an open book on a table with text that reads, organizing case study: the downsize

Organizing Case Study: Downsizing

Client: Donna

Project: Downsize prior to staging and selling a family home and preparing to move into a new, smaller home.

Background: Donna called me early last year because she was planning to downsize and move now that both of her children were in college. She had been sorting and purging throughout her house for nine months before calling me.

Goals: Our goal was to have the house ready to stage by March. When the house sold, we would move, unpack, and organize her new home.

What Happened: This was not an overly cluttered home. Just an average house, where people lived and made lots of great memories. We continued the process of sorting and purging, which actually kept us busy all the way up until the house was listed. Before her home even sold, she had found a new house. We were ready to go… or, so we thought.

Once we began to move her into the new space, we found the need to downsize even more! However, this time, it was much easier. Donna could better see what she no longer needed, and what would, and would not fit into her new home. Everything that was now being purged, was set in the new garage to be staged for a garage sale in the spring.

Since Donna moved into a new construction, she had builder grade carpet, padding, light fixtures and a couple of doors that were replaced prior to moving in. This is all meaty stuff for a sale. We decided on a “Make Us an Offer” yard sale for the spring. A “Make An Offer Sale” simplifies the yard sale process… It means you don’t need to waste time tagging everything. It’s so much easier. Everything that doesn’t sell in the sale will then go to charity. Donna selected two charities for the items that didn’t sell.

During the move in process, we lined all the cabinets and drawers, which is so nice and keeps cupboards clean, tidy and protects china and glassware! It was lucky that we did this, because one of my assistants noticed a leak under a sink that she was getting ready to line.

dfp.constructionsMy team was working side by side with painting contractors, Donna’s designer, and a closet company. It’s always so much fun to work with different people to successfully get a massive job done! Of course, there are always loose ends that need to be finished on projects. As your organizing consultant, our job is to help ensure those details are done! In Donna’s case, we were waiting for certain pieces of furniture to arrive and a cabinet replacement to take place before we could actually finish.

How do you decide if a project is successful?

End Results: It’s different for everyone.  For Donna, the success was how much easier her move felt. In all of her moves (and she’s moved a lot), this was the first time all of her boxes were unpacked!

We are always humbled by the joy, happiness and positive changes that our work provides to our clients.