Moving to a smaller home is filled with opportunities: to start something new, to clean out the old and love the things you already have. The longer we live in a home, the more stuff we collect. If your home was the family home where you raised your children, you likely have memories attached to every room, and the bric-a-brac to go with it. If you are a senior moving from the family home or it’s your parents who need to downsize, these tips will help you prepare.

Downsizing Tip #1: Declutter just once and save money

Declutter to make the house look it’s best for showing is advice often given by a real estate agent, but it may lead to a lot of extra work, complication and expense that can be avoided. Decluttering involves making decisions about what to throw away, give away, sell privately or send off to auction.

Making the house look best for showing is an important consideration, but often what’s overlooked is the fact that the option to declutter needs to be repeated again when you move-out. Since the value of your surplus used goods is likely modest already, clearing things out more than once increases your costs and reduces the cash you might recover.

Solution: Clear out just the pure garbage, donation or recycling items. Instead of moving out useful items that could be sold, pack them up and place them out of the way in closets or a side room in a tidy fashion. Later when the house is sold, you can pull out those items for sale along with the other items you are not going to be taking with you. Doing so makes the house look tidy, it’s less work and leaves more money in your pocket.

Downsizing Tip #2: Avoid making the closing date and the moving date the same

Closing and moving on the same day can create a lot of unnecessary stress and complication as you sort out what to take, what to sell and what to throw away while coming up against a hard deadline.

Often sellers think they need to live in their home right until closing day. Remaining in your home throughout the process can create extra stress, management, and complications. Many downsizing seniors have flexibility to plan their move in advance of the closing. This offers a number of advantages.

Solution: If it’s financially viable, plan to move a few weeks before the sale of your house closes. This way you can move out the items you want to keep, but have some flexibility in case you forgot something or something doesn’t fit. With the items you are keeping now out of the house, what’s left can more easily be sold, maximizing your return without intrusion or concern for the security of what you are keeping.

Downsizing Tip #3: Don’t put useful items that have little value in a dumpster

Many tend to see a lot of used goods as simply waste, but it is a shame to see useful goods going to a landfill.

It’s sometimes hard to see who would want a worn or tired item, so many sellers assume their only option is to throw it away. For items that are still functional or can be repaired or used for parts, there is often a buyer. You can be green and often recover some money at the same time by finding a way to sell those items.

Solution: Use the power of the internet to expose your unwanted items to a much wider audience than traditional alternatives. Sushee Perumal of YouBidLocal (an online auction service) noted that auctions consistently find new homes for goods that would have otherwise been thrown out. Sellers and buyers can reduce their carbon footprint, take pressure off landfills and reuse the goods without impeding the sale of the house.

Downsizing Tip #4: Put the power of competitive bidding to work on your higher value items too

Sellers often guess at the value of their goods and may take the first offer that comes close to their expectations. This approach may miss other buyers willing to pay much more. But be prepared to be flexible or you risk being left with unsold items.

This is particularly important for higher value goods where the value may be difficult to determine and potential buyers may be difficult to find. Instinctively, we know that a one-on-one negotiation may not bring the best deal and we want to hear what others are willing to offer. Without competitive bidding from a number of interested potential buyers, it is difficult to know if you will be getting a reasonable return for your more valuable items.

Solution: Use the internet to research your items to determine their value. List your items on free listing sites or use auction sites to sell the larger, more valuable items. Be open-minded and remember there is a buyer out there for every item you want to sell, as long as the price is right.