5 Tips to Help You Transition From a Large Home to a Tiny Apartment

Moving from one home to another always takes a bit of an adjustment. Packing and shipping everything is stressful, and if you’re headed to an unfamiliar town or even across state lines, it can take you several months to start feeling comfortable again. But if you’re making the transition from a full-sized home into a much smaller apartment, those reverse growing pains will be intense. Perhaps you’re moving from the suburbs into the big city, or you’re just trying to trim down expenses. Regardless of the reasoning behind the move, you’ve got to figure out how to make the best of things, and hopefully to thrive in your new space. Here are five tips to help you transition from a large home to a tiny apartment.

First of all, go through your closets and storage. It goes without saying that you’re going to have far less room for all of your stuff. So instead of cramming your new apartment until it’s overflowing, work on trimming down the stuff you take along with you. A good rule of thumb is if you haven’t used something for six months, you probably don’t need it. This obviously doesn’t hold true for off-season clothing, but in all other instances you’ll need to look for ways to cut down on the clutter. If you’re sentimental and don’t want to get rid of things, you’ll have to make compromises. Perhaps keep one memory box of old souvenirs instead of three. Do the same with your clothing, your books and all other items in the home, and you’ll fit in your new space much better.

Although you may love your furniture, it’s time to reassess. Large, wraparound couches will overwhelm your new, much smaller living room, leaving you feeling cramped and boxed in. It might be best to wait until you get into the new space to go shopping, but small apartments often need new furniture just for that particular space. To maximize the feeling of airiness in your new home, you’ve got to take advantage of every square foot you have. Buying furniture that’s tailored for small spaces will help that process along.

In addition, consider all of your kitchen gadgets. When you have a large kitchen in a house, you can often pick up every gadget and goodie on the market, and simply throw them in cabinets when they’re not in use. But in an apartment you’ll have less cabinet space by far, and very little room to leave things out on the counter. So now it’s time to pare down. Only bring items that have more than one use, so they truly earn their spot in your kitchen. And if you’ve got some sort of gadget that only comes out on that once in a blue moon occasion when you bake, pass it on to a friend.

That’s a lot of getting rid of things and buying new stuff, but how can you afford all of these purchases on top of the costs of moving? It’s time to organize a yard sale. Or better yet, a couple of them. Selling off everything you can’t fit in the new apartment will be a cathartic experience, and will put some money back into your pocket you can use for those new products and pieces of furniture. If you have high quality, gently used items, consider listing them on Craigslist or Ebay to get a better price.

After the sales are complete there might still be stuff that you want to keep but can’t fit in the new space. In that case, consider renting a storage unit. Storage facilities that are affordable and close to your new home give you basically an extra walk-in closet, but one you don’t have to live with every single day. If you’re shopping on www.ratesupermarket.ca, trying to save every penny to buy a home, this might not be the best way to go. You’ll spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year storing this stuff, so think long and hard about just how important these items are before plunking down the cash.