What To Do With Your Furniture When Downsizing To A Park Home 

What to do with your furniture when downsizing to a park home need not be an expensive or stressful question.

Downsizing has many advantages and is a move many are making, for a variety of reasons and at different times of life. You may be an ‘empty nester’ cutting back on the cost of heating a house that is now too big just for you, someone wanting to reduce their expenses and afford a different lifestyle or a retiree wanting to simplify your life and free up some finances to enjoy your later years.  Whatever your particular circumstances, this article is here to give you some ideas about how to go about downsizing to a park home, with as little hassle and stress as possible.

What do you want from your new home?

You may find that if you are clear about why you are moving to a smaller place, your decisions about what to keep will become easier.  You may find things are a lot easier if you have the precise dimensions of your new park home available. It is no good having a grand chesterfield sofa if it won’t fit into your new home. The manufacturer or the residential park management may be able to help with this and save you a trip with a tape measure.

It is not, however, just about the size. You may want to consider the lifestyle you are moving to. Perhaps the table-tennis table has seen its last outing or the office furniture is no longer needed now you are retired.  You may also want to consider safety issues and access to your new home when you decide on the items, particularly the larger items of furniture you wish to take with you. Will you have enough room to move around your bed in the new bedroom? Will the sofa leave plenty of space to safely get around the living area? These are questions you may want to consider now rather than coming up against difficulties later.

A system helps when downsizing to a park home

There are many recommendations out there of ways to choose what to keep and what to take with you to your new home.  You can sort through your things room by room or you may prefer to go through your belongings by category. You could divide your stuff into clothes/papers and books/miscellaneous items and sentimental items, only keeping those things which ‘bring you joy’.

The ‘four box method’ is another method which can also help. You can divide your possessions into four categories as you sort through them:

  1. Keep

You may want to involve family members as you go through your things and divide what to keep. Larger items like furniture may come in useful in one of their houses. You may also want to take this opportunity to hand on some more sentimental or valuable items.

  1. Sell

Selling unwanted items including furniture has never been easier on websites such as eBay, or using an app like Schpock. You can offer items as collection only if you don’t want to organise postage or delivery yourself. For furniture in particular, this can be useful.

  1. Donate

There are many non-profit and charitable organisations who would be glad to receive your unwanted items, especially furniture. They will also usually collect larger items if they are suited to their needs. Here are just a couple of examples you may want to consider.

  1. Bin/Recycle

There are services which will take your unwanted items and furniture away. Freecycle has already been mentioned. Your local council will usually run a service for removal of oversized items that cannot be disposed of in the regular rubbish collections. It may be worth a visit to the waste-disposal section on your local council website to find this out.

You can also visit the government website here: https://www.gov.uk/collection-large-waste-items and enter your postcode to find and book the service local to you.

An early start

Whichever method you adopt it may be helpful and less stressful if you make as early a start on it as you can. Some recommend as much as three months, some more. It seems that the earlier the better is a general rule. This way you can make sure your furniture and other items go to the right place before you decide to bin them.

Do you need help?

Decluttering and sorting out what you keep or get rid of can be a daunting task so you may want to recruit some assistance.  You may want to involve family members in sorting through your things, to make sure no one misses out on anything sentimental or useful to them. It is also a much less stressful experience to have some helping hands. You can also hire some help for decluttering and sorting out before a move. Here are a couple of ideas to help get you started:

https://www.thehomeorganisation.co.uk/decluttering-services/

https://www.stackt.co.uk/

Whatever the reason you’re downsizing to a park home, we hope that you find your new community very welcoming and that you enjoy your new lifestyle. For great-value park home insurance, call our award-winning team on 01604 946 796.

Please note that all park home insurance cover is subject to acceptance of terms and conditions.

This is a marketing article from Park Home Assist, multi award-winning providers of residential park home insurance.  If you would like to speak to an advisor regarding insurance for your park home, please contact our friendly team in our Northampton office on 01604 946 796.

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Published – 16/12/22