Let's Make A Personal Property Plan: Question Number Two

In the last post we started the process of distributing and disposing of excess personal property by identifying items that should be given to family members or perhaps close friends. 

Before we begin asking questions about how to dispose of remaining items, let's remember that downsizing doesn't mean getting rid of everything!  You'll still need furniture, perhaps kitchen supplies, linens for your bed and bath, and of course clothing. So ask yourself the following:

Q2: What MUST I Keep/Take to My New Home?

1) Tackle the big stuff first. 

Take measurements of the rooms in the home that you'll be moving to next as well as your existing furniture.  Determine what will fit, where it will fit, and what will not fit.

2) Tackle the kitchen next. 

If you're moving to a home with a smaller kitchen space, take an inventory of the cabinets, drawers and pantry space and compare that to your current kitchen to get a sense of what may and may not fit in your new home. 

Ask yourself if you realistically will entertain others to the same degree that you have in your current home.  If so, hold onto those table linens, serving dishes, and other items you use for entertaining.

If, on the other hand, you are moving to a setting in which you are not entertaining or which may provide some or all of your meals, your need for cooking utensils, dishes, pots and pans, and serving dishes is greating diminished.

3)  Move on to the bed and bath areas. 

As you did in the kitchen, assess the storage and closet space in your new setting as compared to your current setting and make decisions accordingly.  

You may be reducing the number of bedrooms that you have.  If so, decide which bed(s) will fit in the your new space and those that are most comfortable for you.  Those are the keepers!

4)  Don't forget the outside areas of your home.  

In the same way that you'll need measurements of your interior space to determine what furniture you'll want to keep, you'll need this for your outside/patio space as well.  

Will you be gardening, maintaining a lawn, or feeding the birds at your new setting?  If so, you'll need to maintain the equipment necessary to do so.

By virtue of determining what you feel strongly about taking with you to your next home, you've already made significant progress in determining what you don't want to bring with you.  We'll tackle those items in the third installation of this series.