72. Downsizing: 10 Often Overlooked Steps for an Easier Move

You've planned the big things. But it's the small details nobody warned you about that quietly derail a move. In today's episode, we walk through 10 often overlooked steps that most moving checklists completely miss, so you can downsize with less stress, less regret, and more confidence.

These aren't complicated, but skipping them is what turns an already emotional move into an exhausting one. Whether you're weeks away from moving day or just starting to think about downsizing, these small but mighty steps can save you time, money, stress, and regret.

In this episode, you'll learn how to:

• Build a simple system that keeps every decision organized in one place
• Avoid the most common and costly moving day mistakes
• Protect your energy before, during, and after the move
• Create a post-move plan that prevents burnout and helps you feel settled faster
• Honor the emotional side of leaving a home you've loved

As Jon Kabat-Zinn said, "The little things? The little moments? They aren't little." That's exactly what this episode is about.

If you've been focused only on the big picture, this episode will shift your perspective and your move.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review and Follow our show so you never miss a new episode. We’re here for your downsizing questions — on the podcast, in your community, and when you’re ready to move. As Realtors®, we can connect you with the right specialists to make your next chapter smoother. We’d love to hear from you!

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Let’s simplify, declutter, and create space for your next chapter—together!

Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Hi, welcome to Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you're downsizing and that involves a move, we're going to talk about 10 often overlooked steps that if you do them and you take a listen, it will make a much easier move.

Jodi Rosko 0:33

Yeah, I think people um, you know, you always are like, what's the plan? And I think sometimes people step into it um without without a plan because these are things that you might not even think of. But if you do these, they will make it easier for you as you walk through the process.

Heather Fisher 0:50

Yeah, after helping, you know, tons of clients through these steps, they're just things um, you know, that we've noticed or we've seen people do well, or seen people or ourselves forget during moves. And um, you know, it's just can be a stressful time. There's a lot of moving parts and um logistics involved and um just some ways to make it a little easier.

Jodi Rosko 1:13

Yeah. So let's start. Step one. Um make a moving decisions log. So that can be uh a notebook that you actually write in, or that could be a you know, notes on your computer or a file, you know, on your computer, whatever. Um, but make it where everything lives in the same place. Because if you start having, you know, what are your pink codlers or what's going into donation or what are the measurements of my sofa, or you know, there's all kinds of things, utilities, who who do I need to shut off, what is it, when is it? You can create a little book where you have everything, you know, worked out, or you can put it on a spreadsheet depending on you know what you what you love. Heather's a spreadsheet person. Yeah. Um but what you don't want is just a whole bunch of like sticky notes and scraps of paper, and uh, you know, sticky note queen that I am. Um but we we bought like a whole book that last year trying to get rid of our sticky notes, remember?

Heather Fisher 2:07

Oh yes, the the um the erasable notebook didn't work so well. That was not a good system.

Jodi Rosko 2:14

It was it we tried, but we just filled up our notebook and then you know, whatever. It still didn't work.

Heather Fisher 2:19

It got a little too smudgy because we have too much going on.

Jodi Rosko 2:22

But on this, uh you can create one space where you this is the project. The it's one project and it all goes into one book or you know, one uh spreadsheet or one file, what you know, electronic file. And that way, when you're looking for things, you know exactly where to look for it. And so it's not where did I write that down or what piece of paper did I write that down on, or what yeah.

Heather Fisher 2:45

Lean into uh how you normal normally handle things. If that is on paper, then get that binder or notebook and organize it that way. If you tend to do more things online or electronically, um having a separate uh folder in your email box that you can pull relevant emails into one folder that have to do with your move or that spreadsheet, you can have different tabs for different parts of the organizing. Um we found it really helpful when we moved. Um, we had links to things we were building a home, so it was a little bit different, but links to things we had purchased so we could easily find the dimensions of things. Um we just had those links to where we had found them online, or the colors of things, or the names of things. Um, so however you lean into organizing, lean into that heavily through this process.

