If you had told me when I started downsizing that my plan would include pizza, wine, weekends with family and friends, and eventually an entire summer off, I would have thought you were kidding me.
But that’s exactly what happened.
And looking back, I think those things were every bit as important to my downsizing journey as the boxes, the donation runs, and the countless decisions about what would stay and what would go.
Because downsizing isn’t just about getting rid of things. It’s about making room for your life.
And if you’re trying to figure out how to downsize right now, while working, caring for someone you love, spending time with your children or grandchildren, maintaining friendships, traveling, exercising, or simply trying to enjoy your life, your life belongs in the plan too!
My downsizing didn’t happen in a weekend
I didn’t wake up one Saturday morning and decide, “Today I’m going to downsize my entire life.” Thank goodness. I had a 5,000-square-foot home and a life full of things, so I knew it was going to take time.
Weekend after weekend, I worked with a small team, usually two or three people who became much more than just an extra pair of hands.
I had an overall plan for the entire house, but then each week I planned one small area to tackle with my team. We sorted. We carried. We packed. We donated. We threw things away. We made a lot of decisions.
And then… we had pizza and wine. Every weekend.
It almost sounds ridiculous when I say that now, but those evenings became some of my favorite memories of the entire process because we talked, we laughed, we told stories.
Many times we were exhausted. Sometimes we just agreed about whether something should stay. And sometimes we simply sat down and said, “OK. That’s enough for today.”
Those conversations mattered just as much as the extra pair of hands, maybe more.
They reminded me that I wasn’t doing this alone. And that is something I will always be grateful for.
One small area at a time
One of the things I learned very quickly was that I could not look at my entire house and think about everything that needed to be done. That would have been paralyzing and too overwhelming to even think about.
Instead, before we started each weekend, I would designate the specific area: a small section of my basement or garage, or even a few kitchen cabinets or a particular category like books.
Our goal was simple: finish it.
Not start five things. Just one. Not pull everything off the shelves and create an even bigger mess. Not make ourselves feel productive by moving things from one pile to another.
Our mantra: finish one thing.
That meant making decisions, following through, getting the donations into the car, getting the trash to the trash, and leaving that area finished.
There was still an enormous amount of work ahead of us. We knew that, but at the end of the day we could look at that one completed space and say, “That’s done.”
And the following weekend, there was something else that was done. And then something else. Little by little, the big picture began to change.
If a little structure would help you choose that first area, my Home Decluttering Checklist: The Quick Start Guide can give you a place to begin.
See the little picture before you tackle the big picture
This is something I still tell my clients today. Before you open a closet or pull open a drawer, picture how you want it to look when you’re finished.
Don’t begin with, “What am I going to do with all of this stuff?” Begin with, “What do I want this space to look and feel like when I’m finished?”
That’s a very different question. One focuses your attention on the stuff. The other focuses your attention on the results. And you need both pictures.
The little picture: “This closet is going to hold only the things I actually use and will take with me to my new home.”
And the big picture: “I am creating a home that supports the way I want to live now.”
The little picture gives you something you can accomplish today. The big picture gives that accomplishment meaning and fulfillment.
You don’t have to do it all at once
I hear this all of the time: “It’s so overwhelming. I don’t know how I’ll ever get through all of this.”
And my answer is, “You don’t have to get through all of it today.”
If you have an entire house to downsize, don’t make downsizing the house your assignment. That’s not a task. That’s a project.
Instead, ask, “What can I realistically finish today?” Maybe it’s one kitchen cabinet, one dresser, one linen closet. Or maybe it’s just 30 minutes in the basement or one category of clothing.
Your task needs to fit your actual life, not the imaginary life where you have unlimited time, unlimited energy, and nothing else to do.
Your downsizing plan has to fit your life
This is where I think we sometimes get downsizing wrong. We create a plan for the house, but we forget to create a plan for the person. That’s you!
What about your job? What about your spouse? What about caring for your aging parents or babysitting your grandchildren? What about time with your family and friends? What about the trip that you’ve been wanting to take?
Downsizing doesn’t have to take over your life. Downsizing should fit into your life.
Those things don’t have to disappear because you’re downsizing. They belong in your plan.
If you have three hours on Saturday, then work for three hours. If you have 45 minutes on a Tuesday evening, work for 45 minutes. If you don’t have the energy this week, don’t pretend you do.
Downsizing is important, but so is your life!
And that’s where my team made all the difference
I was fortunate to have a small team, family, and friends who helped me physically do the work. But they gave me something else far more important: motivation and momentum.
When you are alone, it is remarkably easy to say, “I’ll do that tomorrow.” Or next weekend. Or next month. Or after the holidays.
Having someone else there creates accountability, and that made all the difference.
It also makes the work lighter, the decisions easier. When someone can carry things to the car and load it up to take to the donation site, that makes a huge difference.
Someone on the team can also challenge you: “Are you really keeping this?”
And sometimes you need someone who isn’t emotionally attached to the object to ask the hard questions about letting go.
But there was another reason I valued my team. We had fun. And I believe that’s very important, just because.
Don’t forget to have fun
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say, “I can’t wait to spend the next six months downsizing.”
But I can tell you this: I looked forward to those weekends. I truly did.
Not because I loved sorting through a lifetime of my belongings, but because I loved the people who were giving up their time to help me through a huge life transition.
We would work for three or four hours and then stop. Pizza. Wine. Conversation. Laughter. A little celebration for all we had accomplished.
And we could see the fruits of our efforts every single week. That made the next week even easier.
Because downsizing isn’t just an endless series of losses. It became a series of accomplishments. And memories. And eventually, freedom.
But then I got tired
Here’s the part of the story that I think is particularly important. Eventually, I realized I was burned out.
