What Do I Do With 40 Years of Belongings Before I Move?

"What do I do with 40 years of stuff?" is the question I hear most from homeowners getting ready to downsize. It's usually what keeps people from moving, more than the house itself.

I'm Jeanette Nelson, a REALTOR® with Jeanette Nelson Real Estate, Keller Williams Realty, serving Orange County, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, and surrounding areas, helping families sell a home through a life transition with a written plan. I coordinate estate sales, donations and movers for my clients every week. Here's the process I recommend.

Start with the next home. Get the floor plan and measurements of where you're moving. Once you know you'll have one guest room instead of three, decisions get much easier. The question changes from "What do I give up?" to "What do I want in my new life?"

1. What's coming with you. Furniture that fits, everyday items, things you love and use.
2. Keepsakes. Photos, letters, heirlooms. Keep the best, and consider scanning photos so they take up no space at all.
3. Gifts to family. Ask your children and grandchildren what they'd like. Set a date for them to pick it up. (It's okay if they don't want as much as you expected. That's very common.)
4. Items of value. Furniture, collectibles, jewelry, tools. An estate sale company can sell these, often in one weekend at your home.
5. Donations. Clothing, housewares, books. Many charities will pick up.
6. Everything else. A haul-away service handles what's left.

Usually longer than people think. For a home lived in for decades, plan on several weeks to a few months, working a little at a time. Starting early is the kindest thing you can do for yourself.

• One room, one drawer, one box at a time. Don't start with the hardest room (often the garage or the photos).
• Use three bins: keep, give, let go.
• Take photos of things you love and can't keep.
• Ask family to help, with a plan. Give each person a job.
• Let someone else handle the logistics. Coordinating an estate sale, donations and haul-away is a lot of phone calls.

They price your items, run a sale at your home (often over a weekend), handle the buyers, and usually take a percentage of sales. Many also arrange donation or cleanout of what doesn't sell. I connect my clients with estate sale companies I trust and coordinate the timing with the move and the home sale.

• Waiting until the home is sold to start sorting.
• Moving everything and sorting later in a smaller space.
• Throwing out papers too fast. Keep tax returns, deeds, trust documents and insurance papers until you've checked with your CPA or attorney.
• Trying to do it all in a weekend.

A common example: a couple in Huntington Beach is moving from a four-bedroom home to a two-bedroom condo. We start with the condo's floor plan and mark which furniture fits. Their kids come for a keepsakes weekend. I schedule the estate sale for the week after the move, then donations and a final cleanout before photos. By the time the home is listed, the couple is already settled, with the things they love around them.

My free Complete Downsizing Checklist walks you through these steps one at a time.

If the belongings are what's holding you back, I can help you make a plan and coordinate the people who do the heavy lifting. Call or text me at 714.366.8575. Jeanette Nelson is a Realtor® with Jeanette Nelson Real Estate, Keller Williams Realty, serving Orange County, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, and surrounding areas, helping families sell a home through a life transition with a written plan. Let's start with a conversation.