Jodi Rosko 3:43

Yeah, you can do you know by room and what are you gonna need? Do you need curtains in that room? You know, what do you need? And then once you figure out what it is, then you can put what that is there that you actually decided on and all of those things. So you can make a section where you have unmade decisions or questions that you have and you know just go through it so that you continually know, oh, did I answer that one and what that is? And so yeah, you can get that organized. You could even do it in a little organizer and you could have something that had dates on it too, so that you could, you know, really give yourself a good picture of what that's gonna look like.

Heather Fisher 4:16

Yeah, for sure. A combination of all of those things can really make this easier. Okay, so that's one.

Jodi Rosko 4:23

Yeah, two. Uh take your room measurements before you declutter. Um so uh if you know where you're going next before you're you know you have started to to declutter, um, take measurements of, and we're talking about the um the rooms that you're gonna move your things into, and then the bigger pieces of furniture up is really what we're kind of talking about. If you're early stages and you're just decluttering a lot of little things, that's okay. We don't need measurements of all that stuff. But what we're talking about is a lot of times what we find is when you're moving to a smaller space, your scale of your furniture is different in a bigger house. Your bigger house, your bigger sofa may not fit in the, you know, in the new house. And you may have to scale down your sofa size or maybe bedroom like bed sizes, maybe your king bed's not gonna fit in your second room, you know, second bedroom or whatever that if you have two of those or whatever. So you want to make sure when you're moving that you don't like find out that out the day that you get there with all of the stuff that isn't gonna fit.

Heather Fisher 5:25

Yeah, people often look at the decisions as what do I like the best, what is my favorite, um, which is you know, definitely one layer to look at it, but you also want to be adding in that which one will work best for me in my new space. Um, you know, a cabinet that might have just been an extra thing in the corner of a room might work perfectly in a little alcove you have in your new spot for store, you know, different storage than you used it before. So just trying to get that overview. Um, you know, we we met with clients recently that had their new floor plan and their spreadsheet going, and you know, they were just so on top of it, well ahead of the move, uh, that it'll be so smooth for them.

Jodi Rosko 6:11

Yeah. And if this sounds like totally overwhelming to you and you're like, oh my gosh, that sounds terrible, um, there are people who do this. So um it reach out to us if you have questions about um vendors or people who can do this, but there are definitely people who can help you take a look at what your new floor plan is going to look like, give you a kind of visual of what that looks like and what your furniture might look in like in that new space. And um, so let us know if you need that downsizingroadmap.com backslash help.

Heather Fisher 6:42

Yeah, and we talk about the the definition of downsizing, and it's really managing your time and your things and your space, your finances to work best for you and the phase that you're in. So that's what we're talking about. It's never just like do I like this, it's do I love it and does it work for me and that two-layer, and that's gonna look different based on what your new space is and what new life you thought about back in that dream it stage.

Jodi Rosko 7:14

Yeah. Um so okay, so we do want to measure the furniture though before we make final choices on what we're actually gonna bring.

Heather Fisher 7:23

Don't give away that love seat when you maybe need it instead of the big couch. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Jodi Rosko 7:28

Right. Okay, number three, um, create a no-pack zone. And so what this is, what we're talking about, is a designated table or a room or some boxes that you know um that you can place stuff that don't that won't those boxes won't get packed with the mover, you know, or you can, you know, ha or put it on a table where stuff isn't gonna go with the mover. And that would be um, you know, document like your documents, like your passport and your medical documents and any of that kind of stuff that you don't want to be packed and then you're gonna need it after it's been packed. Medications, daily toiletries, things that you use, you know, in a daily, your checkbook, your extra, you know, chargers, cash, like things that you use all the time. You want to have those all in one place. And um in the end, you're gonna want to have them at the house the first day. Like in the case.

Heather Fisher 8:15

Yeah, it's like the last out of your current house and the first in and the first to be, you know, set up or unpacked so that you uh can wake up that next morning after moving day, and it may not be fully unpacked, but you have those essentials to start your day, um, to you know, have your medication, to have the toiletries that you need without having to kind of half unpack 10 boxes to find the one thing you're looking for. Um, so that's just a little pre-planning of kind of that survival bag of what you'll need first. And like Jody said earlier, if that's overwhelming, I mean there are um resources that you can hire to pack your your home and get you set up for, and their goal is to get you set up to be able to wake up the next morning and have um, you know, be able to cook breakfast and um, you know, have what you need even if you're not fully unpacked yet before they finish.