We had been doing this weekend after weekend for five long months. And there was still a lot more to do.
But my head was tired, my body was tired, and even my heart was tired. And frankly, my motivation was waning.
So I did something that may sound completely counterintuitive when you’re trying to finish a huge project.
I stopped. We took the entire summer off. Yes, an entire summer.
And you know what? The house didn’t collapse. The world didn’t end. The downsizing didn’t fail.
I simply gave myself permission to breathe and to take a break. To live. To step away from the project and let my team and myself recover.
And when I was ready, I came back to it, fully energized and rejuvenated.
Sometimes the smartest thing to do is stop
This may be one of the most important lessons I learned.
We tend to think that if something is important, we should push harder. Work longer. Finish faster. Keep going.
But sometimes your body knows before your brain is willing to admit it: enough. And stopping doesn’t mean quitting. There is a difference.
Quitting says, “I’m not doing this anymore.” Taking a break says, “I’m still going to do this, just not right now.”
That’s an important distinction because downsizing is not a race. There is no prize for being the person who empties the house fastest.
The goal isn’t to get rid of everything. The goal is to create a home and a life that work for you now. And that takes time.
If you’re downsizing on your own, make it bite-size
Maybe you don’t have a team. Not everyone does. I hear that all the time, and that’s OK. You can still use the same principle.
Don’t ask, “How am I going to downsize my entire house?” Ask, “What can I finish today?”
Give yourself small, clearly defined assignments. For example: one kitchen cabinet, one bathroom drawer, one shelf, one box.
And before you begin, decide what finished means to you.
It doesn’t mean you’ve made three piles in the middle of the floor. Finished means the decisions have been made. The things you are letting go of have actually left the house. The trash is in the trash. The donations are in the car or, better yet, at the donation center. And the things you’re keeping each have a home.
That’s real progress.
Here’s another little trick: plan for your energy, not just your time
We tend to schedule downsizing according to the calendar. “I have Saturday morning free…” But that’s only half the equation.
Ask yourself, “How much energy will I have?”
There’s a big difference between having four hours available and having four hours of usable energy.
If you’re exhausted after a week of work, don’t schedule four hours of emotionally difficult decisions. Maybe Saturday is the day to tackle the linen closet instead?
Save the photographs, letters, and sentimental things for a time when you have more emotional bandwidth. You could even hire photo managers to assist you with that when you’re ready. That will take an enormous amount of emotional weight off your plate.
If you’d prefer to work through your photos yourself with guidance, Photo Keepers Club is a separate membership option to explore. This is an affiliate link. I may earn a commission if you join through it.
And if you are caring for someone else, working full-time, or juggling a dozen different responsibilities, your plan needs to respect that reality.
Your downsizing plan should work with your life, not compete with it.
Don’t underestimate the emotional work
Looking back, I realize that the physical work was only part of what was happening.
Every object represented something in my life: a chapter, a person, a place, a version of myself, a dream.
Sometimes an object was easy to let go of. Sometimes it wasn’t. And sometimes the conversation we had around the object mattered more than the object itself.
That’s another reason those pizza and wine evenings meant so much. We weren’t just moving things out of a house. We were talking about my life. And what I wanted that next chapter to look like.
The bigger plans matter
When I was downsizing, I always knew there was a much bigger picture.
I wasn’t simply trying to have less stuff. I was creating a new life and lifestyle with a smaller home, less maintenance, less responsibility. More freedom, more time, more energy, and more room for the people and experiences that mattered most to me.
That bigger picture helped me make the little decisions easier. When I stood in front of something, the question wasn’t simply, “Should I keep this?” It was, “Does this belong in the life I’m creating?”
That’s such a powerful question. And you can use that whether you’re downsizing your entire home or simply trying to make one room work better for your life right now.
So here’s what my downsizing plan really looked like
It looked like a big vision, broken into small decisions.
It looked like a team and a lot of pizza.
It looked like a lot of hard work, laughter, and tears.
It looked like progress and sometimes stopping.
It looked like three hours of work on Saturdays, followed by the rest of the day being mine.
And eventually, it looked like taking an entire summer off because I had listened closely enough to know I needed it.
I didn’t follow a perfect schedule. I didn’t do it all at once. And I certainly didn’t do it perfectly.
But… I kept moving forward. One drawer. One closet. One room. One decision. One weekend at a time.
Maybe your downsizing plan needs pizza too
If you’re staring at your house right now, wondering where on earth to begin, I’d encourage you to think about your plan a little differently.
Don’t just put rooms on a list. Put your life on the list.
Schedule the work. But schedule the fun too.
Schedule time with your grandchildren. And dinner with friends. Schedule the weekend away. Schedule the afternoon when you do absolutely nothing.
And if you’re working with a friend, a sibling, your spouse, or a small team, make sure you celebrate those victories. Order the pizza. Open the wine. Laugh. Cry. Talk.
Because tomorrow there will be another drawer, another closet, another decision, and that’s OK.
Because downsizing isn’t supposed to be your life. It’s supposed to help you create one.
That’s the part I didn’t fully understand when I first began. I thought I was downsizing a house. What I was really doing was redesigning my life.
And that takes time. It takes hundreds and maybe even thousands of decisions. It takes real courage. It takes help. And sometimes… it takes pizza and a summer off.
So if you’re in the middle of your own downsizing journey, don’t measure your success by how much you’ve gotten rid of.
Look at what you’ve gained: more space, more clarity, more energy, more freedom, more time with people you love.
And perhaps most importantly, more life to live.
That’s what all those weekends were really about.
If you’d like to hear more about the decisions behind my move, I share that experience in the video below.
How do you actually downsize your home? From 5000 ft.² to 867 ft.².
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