First you have to declutter your house. That can seem like a daunting task unless you break it down into easy to manage segments. You will have to purge in order to live in a smaller space whether that's a condo or if you choose to move to a retirement home or an assisted living facility.

Start early, start small using the Four-Box Method.  

Take four boxes and label them as follows and move room by room:

Trash: Things you don't need or want. Rule of thumb, if you haven't used it in 2 years, and are unlikely to use it for another 2 years, you may not need it. 

Give away/sell: Differentiate between trash and things that can be donated to charitable organizations or a local shelter or church. Make sure the items are not broken. It's not doing any good buried in your cupboard or closet. Consider holding a garage sale if you think someone could make good use of your stuff. Indicate GARAGE SALE on those boxes.

Storage: These are the items you want to keep but do not use on a regular basis. Maybe they can go in a storage locker. Number each storage box and keep an inventory of the items in each box. Group similar items together like kitchenware, books, seasonal clothing, holiday decorations. Either use an Excel spreadsheet or a good old fashion copybook and write what's in box #1 for storage, box #2 for storage, etc. In the case of storage, you may choose storage bins instead of boxes if it's going into a locker room or a storage facility.

Keep: Depending on where you're moving to and how big your new space is, this should be the fewest number of boxes. Ask yourself if you really need this, or could a family member store it for you and maybe use it more than you? Consider whether the room it's going into will be big enough? Do you need that gigantic food processor?

Even when breaking it down like this, depending on the size of your home, how many years you've been living there and how quickly you must get your home on the market, you may need professional help. I'm happy to introduce you to some people who can help you declutter, pack up the belongings you're keeping, move all of your furniture, boxes and anything else you're moving into your new home. Then they will help you unpack and help figure out where everthing will go.

Chances are you may need help to make this happen in a timely manner. Let me introduce you to some reliable professionals and then you can determine what will work best for you. I work with two different teams who handle smaller projects and full-on take over while you sit back. They will both contribute to this blog over the next few weeks and months.