Jodi Rosko 9:17

Yeah. And I think that this is really important if you're not having that somebody who do that whole thing for you, but if you're only just having movers come and pack you, because the movers are just gonna pack whatever's around in whatever box, and then you won't know. Like if you're doing all of your own packing yourself, then that's a little bit different, but you still want all of this stuff in one box, in one place, so that you know where it is, and so that you can access it right away. And so putting it in one area is good. And that's important um if you're packing yourself or not. But if you're not packing yourself, it's super important because you will have no idea what box you it was in because you didn't pack any of them.

Heather Fisher 9:54

Right, right. This is oftentimes, you know, a box or two that gets put in your car and taken versus the movers putting it on a truck. That way you have no worries if that gets delayed, if anything happens. It's it's like your carry-on bag when you travel.

Jodi Rosko 10:11

Take a couple, you know, an outfit or two. Um I think the documents are the ones that sometimes get packed up somewhere that people don't think about, like, oh wait, I need to make sure that my passport and all of that stuff doesn't get packed up. So um, yep. So get it create a little no-pack zone and put all those things in one place so that you can last out and first in uh to the house, right? Yeah. Okay, step four. Um do a pre-move pantry freezer kind of inventory. So um people lose a lot of money and a lot of food when they move sometimes because um it's just uh it's uh hard to make that move when you haven't really kind of used it up a little bit. So a two or three weeks out, just start, you know, eating everything out of the freezer. Yeah. And eating everything out of the pantry or going through the pantry if stuff's expired. If you haven't done that in a while, make sure you do that. Maybe, you know, some the neighbors can use, you know, some of the things if you have too much stuff and you don't want to move it, or you know, there's always the food pantry. So I I you know, we donate to the food pantry often. And um, so e either way, but just make sure that you're you know spending that spending those two to three weeks just kind of not buying new and eating up what you got.

Heather Fisher 11:20

Yeah, it can add up to a couple hundred dollars worth of unused food that goes to waste and especially that freezer stuff that is hard to move in a timely fashion so it's not thawing and um you know making that a priority.

Jodi Rosko 11:35

So Especially if you're moving far, like you're not taking it.

Heather Fisher 11:38

Right, exactly, exactly. And even a local move, just that timing of um how all of that works, unless you're doing it all yourself um and and have that access, it can be tricky. So don't you know stop that stockpiling of lots of extra, even a couple months leading up to it, if you have that time. Um, you know, maybe don't have so much in the freezer. Canned goods. Yeah, if you run out of those condiments, do you need to open a new one just quite yet, or can you hold off and uh just trying to get get through that move?

Jodi Rosko 12:14

Yep. Um okay, step five, schedule donation pickups earlier than you think. We love this step. We talk about this all the time, whether you're moving or not. You know, there's no better way to get yourself motivated than knowing somebody's coming to pick up stuff. Yeah, and you've scheduled it and you better have something to put out there.

Heather Fisher 12:33

Yeah, and twofold, definitely that is an advantage. It gives you the motivation, but also it can be very frustrating if you've gotten that motivation and you have this big pile of donations and you're ready for it to leave the house and get out of your way, and then you call and they're scheduling two to four weeks out, and um, you know, we're coordinating that lots of times, and that is the time frame. It is. Um so you really want to pre-plan that, even if you're not quite ready with your pile, get it on the calendar, use that as your motivation, and then have it um at a time that works for you, that's convenient for you before you have to be out of the house. You could run your clock out and need to be out if you've sold your house and not have that on the calendar uh to line up correctly.

