Why Self-Storage is Essential When Downsizing Your Home

Why Self-Storage is Essential When Downsizing Your Home

There comes a time when many of us consider downsizing our homes. House prices plateau. The cost of living begins to bite. Children fly the nest. Expansive interior space becomes more of a burden than an asset. There can be any number of reasons why homeowners make the decision to consolidate their assets and streamline their living circumstances.

This trend has gained pace over the last few years. It’s not uncommon for homeowners to favour reduced square footage over expansive square footage. Especially, when rooms that are used sparingly or our homes are a reminder of times past.

It can also be argued that the space previous generations enjoyed is simply not in keeping with contemporary living. People simply don’t want or need space to store mountains of stuff. Why? The minimalist living trend has gained notable traction. Marie Kondo, for instance, has championed her KonMari Method™, a simple way of decluttering the home that emphasises the Japanese ‘spark joy’ philosophy, which encourages discarding anything that you don’t love while organising your belongings.

All this has led to generations of people not wanting or needing the home square footage they once enjoyed and decided to downsize their home.

But this decision doesn’t automatically mean that the belongings that were once treasured are discarded. Tossed out. Left at a recycling centre, after all, sentimental value is powerful.

Where does this leave homeowners yearning for a simpler life, one free of the shackles of unnecessarily huge homes and too much stuff that they cannot decide what to do with?

In need of a solution. One that self-storage provides.

Why self-storage is the answer

Imagine you’ve decided to downsize your home. You’ve emptied rooms. stack boxes floor to ceiling. Trinkets and treasures wrapped in bubble wrap Furniture dismantled. Suitcases crammed with clothes for all seasons

You’re surveying the environment. Proud of yourself. Now comes decision time. What goes to the scrapheap, and what do you keep for the future? Being decisive sounds all good and well, but when it comes down to it, do you think that you’ll be able to part forever with what you need to?

The good news is that you may not have to. Self-storage can come to your rescue.

What to do

Anyone who has ever moved home will know that’s not straightforward. There’s a whole lot that you have to do to make sure the transition is as seamless as possible. Surely, streamlining the process and cutting down on the decisions will make life easier, right?

The good thing about self-storage is that you don’t have to decide which belongings to keep, and which belongings are destined for a new home when moving. You can just put them in storage.

There are many reasons why people decide to save they don’t use every day. People keep hold of furniture that their children might need in the future. People don’t discard a set of golf clubs or a barbecue just because they haven’t swung a club or grilled a steak for a season or two. Downsizing your home is a great opportunity to declutter. But it doesn’t mean that you have to say goodbye to everything.

Decide what you absolutely want to keep, what you’re not 100% sure of—what you don’t use every day—and what you absolutely want to throw away. Pack the stuff you want to keep. Use self-storage facilities to store what you don’t use every day and wave goodbye to what you want to throw away.

Remember to be thorough. Decisive. Keeping hold of stuff that would be better off storing or throwing away will result in a cluttered home—even defeating the point of downsizing in the first place!

The benefits of using self-storage when downsizing your home

Now, we’ve already alluded to the benefits of self-storage when downsizing your home, but let’s briefly look at each to help reinforce any decision.

Flexible services and solutions

Choose self-storage when downsizing, and tailor the square footage to meet your needs. From a single cupboard to an expansive space of bespoke or scalable size, you only pay for the space you need. This can be great for homeowners who don’t know or want to scale their storage needs because they are unsure of the exact volume of space they require.

Moreover, choose the right self-storage solution, and you may just be able to take advantage of a range of additional services. From packing supplies to specialist commercial leasing, ideal for workshops or even small premises, self-storage companies like EASS can offer you so much more than storage.

You can store pretty much everything

The longer you live on a property, the more stuff you accumulate. That’s life. Some of what you’ve accumulated might be easy to transport and find a place for in your new property. Other belongings, not so much. Then there’s the issue that not everything can be easily stored when you downsize your home.

Now you might have ample storage space or be an advocate for the KonMari Method™, but, upon downsizing, if you don’t have the storage space, you simply don’t have it.

You can store pretty much everything in a self-storage unit. From additional beds to lawnmowers, equipment for your hobbies to your winter and summer wardrobes—even your automotive pride and joy! There’s no need to worry about what you should do with everything you own.

You won’t have to make every decision right now

When downsizing your home, so many decisions have to be made. It’s difficult to decide what belongings to take with you, what to store, and what to say goodbye to. After all, when you downsize, space comes at a premium. Letting go of everything you’ve accumulated over the years can be a difficult decision; you might regret getting rid of that kitchen table, chest of drawers, wardrobe, or cupboard down the road!

By choosing to put some of your belongings into self-storage, you can make the whole process of downsizing your home much easier. Streamline the moving process. Save money on the removal costs and generally make the whole process a whole lot easier.

Sentimental value and heirlooms

Many families have items passed from one generation to another. Treasures small and large have more sentimental than monetary value. These can be everything from antiques and fine art to jewellery and family recipes. Now, the smaller stuff can be easier to pack and store, but the bigger stuff? You’re best off keeping them safe and secure.

When downsizing, it isn’t easy to decide what to do with heirlooms and everything with sentimental value attached. Especially bulkier belongings, so why not put them into storage? Future generations will thank you.

Taking the stress out of downsizing

Everyone knows that moving home is one of the most stressful experiences a person can endure. Homeowners can agonise over what to keep and what to discard when they move. But this situation doesn’t have to be any more taxing than it needs to be.

By choosing a reputable, local self-storage facility like EASS, homeowners don’t have to make any immediate decisions about their future possessions. All they need to do is arrange for them to be placed in self-storage for self-keeping until such time that they can decide what to do with them.

Self-storage is a great idea for anyone downsizing their home

When all’s said and done, self-storage is a great idea for anyone downsizing their home for numerous reasons. We’ve listed the main ones, but there are more, such as expediting the moving process by making quick decisions and being ideal for anyone moving home temporarily.

Interested in learning how EASS can help you keep your belongings safe and organised when moving home? Get in touch with us today.