Are you ready to start your next adventure, but you're feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff you've accumulated over the years?

If you're a single parent over 40 and your kids have left the nest, this is your chance for a fresh start. But before you book that one way ticket, you need to downsize strategically. In this article, we'll help you put together a plan to downsize and declutter, so that way you have less baggage, literally and figuratively.

Step 1: Define Your New Lifestyle Needs

Now, before you start rifling through all your belongings, you're going to need to take a moment to picture what your new life will look like abroad. Where do you want to live?

Are you going to move to a warm coastal town and live minimalistically, like a Mexican fishing village, or are you going to be in a vibrant city like Mexico City or Guadalajara where you walk everywhere, or someplace in the middle, like a countryside retreat?

Whatever you want to do, whatever your vision is, that's what's going to guide all your downsized decisions. From this point forward, your downsizing decisions.

First, write a list of the things that you absolutely must have. Things like, if you're diabetic, you're going to need to bring your medications or insulin with you. I'm sure that's a non-negotiable for you. Other things that you use every day? What's difficult or expensive to replace abroad? Well, for one, you need to know what your country destination is.

For me, Mexico is my top choice. A lot of the things I use here in Arizona, I'm sure I could replace those in Mexico. In fact, Amazon delivers to Mexico, which is great.

Sentimental items, that's another thing you need to think about is all the sentimental items that you've accumulated over all the years.

Heirlooms, photographs, things like that. Photo albums. Things for you that truly hold meaning and that can't be replaced. Can these things be digitized or passed on? That's a consideration. Practical items like a business wardrobe, what kind of employment are you going to secure when you move to your foreign country?

For me, that'll be a local teaching job, so I won't, I don't think I'll need a suit and a tie, but nice clothes, dockers, nice shirts, nice shoes, et cetera. Or can you get away with casual clothing? That’s going to be very dependent on what you do to make a living. Your source of income is going to drive your choice of attire mostly.

And also, your kitchen setup. I assume you're going to be making your own meals. Going out to eat is very expensive no matter where you live. So learning to cook for yourself at home is kind of a non-negotiable there, so you're going to need to equip your kitchen accordingly.

Are you moving to a four-season climate?

A number of places in Mexico will have a four-season climate, but not to the extreme. But the climate of where you're living, that's going to definitely affect your choice of wardrobe. And so you're going to have to plan accordingly for all these things.

Step 2: Categorize Your Belongings

The next step in this process is to categorize all your belongings. You're going to divide all your possessions into four categories.

First one is keep, you're going to keep only those things that you truly need or love.

Next category is sell. You're going to sell those items that have some value to them, and that can help you fund your move abroad. For example, when I came back from my summer trip, I sold $250 worth of things and that could be a plane ticket to Mexico.

Donate or gift is the third category. Those things that are sentimental or useful to you, they could be given to family or friends for them to hold on for a while, or charities. Certain things you could donate to charities.

Category number four is discard. You're going to get rid of anything that's broken, outdated, or unnecessary, just pitch it. And a good rule of thumb is this — if you haven't used a certain thing in at least a year, then you're probably not going to need it in your new home abroad.

You've probably heard of the Pareto principle, 80% of your results come from 20% of your inputs. So in the context of moving and decluttering. You're going to use 20% of your stuff 80% of the time, which means that 80% of your stuff, you're only using it one fifth of the time. So why don't you start from there?

Basically, 80% of the joy and utility is only coming from 20% of your stuff, so keep that in your mind as you go through this process, and then you can go through those items one through four in that list. The items of keeping, selling, donating, or discarding, you might have to do this in an iterative fashion, in a loop.

Once you go through it once, you might go through it a couple more times. If you have to, just go through those items one through four on that list, and you're going to reduce your belongings by 80% and you'll feel a lot better when it's done.

Before I went to Mexico last June, I rented a five-foot-deep by 10-foot-wide storage unit, and I was paying about $80 a month for it. When I came back from Arizona, from my trip, I decluttered that storage unit and I moved down to a five-foot-by-five-foot unit, half the size, and I raised, as I said, $250 in selling those things.

And now my storage is $20 a month instead of $80. So, I raised $250, and I’m saving 75% on my storage cost. So, it's definitely worth the effort.

Moved to a 5×5 unit, saving 75% on my monthly storage cost

Step 3: Sell, Donate, or Gift Items with Purpose

Selling your stuff can help you finance your move abroad, and here's how you do it efficiently. Your high value items, think high-end furniture, handmade furniture, high-end electronics, collectible items, things like that. Try selling those things on platforms like Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, LetGo or OfferUp.

Things like clothing or accessories, you could try consignment stores or an app like Poshmark. Things like books, movies, media, et cetera. You could try donating those to local libraries or local schools, Goodwill. They're nationwide. You could sell, donate stuff to them. If you're in Arizona, you could sell books and CDs to a place called Bookman's.