Jodi Rosko 13:25

Yeah. Yeah, and you can do this, like you said, much earlier than you think. You know, if you think I'm gonna downsize in a year or two, you can start that now and once a month or you know, every other week or whatever, you can, you know, schedule somebody to come and pick things up and just start slowly, you know, getting that stuff out of the house so that when you actually are ready to make the move, it's not so overwhelming.

Heather Fisher 13:48

Yeah, it gives you space to be able to pack the things you are taking because you have more empty space. It gets it, you know, out of your decision. You don't have to continually look at things and redecide on it. Um, so much benefit for starting earlier earlier than you think, and um just keep those pickups scheduled on the calendar until you're done.

Jodi Rosko 14:10

Yeah, and then it inevitably there is going to be stuff that it won't go to donation um when you make the move. So some things to think about also scheduling is you may need you may want to schedule a junk guy that might come out and do like a bulk trash pickup, or if your city does bulk trash pickup or whatever that is, um schedule that so that you can get things actually, you know, cleaned out there because there will be things that aren't don't donatable that are just actually trash, which we don't want we don't like to think, oh my gosh, we're living with trash, but we are.

Heather Fisher 15:05

So well ahead of time, look into what your city offers for a drop-off for those because sometimes they are only once a month or once a month. Hazardous waste.

Jodi Rosko 15:17

And um or you can only bring six cans a time, or you know, like there's uh there's definitely some rules sometimes about that.

Heather Fisher 15:25

Yeah, so just gathering that information and kind of spreading that out so it's not a last-minute scramble where you end up, you know, taking it with you to a house that you may not even be doing yard work anymore or things like that. Yeah. Um, just trying to plan out those um more obscure things to get rid of.

Jodi Rosko 15:45

And while you're planning things on your schedule, um you uh think about what your final cleaning looks like in your house, because that's like the third, you know, the the next step. So it's you know, to ask your family what they want, and figure out what you're taking, ask your family what they want, figure out what you can sell, donate, trash, and then once the house is empty, it needs to be cleaned. And are you doing that or do you need somebody to do that? And if you need somebody to do that, again, they're probably several weeks out, so you you're gonna want to find somebody um to help you with that. And again, we have resources um locally, or you know, we can help you find something if you need that. But um, but that is the path. And so there's always the clean out and then clean up.

Heather Fisher 16:27

Clean out and cleaning. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 16:29

So if that's something you want to do, great. And and you know, cleaning your house at the end when it's empty is totally different than cleaning your house when you live there. Because when you're cleaning your house when it's empty, you're wiping down the baseboards and wiping fans. Yeah, ceiling fans and the grates that are on the wall and wiping out all of the cabinets and you know, all of the things that we don't, you know, necessarily take everything out of the cabinets and wipe them out while we live there. And when we move furniture, it's dustier than we expected it to be. And so um, you definitely need to do a clean before you move out, and so uh just think about what that could look like and whether you need to hire somebody to do it and could get that on the schedule early just so that's off your plate, too.

Heather Fisher 17:09

Yeah, absolutely. So step six, uh photograph every space before you start packing. Um, several reasons to do this. It creates an inventory for insurance. Uh, so if anything happens during the move, you've got that. Um, it helps you recreate the meaningful setups if you really like the way a room functions or a bookcase looks. Yeah, things like that that you are going to try to recreate in your new space. It gives you um, you know, that touch point to easily do that. And um, you know, emotionally it gives you those memories. And um, you know, if you're listing your home for sale and um, you know, the realtor will have the photographer, we have the photographer come out, but um, we'll have asked you to clear all of those personal items off of um the surfaces, and so those photos may not hold that same memory meaning if the family photos are off the wall and you know your favorite books aren't there, your favorite blankets because you know you did the right thing for listing photos. So this would be before you start um decluttering those surfaces, give yourself that visual memory of how you lived in the house as a family.

Jodi Rosko 18:30

Yeah, yes, I yeah, I love that. Yeah, and then you can make you know a digital um folder system. You can have the kitchen and the office and the bedroom, you know, whatever, um, with those photos if you're really inclined to get yourself, you know.

