How to Organize a Downsized Home

In this article: Find practical tips on how to organize a downsized home, so that your new small space feels like home!

Sometimes, life is full of surprises.

Moving from our old farmhouse by the sea into a 1250 square foot townhouse was one of them.

Our Previous House (in the middle of a flower bed makeover!)

Downsizing our earthly belongings by more than a half wasn’t exactly in our plans…but that’s what happened!

Over the course of a year, we moved twice (living for 6 months in a beautiful rental home) , and are now settled into a lovely little townhouse.

How to Organize a Downsized Home

Purge First

Before I could even begin to start organizing, I had to purge, purge, and purge some more!

I’ll admit, the purging process took quite some time. Although I wouldn’t consider myself a hoarder, I did find it somewhat difficult to discern what to keep and what to get rid of. (Especially in the furniture department.)

Store items you are unsure about

When downsizing a home, the whole picture of the process can seem overwhelming. I found that it was best for me to work on one thing at a time, and then walk away when it got to be too much.

Our garage became our own personal storage unit the first winter as I figured out what to keep and what to get rid of. Over time I was able to discern what was worth keeping, and what was more valuable OUT of the house!

Organize items into workable situations for you

Once our “stuff” was a managable amount for our space, I wanted to get it organized into systems that work for us on a daily basis.

Everyday use of all the things in our home means that items are constantly being moved and shuffled, and over time, the drawers/closets/nooks/ and crannies just get messy.

Does that happen to you, too?

I decided to go through the whole house and try to get it organized.

Break up the organization into manageable pieces

I decided to break the process up into bite-sized pieces.

I began my own organization quest for our newly downsized home, and divided up the whole house into zones ~ tackling one zone a week.

Starting with the Entryway, I systematically worked my way through the whole house ~ trying to think of practical ways to make our home work and function well for us.