DOWNSIZING FROM A HOUSE TO A CONDO IS EASY WITH SELF STORAGE

As the world builds up rather than out, more and more of us are downsizing, moving into condominium buildings in downtown city cores. It’s in the downtown of large metropolises where life is most convenient – where you have the most access to shopping areas, employment opportunities, entertainment, networking, social groups, etc. – it’s a popular place to live, and for good reason.

At Access Storage, we provide tenants with the additional space they require to not have to sacrifice the belongings they own that will not properly fit in their new, downtown, downsized space. Here, we provide all the tips and advice necessary to make the right self storage decision for your downsizing project.

Determining the fit of your new space

As you prepare for your move into a smaller space, the first thing you need to assess is the amount of space your current home has in comparison to the new home you are about to move into. If the entire living room will fit in the new one, great, but how many closets are in the new space? How large are they? Does your new unit come with a storage locker in the condo building? What is its size? And how does all that space compare to the space in your old home?

Going through all this in advance will give you a good idea as to how much space you will be losing in the new house. When you know that, then you can start determining what items the new home will not have space for, and this will give you a clue as to how large of a self-storage unit you might require.

Organize in advance

It is a good idea to create an inventory of all of your items that you can then go through and start dividing into destination buckets: “Keep,” “Donate/Recycle,” “Storage,” and “Garbage.”

The goal here is to know how many items you will need to place in storage, allowing you to plan and budget your move accordingly. An inventory will be an indispensable tool for determining how your space is used and whether you will require additional space for your new living conditions.

The self storage solution

With a smaller home, you’ve likely concluded that additional space will be required to keep a number of your belongings that will not fit in your new home. Self storage provides the best solution for these circumstances.

Figuring out what should stay and what should go into storage will hinge on a number of variables: the amount of space you are working with; the type of space that is; and the items you own. Most importantly, of course, you will need to ask what you need, and what you can afford to sacrifice.

A few things need to be in your mind as you make these decisions, and often you will actually need to move into the new space to really get a proper understanding of some of the smaller items that can stay or must go. This is where a self storage unit can come in handy in an additional way: with the added space, you can move in with more ease, unpacking the obvious and necessary items first, while more questionable items can be stored out of the way in the storage unit until you are ready to make decisions on them.

What should stay?

You have a living room, so if you have a rug, coffee table, sofa, chairs, end tables, and lamps that fit nicely in the space, then those are obviously staying. It’s a situation where, say, the rug from your old living room doesn’t fit the new room that you will need to plan for – perhaps by purchasing a new, smaller rug, while also storing your old one or reselling it. That should still be easy to determine in advance of your move.

Does your new condo building have a storage area itself? This is a good thing to utilize for certain items, the type of item that you do not necessarily need inside your home, but you do want at the home, such as bicycles or other often-used recreational equipment. Be warry of these common areas in condo buildings though, as theft is more prevalent here than in a secure self storage facility. Including condo storage in your plan is important for maximizing the use of your space.

The less clutter in your smaller space, the better. Knowing what you can and cannot live without is paramount to any downsizing project, and a self storage unit will allow you to get around having to lose those items that won’t fit but certainly shouldn’t get tossed.

Access Storage makes downsizing projects work more smoothly. We provide that additional space you have sacrificed in your home to move downtown into a condominium building at a cost that is far more digestible than typical real estate, and we keep your items safe behind our state-of-the-art security systems in individual units. Speak with your Access Storage advisor for more information on how to make your downsizing project an easy success.