Downsizing and Moving to a Condo

Decision made, that's the hard part... right? Well, actually there was still a lot to do. What to do with all of our stuff for one?

Downsizing

Permission to state the obvious? The key here is to downsize first then move as opposed to moving and then downsizing.

Remember we were going from 2,400 Sq. Ft. ranch to a 1,000 Sq. Ft. condo, from three bedrooms to one and from two bathrooms to one.

My wife and I are what you would call obsessive compulsive control freaks who don't leave many things to chance. Or, maybe that's just me. Anyway, I was not going to be left on moving day with a whole bunch of stuff to figure out what to do with. We attacked the problem using four primary resources:

Craig's List

Six weeks before moving day, we listed anything we though we could make more than $75 from. Extra couch, roads bikes, patio heater etc. This started out great, we were getting rid of stuff and getting some money for it at the same time. As time went on, however, it became a real pain. Emails, text messages, phone calls, people coming to look at items and people who are just out for a Sunday afternoon drive. We were spending 2-3 hours a week and not getting rid of stuff fast enough.

Craig's list netted us about $1,000 but only reduced our stuff by about 10%. We did learn a lot about the process of selling items on Craig's List which I thought I would share here.

Our Craig's List Top Tips:

• Clean your item (no one wants to see pizza stains on your couch) 
• Price your item (look at other similar items on Craig's List and eBay. Only look at prices in your city as prices differ city to city.) 
• Price to Sell (you are not in business here, the idea is to get rid of stuff and recoup a little money so undercut the market by 10%) 
• Take plenty of pictures 
• Include model numbers and as much detail as you can in the description (buyers can then do their research on the product before contacting you. This is important unless you want to be bugged with lots of texts and emails) 
• Save your time and the buyer's time by being honest with the item's description 
• Don't provide your address in the advert, only provide it only when someone has committed to come and see the item 
• Cash is king (don't even think about accepting a check) 
• If you live on your own, then consider having a friend be there when potential buyers show up 

Goodwill

Great feel good factor, but unless you are the type of person who would draw up in a pick up truck at 6am and dump off a whole bunch of crappy stuff outside a closed Goodwill (which we are not) then you have to do some sorting first. Donating items that are in working condition, contain all of their pieces and parts, and are free of stains and rips is the best way to ensure that your goods do the most good. See Donating Stuff to Goodwill. Still we got some useful charity receipts for this year's taxes and reduced our stuff by another 10%.

Family

It's amazing what your family will take off your hands. Especially when you pack it all up in a U-Haul truck, drive it to Houston and drop it off in their back yard. The key is to ask them if they want the nice spare bedroom set, the washer dryer or the lawn mower. You then pack that in the truck along with anything else you need to offload and you are good to go. Just ensure you also implement a no returns policy.

There is also a pretty good feel good factor here (minus the tax receipts) and it is a very effective method of getting rid of stuff. We managed to offload 60% of our remaining unwanted stuff here.

Trash

After going through all of the above we were still left with a bunch of stuff we still did not need and felt too guilty to palm it off on Goodwill or our family. This is where you realize just how much stuff/crap you have accumulated. I can only imagine what it is like if you have kids and pets as well.

Luckily for us, our neighborhood had arranged a bulk trash pickup two weeks before our move which saved us multiple trips to the dump. Problem solved.

We also had some hazardous waste (old paint cans, paint thinners etc.). We took these items to the Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center. Quick, easy and free for most items.

Deciding what Stuff to keep get rid of

You may wonder how we made the heart wrenching decisions on what to keep and what to get rid of. We employed the following strategies:

• Have you used it in the past year? (yes I have watched hoarders) 
• Have you ever used it? (sad to say we had some of these) 
• Can you scan it? (we scanned boxes and boxes of paper and photos) 
• How do you see yourself using the item in your new place? (it turns out chain saws are not very useful in a condo) 
• Picture exactly where it will go in your condo (not so convinced you can take the patio furniture now are you) 
• Will it fit? (couches are not stackable) 
• Is it yours? (time to return the ladder to the neighbor) 
• Remove all emotion (for the purposes of this exercise you should act like a cyborg. Just because your niece made it does not mean it should be adorning the wall of your new condo) 
• Clothes (you probably won't lose 20 lbs. in the next six six months so toss those jeans) 
• Hazardous materials (take half empty paint cans to the hazardous waste dump. If the paint is still used on a wall somewhere in your house, contact the buyers as they may want it) 

It might be difficult at the time, but trust me, it is an enormously liberating feeling to reduce the amount of stuff you have.

Moving

Now that we had reduced the amount of stuff we own so it will fit in a 1,000 Sq. Ft. condo, it was time to move it there. Here are some things we noticed that were different about moving into a condo:

• Our condo association mandated that we use a fully insured mover (this costs a little more)
• We had to book a 'service' elevator for the day
• We had to go for a condo orientation a week before move in
• We had to pay a moving in fee of $125
• We had to leave a refundable deposit in case of damages of $500)
• Our movers had to do a walk through before and after the move (in case there were any damages to the elevator, walls etc. during the move)

Movers

Make sure you book a mover a few weeks before your move, we booked ten days ahead of time and barely found one. This may be a factor of the hot Austin property market but it's better to be safe than sorry. We selected Einstein Moving Company Einstein Moving Company for the job. As we were only moving eight miles, we did not spend a lot of time researching movers. We really just checked out reviews on Yelp. All in all, Einstein did a fantastic job and I would recommend them for your Austin move.

The Couch

Our unit was on the 4th floor, our couch is large and our condo building does not have a full sized service elevator. Yes, it's as bad as it sounds. The guys at Einstein were not put off, however, and they hauled the couch up three flight of stairs. To make matters worse the movers had wrapped the couch in cellophane with the cushions inside. This made the couch at least 20% heavier than it needed to be. Lesson learned, check to see if your stuff fits in the service elevator before you move.

The Couch...

The couch saga did not end there. Just after the movers left, we noticed a tear in the arm of the couch. I emailed Einstein a photo and they responded right away with details of their claims process. They did some research and learned that the whole panel would need to be replaced so they ordered the material from Restoration Hardware. For some reason Restoration Hardware could not get the material so we ended up getting a whole new couch. Not sure how you did it Einstein but that was customer service at its best.

Of course Restoration Hardware had to deliver the couch and take away the old one. Those poor delivery guys, if you could have seen the look on the delivery guy's face when I told him about the elevator, it would have brought tears to your eyes. In fact, I felt so guilty that I moved the cushions myself while they carried the old couch down and brought the new one up. Hey, at least I helped out and they did make a nice tip that day.