Heather Fisher 18:45

Yeah, back to that organ organization from from step one. Yeah, get organized around it. Yeah, yeah. So step seven is um we talked about this a little bit, but it's um, you know, an arrival box, and this is those items that will just give you that sense of calm um as you come in. It's it's not necessarily the most important things like documents and things like that, but is it your coffee maker? Is it you know the coffee filters to get that started? Yeah, coffee maker, coffee filters, and coffee. Yes, right?

Jodi Rosko 19:19

Paper towels, paper plates, you tend you know, pa paper napkins, um paper towels, hand soap, all that, you know, those kind of things.

Heather Fisher 19:28

Yeah. Um maybe a general cleaning spray to just wipe down countertops um as you're moving in, if that needs done, um, some snacks and water bottles, just things to to make those first hours before um everything's unpacked just easier for you.

Jodi Rosko 19:48

Yeah, if there's not overhead lights in your bedrooms, bring a lamp, you know, make sure so that you have light wherever you're going. Um throw that in the car, you know, whatever, just kind of get that important stuff over there first.

Heather Fisher 20:00

Um trash bags.

Jodi Rosko 20:02

Yeah, sheets. Yeah. Um, because you're gonna want to um you're gonna want to get your house set up quickly.

Heather Fisher 20:11

So yeah, it can be a long day uh on moving day, and when you finally the boxes start coming in the house, you still wanna go to bed without it being midnight.

Jodi Rosko 20:21

And so you don't want to be searching for the sheets wherever they got put. At least, you know, one set of sheets in your comforter and so you know, you know, you can make your bed and go to bed.

Heather Fisher 20:30

Yeah, there's always tomorrow for all of the other um tasks, but just let yourself have that rest at the end of the day and to wake up for whatever that morning routine is that will make it easier for you to get started again.

Jodi Rosko 20:45

Right. Maybe a cozy blanket for the couch when you're tired and you want to sit down or you know, whatever that is that makes you feel comfortable and kind of makes you feel a little bit less overwhelmed. Um and again, there's people that can help with all of this move stuff too. But I would combine this this box, the coffee maker plate paper plates all of with the with that no-pack zone uh box. So that's the stuff that you want to make sure gets into the house first.

Heather Fisher 21:09

Yeah, that you have eyes on and and see where it is. So um step eight, this is notifying your life circles, not just your utilities. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 21:19

So yeah, you'll have to change your utilities and all of that and your your mail, but also make sure that you're um doing that everywhere. You're telling your doctors what your new address is, you know, your insurance company, your financial advisor, you know, all of the people that you deal with, your subscriptions that you have, that they, you know, don't start mailing those to your old address. And you there's just a lot of things that you n you need to change and kind of let everybody know what's going on there.

Heather Fisher 21:47

Yeah, we see that often people remember to uh change their mail, but they forget they have a preset monthly delivery of any, you know, fill in the blank, and they forget and suddenly their dog food from Chewy is at the old house or things like that. Their subscriptions go to the wrong house because we don't think of all of those.

Jodi Rosko 22:07

So don't forget your driver's license and your voting, you know, to you have to change where you're voting your voter registration to. So yeah, there's a you know, just think about all of the things that happen in your life. If mail starts coming, you need to notify all of them because that's who you know who know who knows where you are. Yeah. Um, so whatever that mail is, um, they will forward your mail and notify them, but you might also just want to notify them directly too. I think that's easier bank and all of the things.

Heather Fisher 22:33

Yeah, and that forwarding runs out, I think, after like six months if you don't renew it. So catching those as things get forwarded that you might have missed, just make sure you follow through and and get that changed either online in your account or whatever you need to do.

Jodi Rosko 22:49

Yeah, we had um our the people that lived in our house before um a year later, we got their whole in-packet of um season tickets to the UD game. They were wishing they had that one. So I know them and I know it. And so I'm like, hey, I got something you might want. But um, you know, that's just something that comes once a year, so it's not something they thought about. So they shouldn't just send them a selfie from their um.

Heather Fisher 23:20

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 23:20

But yeah, so um, you'll find things that happen that slip through the cracks. But um do your best to figure out what that looks like and and and especially anything that, you know, any retirement funds, any of that stuff that might roll over to your you want to make sure that they have your most current address um for any of those things.

