Moving house after 34 years

It is very hard to downsize, physically as well as mentally. It is the getting rid of the past that is so difficult and the throwing away of things that cost money. Our main family home was a large 4 bed detached and we were in there for 34 years. We went to a 3 bed town house on a lovely 40 acre wooded estate

Some couples there moved from larger houses to much smaller houses and apartments. They said that they treated it as though they were just married and starting again. One had come from a vicarage. It was easier for me because charity shops were open then and I always felt that at least I was doing some good and that did help to settle my mind

There is no easy way but `things` just have to go and believe me it is a weight off the shoulders afterwards. Since then we moved to a 4 bed detached in the SW and then I was widowed and moved myself to a smaller house suitable for me and my hobbies. Things always accumulate.

I started well, by making scale drawings of my furniture and the rooms I would be having. I had to do a lot of jiggling to make my furniture fit, this would the one time I would have men to position things so I could not get it wrong. Some would not fit and they had to go. No sentimentality, it was practical. I did an inventory of what was in each box, I managed that for most boxes but that stopped when I reached panic mode and it got jumbled in the end.

As you can now tell, I did my own packing, all of it, I wanted to sort before I moved. Moving in is hard enough, never mind having to sort again surrounded by boxes.

Downsizing, in the end, is liberating, a chance to start again. Things are not memories, memories are in the mind

Yes moving after 33yrs for me too. Daunting as husband is a horder but slowly working through getting rid of his crap treasures. I feel your pain. Waiting for a rainy day then starting on loft clearance

Welcome lincolnimp. I understand some of what your are feeling. We recently moved house after 39 years. It took us right out of our comfort zone. That house had tons of storage so stuff was accumulated over the years.
We also had a 4 car garage full of my husbands hobby stuff - he makes and flies model gliders as - as well as a multitude of -toys tools and equipment an avid DIYer uses. We did have a massive clear out of household items and clothes before we moved though.

We did, with the help of our sons, move some of the garage contents but the rest was left to packers from the removal company. What the packers did was to simply put the contents of cupboards or draws straight into boxes. Next time I would make a point of putting draw contents into bags which contained and identified them rather than several draws being lumped in together to become one big mess to sort out.

Where it was different for us is that there was no chain. We went into rental accommodation until we can find our new home. That made it much easier on the day of moving as there was no one else to consider. We had the rental a couple of weeks before we had to move and we had a week after moving before we settled on the old place so it was relatively easy. Although I am not in UK so cannot comment on what happens there I'm sure the removalists will be more than capable of moving your patio planters and sheds.

When we move from our rental we will also be able to give ourselves a bit of breathing space between buying the new house and moving. Again no chain to be considered.

Everything will fall into place, it is a stressfull time but try not to worry about the little things.