They're family run. They accept things from the public, and they turn around and resell them back to the public. Bookman’s is in Phoenix, Tucson, and in Flagstaff.

Family heirlooms or sentimental items. Try keeping those in the family. Give those to family to hold onto for the time being.

The thing you got to remember is this. It's not just about downsizing and decluttering. This is about getting rid of things that aren't going to serve you in your future life. Think about how liberating that must be. If you get stuck deciding on which category to put a thing on, just put it aside or put it in storage for the time being and get back to it later.

And finally, if you're considering returning to the United States to visit or live in part-time like I am, you might want to consider keeping a small storage a five by five. Like I have to keep a small wardrobe and maybe some small minor furnishings like a chair, things like that. Things you might need to use.

When you're in the United States temporarily, things you would normally use anyway, keep a small storage for that. Something you might want to consider.

Step 4: Digitize and Go Paperless

One of the biggest clutter culprits is paperwork. All those documents we've collected over the years, so the solution is scanning important documents, old photographs, and even keepsakes, like your children's artwork. And then you can use cloud services like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. That way, you can access them from anywhere in the world.

Pro tip: make digital backups of passports, medical records, and financial documents before you move abroad. And for extra peace of mind, not only should you scan everything and back it up to the cloud, buy an external hard drive, like a one or two terabyte external drive, and then back up everything to that external hard drive.

And that way you have a local copy on you as well as on the cloud.

Step 5: Be Ruthless with Clothes and Personal Items

Next thing is to be ruthless with clothing and personal items. Are you moving to a tropical location like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico? Then you're not going to need those winter clothes anymore. So sell those or donate those. Are you switching to a more casual lifestyle? Then you could pare down those business suits or even lose them entirely.

Try the suitcase test. Pack as though you're leaving on a trip next week. See what you actually use during those few days you're away. Anything that didn't make the cut, then you're probably not going to need it. Just remember the Pareto principle: you're using 20% of your stuff, 80% of the time. It means 80% of your stuff, you're only using it 20% of the time. Let that guide you in this process.

Step 6: Handle Big-Ticket Items Last

The next step in this process is to decide what to do about those big-ticket items that you have, like a house, car, or a boat, perhaps. When it comes to a house, you need to decide, do you want to sell the home or do you want to rent it out and continue using that as a source of income?

That's something that you definitely need to consider. And now if you're looking to leave the United States completely, then it makes more sense to sell the home outright and take the windfall. But if you're an expat like me, you want to split your time between the US and another country. It might make more sense to rent out your home for the time of the year that you're abroad.

That way you have some income. Your home isn't empty while you're gone, you're earning some income, and then when you come back home, the tenants leave. You sign, you have them sign a lease for the months of the year that you're away. It should work out well for everybody, but ultimately that comes down to a personal choice.

Your vehicle, consider selling it. If you're moving to Mexico like I am, you're probably not going to need a car there, especially in a major city. So I would sell the car and get that off my plate. Unless you know you want to move with your car, you can do that as well. You could move to Mexico or Canada by car.

That might be more appropriate for you if you have a lot of things you want to bring. I'm bringing, I'm planning on bringing a couple of seabags and a knapsack and that's about it. The rest goes in storage. But for you, if you have a decent amount of stuff, you may want to keep your car and use that to haul your goods abroad.

And finally, public storage units. I've got one. I plan on keeping my storage unit, I've said it before, it's five-feet by five, it's $20 a month. I'm going to keep it probably for the next few years since I'm looking to split my time between the USA and Mexico anyway.

But for you, if you're looking to immigrate to another country, and leave the United States all together, then it doesn't make any sense to have a storage unit in the US If you're not coming back, why would you have the storage? But if you want to come back seasonally for visitation purposes, then you might want to do what I'm doing and hang on to that storage unit.

Just have a small one, the smallest size that you can get away with.

Step 7: Embrace a Minimalist Mindset

Remember to embrace the minimalist mindset. Downsizing isn't just about reducing clutter. It's about making space for new experiences and new memories. The less you carry, the freer you will feel, especially when you're traveling. If you're traveling by plane, train, or bus, every pound counts. You feel every pound.

Think of it this way, instead of a house full of stuff and objects, you'll have a passport full of stamps.

Instead of keeping old memories and boxes, you'll be creating new memories in a brand-new country.

Final Thought: Trust the Process

Finally, just trust the process. It's not perfect. Sometimes it's messy. It's not easy. It can be an emotional ride, but it's also liberating when you think about it. Every item you let go of is one step closer to your dream life.

Are you ready to take the leap? Share in the comments. What's been the hardest thing for you to let go of, and what excites you the most about your move abroad? Let me know. Thank you for your time.

The Ultimate Guide to Downsizing Before Moving Abroad