Heather Fisher 23:36

Yeah, I would say um expand this as well to just your circle of your people. Um that could be as simple as looking through your Christmas card list and you know, who do you who do you mail to? Uh do you need to send them something and just update that change of address so that they know you've made a move as well.

Jodi Rosko 23:55

Yep. Yep. Okay, um, number nine, uh plan a goodbye walkthrough, not for your house, but for you, right? So um, you know, walk room by room, just kind of have your little memories there. We did this, I was telling Heather, um, with our house. Um, the kids had been you we that's where we brought them from the hospital. And um, so we all just cheers with our sparkling apple juice and um you know had a couple memories and and it's empty and it feels weird. Um and it's okay, you know, you can have those memories. I still have the memories, um, even though I don't live there anymore. So it's not like it was uh, you know, super, super sad to me. It can be sad, but it was it it just felt like, you know, an acknowledgement of you know the joy that you got to have in that house and you know, give yourself a little bit of time to to just have those feelings and walk through and give yourself that closure.

Heather Fisher 24:49

Yeah, it's allowing time for that pause um on what can be really busy days. Yeah you don't want to suddenly rush out of the house like thinking you're just taking some boxes and then you're like, oh wait. Wait, that was the last time I was in the house. Yeah, so just planning a little bit of um you know, stopping the rush for a few minutes and and saying whatever goodbye you want to and thinking about the happy times and um you know just taking that last look around.

Jodi Rosko 25:17

Yeah, and if you raise your kids there and your kids can come, that's always great. Yeah, you know. I think just I think it's it should be a happier thing than a sad thing, but it should be it should be a way to just acknowledge and say, you know, give yourself closure around the house.

Heather Fisher 25:31

Yeah, yeah. Don't let it rush by and then you lose that opportunity.

Jodi Rosko 25:35

Yeah, and what we find is that that actually shortens the emotional adjustment time in the new house because you've actually intentionally done that, and so it's not like you're you have as much time longing for the the old house because you've spent some time doing it.

Heather Fisher 25:49

Yeah, it's not quite as abrupt of a transition.

Jodi Rosko 25:53

Yeah. Okay, and the last one is to create a seven-day post-move plan after you've moved, right? Um, to try to avoid the burnout of getting your house, the new house. Because, you know, moving is only half of it. Now you're in this new house and nothing's where it's supposed to be. Right? And so it's a two-step process for moving. One is getting it out and one is getting it back in and creating the home that you want now for your future. So um, day one, while you know, on moving day, you want to set up your bedroom completely so that you can, you know, you have lamps and your nightstand and you have your bed and your sheets and your pillows, and you can go to bed whenever you're exhausted by whatever has happened that day.

Heather Fisher 26:35

Yeah, it's that sanctuary where you can get rest and close the door from what other tasks might be left on the other side, and you just have that space so that you can sleep peacefully.

Jodi Rosko 26:47

Yep, and I would um, you know, that first box that we talked about, I would get that set up too. I would get the coffee maker set up. I would, you know, those things that you think you're gonna really need first first right away in the kitchen, I would get that also set up. But day two is, you know, the kitchen is after you've gotten, you know, your stuff that you absolutely need to get moving. Um coffee. It's pretty cool. It's coffee. Um so maybe it's tea. Um but uh but anyway, then you want to set up your kitchen because you want to be able to cook. And um and then day three, you can do your bathroom. So that all of the th the things that you're doing functionally by day three, you're actually you know able to do all of those things. You can, you know, get your shower and get your teeth brushed and you know where all that stuff is and you're you know taking care of those things. Day four and five, you can do the living room and your everyday rooms, you know, things places where that you're gonna sit all the time. And when we say do that, like I'm I'm talking about hang art and make it feel like a room. You know, the furniture is probably gonna be put where it needs to be from the movers, but then how are you gonna make that room feel like it's home, right? Um and then day six, you can take a break if you want to, um, uh give yourself a reward, you know, have a little meal out or do something like that, or you can keep on moving. Um, and then day seven and and forward is just one project. So whatever that is, if that's now you're setting up a craft room or if whatever the other rooms are, if you have a guest room, whatever those rooms, an office, you can start setting up those rooms. And if that sounds like, oh my gosh, that's gonna take too many days, again, we have people who can do this, that that's their job. They will come in, they will hang your artwork, they will, you know, make you unpack the kitchen, they will put it in a great, you know, flow, they will do all those things. So if that's something that fits into your budget and is something that you think you would want to make home sooner, faster, there are people who can do that and let us know we can help you with that.

