Part 3: Setting Up A Timeline

Once we had our goal in place, the next thing we had to figure out was the timeline.

This is the part where it’s tempting to just pick a date and say, “That’s when we’ll be out.” But we learned pretty quickly that a random date doesn’t help much. A timeline works better when it’s based on real things you can measure.

For us, it wasn’t about having another house waiting. We didn’t. What guided our timeline was how long it would take to declutter, move our belongings to another state, and make sure we had the finances to support the change. After looking at all that, we gave ourselves one year.

That number didn’t come from guesswork. It came from asking some honest questions.

Questions That Helped Us

We asked ourselves things like:

• Do we have a new place to go, or not yet?

• If the house sells fast, where do we live next?

• Are we buying an RV or land, or keeping things open?

You don’t need perfect answers, but you do need realistic ones. Your timeline grows out of those answers.

The Money Side (Because It Matters)

For most people, finances end up guiding a lot of decisions. That was true for us too.

We had to look at what we could actually afford. Downsizing isn’t free. There are moving costs, storage fees, packing supplies, and house repairs to get a home ready to sell.

Yes, you can make some money selling things at garage sales or flea markets, but it usually doesn’t cover everything. It helps, but it’s not the whole solution.

We found it was better to be honest about the numbers from the start instead of hoping it would all work out.

Packing Takes Longer Than You Think

Packing a house is one thing. Packing a house, garage, yard, and all the “we’ll deal with it later” stuff is another.

We had to set small targets for ourselves and try to stick to them. Not perfectly, just consistently.

If you say you want to be out in three months, then those months have to be used on purpose. That also includes time for fixing things or getting the house ready to list.

Selling the House

Here’s the truth: you can plan a lot, but you can’t control the housing market.

You don’t know how long your home will sit, when the right buyer shows up, or how escrow will go. That part requires flexibility.

At the same time, you need to know your bottom line — what you need financially from the sale to make your next step possible.

What It Looked Like for Us

We didn’t have a new home lined up. Our next “space” was a 10×10 storage unit.

We set a budget for house fixes and spent about a year getting it ready, doing everything from painting to small repairs. By the time we listed, we had already pared down so much that we could move out in a weekend.

From February to October, we lived in our house with minimal furniture, clothing, and kitchen items. It wasn’t fancy, but it worked.

We even took the house off the market for six weeks and then relisted. That ended up being a good move for us.

When the right offer came, we were ready. Because we had already done the hard work, the short escrow wasn’t stressful.

The Part No One Likes

The hardest part is the unknown. You can’t fully predict when a house will sell or how offers will play out.

Trying to plan around that can feel uncomfortable. We felt it too.

Final Thoughts

A timeline won’t make everything certain. Ours didn’t.

What it did was give us a guide. When we weren’t sure what to do next, we could look at our timeline and see the next step.

Downsizing isn’t perfectly neat or perfectly timed. But if you think it through, stay honest about finances, and stay flexible, it becomes manageable.

You don’t have to do it all at once. You just start with one decision, then the next.

That’s really how it moves forward.

Reflecting and Moving Forward

Looking back, setting a timeline didn’t make the process easy — but it made it manageable.

It helped us break a big, emotional change into smaller steps we could actually act on. When things felt overwhelming, the timeline reminded us what mattered next, not everything all at once.

Here are a few things we’d tell a friend sitting at our kitchen table:

• Start with honesty. Be realistic about time, money, and energy. Hope is good, but honesty is better.

• Build flexibility into your plan. Some parts will go exactly as planned. Others won’t. That’s normal.

• Expect packing to take longer than you think. Especially the things tied to memories.

• Use your timeline as a guide, not a rulebook. It’s there to help you move forward, not make you feel behind.

Downsizing isn’t about rushing to the finish line. It’s about making steady decisions that support the life you want next.

And once you take the time to think it through, the first step usually becomes clearer than you expect.

Part 3: Creating a Realistic Timeline

“A timeline works best when it’s built on real information, not a date picked out of thin air.”