-04T18:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-30T08:55:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/iStock-639366326-resized.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SummerHill Homes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SummerHill Homes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/\",\"name\":\"Downsizing? How to Make it Work - SummerHill Homes Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-04T18:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-30T08:55:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee52259211a54c4def33dc48491dcb2\"},\"description\":\"Downsizing can be a daunting process - but it doesn't have to be. Our blog post has helpful tips and insights to make the transition as smooth as possible.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Downsizing? How to Make it Work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SummerHill Homes Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee52259211a54c4def33dc48491dcb2\",\"name\":\"SummerHill Homes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f553c09875fab86e63a0575afe77746?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f553c09875fab86e63a0575afe77746?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"SummerHill Homes\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/author\/summerhill-homes\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Downsizing? How to Make it Work - SummerHill Homes Blog","description":"Downsizing can be a daunting process - but it doesn't have to be. Our blog post has helpful tips and insights to make the transition as smooth as possible.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Downsizing? How to Make it Work - SummerHill Homes Blog","og_description":"Downsizing can be a daunting process - but it doesn't have to be. Our blog post has helpful tips and insights to make the transition as smooth as possible.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/","og_site_name":"SummerHill Homes Blog","article_published_time":"2022-01-04T18:00:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-30T08:55:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1333,"url":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/iStock-639366326-resized.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"SummerHill Homes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"SummerHill Homes","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/","url":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/","name":"Downsizing? How to Make it Work - SummerHill Homes Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-01-04T18:00:42+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-30T08:55:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee52259211a54c4def33dc48491dcb2"},"description":"Downsizing can be a daunting process - but it doesn't have to be. Our blog post has helpful tips and insights to make the transition as smooth as possible.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/downsizing-how-to-make-it-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Downsizing? How to Make it Work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/","name":"SummerHill Homes Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ee52259211a54c4def33dc48491dcb2","name":"SummerHill Homes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f553c09875fab86e63a0575afe77746?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f553c09875fab86e63a0575afe77746?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"SummerHill Homes"},"url":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/author\/summerhill-homes\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4972,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions\/4972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.summerhillhomes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}