Heather Fisher 28:44

Yeah, and give yourself that grace when you prioritize it like this, you are able to live in the space um but go at a little slower pace than feeling like you need to be fully unpacked on day two. It just it takes longer than you think. We all underestimate um, you know, we've been in our house for five months now, maybe six months. I I don't know. But we're just finishing unpacking the final boxes that we had put in the guest room just as the non-priority and that's okay, you know, just take that time, but be able to live uh by doing those important things first, but be able to have your space.

Jodi Rosko 29:28

I mean, honestly, life happens too. So, like when we we bought our house and then um my mom got sick, and so I didn't actually do a lot of things to make the house feel homey, like and it took me a lot, it took me years. I'm not even fully there yet, honestly. And it's been you know, years since my mom passed away. And so um that like that flow of how I would have done it just totally got stopped and then didn't really get started again. And so give yourself that, you know, time to just get it, do it, but do it. Don't leave the boxes sitting there for six months and you know, just every day just kind of get that happening so that it does feel like home and it doesn't feel like you're just kind of have now moved into some kind of transitional place that doesn't feel homey to you.

Heather Fisher 30:13

Yeah, you'll feel settled so much sooner and have less stress if you can just be making progress daily and starting with the highest priority um and the surroundings that you are seeing, um, but don't just shut the door and forget about the tucked away spots earlier.

Jodi Rosko 30:31

Yeah, yep. And if you find that you have uh brought too much stuff because you know that plan didn't happen pre-moving, um, or you thought, oh, I can fit all this and I can't, um, reassess. Start listening to some of our other podcasts about what you can let go of and create a place that's peaceful for you and that you really enjoy being in. Because that was the whole point of it in the beginning is that you wanted that it was too much and it felt overwhelming. So don't now cram yourself into a place with too much stuff and have that feel overwhelming, right? So fix that.

Heather Fisher 31:04

Yeah, it's back to that scheduling a donation pickup. I mean, I think so many of our clients and um our myself included, we found after we moved we've been uh did to the donation drop-off several times after we moved, like, oh no, we didn't actually need this, or we packed too much. Um, and we have lots of clients that just um it brought too much and they're not feeling settled yet months later. And so um there's nothing wrong with having that donation uh drop off already on the schedule at your new place or pickup and um just start setting a pile as you unpack on those. Why why did I bring this questions and just set them aside and let them get picked up and moved out of your space?

Jodi Rosko 31:54

Yeah. So um ten ways that you can make your move easier. Um some of them are little and um just things that aren't going to be on a regular moving list of things to do, but um, they will make your life a lot easier if you if you follow this path.

Heather Fisher 32:10

So yeah, if we can help you with that strategy for your own timeline and your own situation, please reach out to us and we can help build these steps in for you with any resources that you need or a plan that makes sense for you. Um our website, downsizingroadmap.com, um, or if you're ready for some extra help, downsizingroadmap.com backslash help, and uh we'll connect you with all of the resources we have to make it easier.

Jodi Rosko 32:38

Yeah, and if you're just getting started and you want a guide for our five-step process, uh we have that for free. Um, it's downsizingroadmap.com backsplash backsplas.

Heather Fisher 32:49

I can't get it. Talking about kitchen backsplashes too often. You all know what I mean. Guide. Backslash guide. Um, all of it uh available on our website. Just reach out uh if you need any of those pieces and uh they're in the links in the show notes as well. All right, good to talk to you. Bye. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.