Downsizing Your Home Before a Move: Sell, Give, Store or Move

The new flat has three bedrooms instead of four, no boys' quarters and a kitchen half the size. The dining set that seats eight will not fit. Neither will the second fridge, the three old standing fans or the cartons of papers in the store that nobody has opened since 2019.

If you pack all of it anyway, you pay for space on the truck, then spend weeks tripping over things in a home that cannot hold them. Downsizing before the move is slower at first and much easier on moving day. Here is how to do it room by room.

Measure the new place before you sort anything

You cannot decide what fits without numbers. Visit the new home with a tape measure and write down:

• Room sizes, especially bedrooms and the sitting room
• Door widths and stairwell turns
• Kitchen space for fridges, freezers and cookers
• Wardrobe and storage space
• Whether there is a store, a boys' quarters or a balcony

Then measure your big furniture. A wardrobe that fits the room may still not get through the stairwell. That is a decision to make now, not on the landing with the driver waiting.

Four piles: move, sell, give, store

Go through the house one room at a time and give every item one of four labels. Coloured stickers or masking tape with a letter work well.

Move is anything you use, need and have space for. Be strict. "I might need it" is not the same as "I use it".

Sell is anything with value that you will not use in the new home. Good candidates are large furniture, spare appliances, a second generator, exercise equipment and extra beds.

Give is anything useful but not worth the effort of selling. Clothes, kitchenware, children's toys and small furniture can go to family, your church or mosque, a school or people in your area who can use them.

Store should be the smallest pile. It is only for things you genuinely need later but cannot fit now, such as items for a house you are building or heirloom furniture.

Anything broken, expired or useless goes in the bin. Old phone chargers, dead batteries, empty paint tins and that pile of plastic bags under the sink do not deserve truck space.

Room by room: what usually goes

From experience, these are the places where most of the extra load hides:

1. The store or boys' quarters. Old tiles, paint, broken chairs, spare doors and things kept "for later".
2. Kitchen. Duplicate pots, mismatched plates, small appliances you have not used in a year, a second freezer.
3. Bedrooms. Clothes that no longer fit, extra mattresses, bedside tables for beds you are leaving.
4. Sitting room. Extra side tables, old TVs, stacks of magazines and dead decorations.
5. The compound. Old tyres, scrap metal, broken plastic chairs, empty drums.

Start selling early

Selling takes longer than people expect. Buyers come to inspect, haggle and then disappear. Start at least three to four weeks before moving day if you can.

• Take clear photos in daylight and post them in estate WhatsApp groups and on marketplace pages.
• Price to sell quickly. You will rarely recover what you paid.
• Agree that the buyer arranges pickup, and set a deadline. After that date, the item moves to the give pile.

Keep a short list of what has been sold and collected. It stops you packing something that already has a buyer.

Ready to move?

Request a truck or van on Sphere

Choose your vehicle, propose your price, and verified drivers in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan accept or send a counter-offer.

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Storing things properly

If you must store items, keep them clean, dry and off the floor, and wrap furniture rather than leaving it bare. Make a list of what went into storage and take photos. If family are keeping things for you, agree how long and put it in writing, even in a simple message.

Now work out the right truck

Once the move pile is final, count it. List the big items one by one and estimate the number of cartons. This is what decides the vehicle.

A pickup van suits a smaller household with limited furniture. A full house with wardrobes, beds, a dining set, fridge and generator usually needs a truck. If you are unsure, our guide to choosing the right truck size goes through it item by item. Requesting a vehicle that is too small means a second trip. One that is too big means paying for empty space.

Moving for work and leaving a lot behind? What to move and what to leave when relocating to Abuja covers that situation.

How to do this on Sphere

1. Finish sorting first, so your item list reflects only the move pile.
2. Open the Sphere app and choose a truck or pickup van to match the list.
3. Add pickup and drop-off addresses, with floor levels and access notes.
4. Describe the load clearly: big items by name, plus the number of cartons.
5. Agree loading and offloading help with the driver before you accept an offer.
6. Propose your price. Verified drivers accept it or counter, and you choose.

Our house moving page for Lagos has more on whole-home moves. Sphere also covers Abuja and Ibadan.