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7 Ways to Say Goodbye to a Home Full of Love and Memories

If walls could talk, what would yours say?

The four walls you have called home for so long hold all of the love and memories created over the years. You’ve raised children (fur babies count!), held family dinners, created safe spaces and decorated it perfectly from the heart. Your home has certain sounds, sights, smells and feelings that will be ingrained in your memory forever. Sometimes it seems your home is a living, breathing part of you!

How to say goodbye to your home

It can be quite an emotional time to pack up your life and move to a new space in a new area, even if the move is for good reasons — a bigger home, a new job, a bigger yard. You may be leaving behind an amazing home, a supportive community, a safe town with good schools and for these reasons saying goodbye without knowing what the future holds can be hard to process and hard to envision. Try these 7 tips to help you transition more smoothly from the home you’ve loved into the home you will grow to love.

1. Take lots of photos and video clips!

Taking visual and audible confirmation of your time in the home will allow you to hold onto and save memories you have created here and will help keep them alive! Record sound clips of the birds in the yard and video a tour of your home. Hopefully you have photos throughout your time there but take one last trip through the house before packing up. Go through and document every room, every space, indoor and out, especially the spaces that are special to you.

Maybe even hire a professional so you can document your family within your home one last time. You may even want to take photos of your neighborhood or your town if you are moving further away. Put them all together in an album and label it with your address and the time period that you lived there. Put the videos and sound clips on a disk and occasionally look through and watch your memories so you will never forget your time in that home.

2. Throw a Party to say goodbye to your old house.

Have a blast and invite everyone! Your neighbors, friends, family, coworkers and your children’s friends. Throw your home the best farewell party you can! This not only gives you an opportunity to say goodbye to everyone, it also allows you to add another layer of disconnect from your old home so you can begin to mentally prepare for your new home.

Even if you have started packing, that's OK! Use plastic-ware, have some snacks, play games and jam to good music. Your guests will understand if you have boxes throughout the house. Talk about memories in your home of previous gatherings and end with a toast to the new owners with best wishes.

How to say goodbye to your home

3. Leave a piece of you behind.

Write something special under the deck for the new owners to find one day or carve your initials in the tree in the yard. Gather the family and create a time capsule for a future homeowner to find. Whatever it may be, leave a part of you in the space you loved.

4. Say Goodbye to each room.

On moving day as a family, go around to each room and talk about your favorite memories in each space. Take photos of the dent in the wall where you bumped it with a baseball bat, or the marks in the closet where you measured your height. After you take your memory photos, tell your stories and say your goodbyes to the space, walk out together and symbolically shut the door behind you, moving on to the next until you go through each space.

5. Take something from your old home with you when you go.

Take a piece of your home with you so you can begin the transition into the new home with a piece of the old. Maybe it’s a clipping of your favorite bush in the yard, your favorite light fixture or the doorknob to your favorite space (as long as you replace it) or maybe even a brick from the walkway.

6. Focus on your new home.

Focus on the reasons you decided to move in the first place. The better life ahead, the better job, larger space, bigger yard. Begin making your new home the home you will grow to love. Decorate it. Look at the photos you took of your old house and create similar spaces so you can have the same feel.

Or start completely over and create a new beginning with a whole new spirit. Actively begin loving your new home and before you know it your new space will flood with love!

7. Throw a housewarming party at your new place.

Just as you said your goodbyes to your old home with a party, say hello to your new home in the same manner. Introduce your new home to your friends, family and loved ones. Invite your new neighbors and build new connections. Make a toast to the adventure, love and memories to come!

Life is continuously moving forward. Keep your old memories and continue to create new ones. Life goes on and you can make any house a home. Maybe you are wondering if where you are going is as good as the home you are leaving. Don’t wonder—make it that way!

How to say goodbye to your home

Home is where your loved ones are. So say goodbye in your own way, keep your memories close, take your people with you and start filling up your new space with positive energy creating new happy memories along the way. And if time passes and you still need closure, go knock on the door of your old home and ask for a quick walk around. Seeing someone else’s things in your space may be just what you need to move on.

Here’s to hoping you have awesome new neighbors 😉!

Want more advice about all things home — including homebuying or selling advice? Nestiny is a great place for homebuyer education and to help you gauge how ready you are to buy a home. Journey Homeward allows you to enter all your wants and needs while the True Affordability Tool will break down your budget, showing what you can comfortably afford. You will also receive a Ready Report that will give you a vital head start in the home buying journey, saving you valuable time and money.


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