What is Downsizing?
When it comes to your home, downsizing means selling or moving from your current home in favor of a smaller home. This can include purchasing a smaller home, deciding to rent an apartment or similar living space, or opting for a community living or retirement living setting.
For older adults, downsizing can be a great option when a home feels too large, unmanageable, or simply unnecessary.
What are the benefits of downsizing?
There are a variety of benefits to downsizing in your golden years. Moving to a smaller space can be much more manageable to maintain. Home upkeep like maintenance, cleaning, yard work etc. can become more difficult as we age, especially in a larger home. Comparatively, a smaller house can be more manageable, or even come with housekeeping services.
Similarly, downsizing a space often means downsizing costs as well. Not only are smaller homes usually cheaper, the costs associated with home maintenance, energy bills, upkeep, cleaning and mortgages or rent tend to be much less.
Moving to a senior living community or retirement community specifically have additional benefits. Community living can help combat feelings of loneliness as communities have built in activities with neighbors and peers - a great way for older adults to make friends.
How do you talk to a loved one about downsizing?
Maybe you are a family member of loved one who is considering making a move, or perhaps you are trying to encourage someone to downsize who may not initially be on board. We understand the change can seem overwhelming, and it can be hard to want to let go of a home, keepsakes, and move away from give up being a homeowner.
If this is you, be open and honest with your loved one. Feel free to share your concerns and feelings, but remember to be open to and sensitive to their hesitations. Moving is an emotional event and it can often be stressful.
Be prepared for multiple conversations about moving to a Senior Living home. It can help to focus on the positives of the new space, and be clear about expectations. Thinking about what type of storage space is available in the new home, what the timeline for moving is, and what plans are in place for organizing, decluttering and moving can help ease anxieties.
Downsizing tips
Once you’ve decided that downsizing and moving to a smaller space is the right choice, it may be daunting to think about the actual downsizing process. Where do you start? Tackling things one at a time and making a plan will help break the process into manageable steps, and should help it feel less overwhelming.
Take it one room at a time
Sorting personal belongings can be an emotional and tiring process. Set aside time to sort through personal things, and remember that this may be a time for great reflection.
Try not to rush or pressure yourself or a loved one. It can be helpful to separate out sorting tasks, so you don’t feel you have to organize a whole house in one go. Take a living room one day, a bedroom another. Take breaks. Organizing is a time-consuming process, but you don’t have to do it all in one day.
Separate items into categories
Another great way to help organize items is to separate them into sections. A common system is the ‘keep’, ‘toss’, ‘give’ system.
Try asking some of these questions when sorting through items:
- Is it a true necessity?
- Is it a sentimental item?
- Is it used frequently?
- Is there another item that performs the same function?
- Do I have the square footage for this in my new house?
Downsizing is about simplifying. These questions help you asses whether an item makes sense to put in the ‘keep’ section, and helps you eliminate duplicate items.
The other two sections, give and toss, make it very easy to remove unwanted items. Anything that is in the ‘give’ can be packed up and sent to goodwill, donated to a local charity, or sold at a yard sale.
Professional organizers, loved ones or appraisers can also help with the ‘give away’ section to check if any items are suitable for sale. You can then choose to host a garage sale or sell online somewhere like craigslist, Facebook marketplace, ebay or an antiques site.
Prepare for the Move
Moving is a lot easier after you and your loved one have gone through personal items and determined what to keep and what to let go.
If you have larger family heirlooms, household items or sentimental things that may not fit in a small space, consider a storage solution like an off-site storage unit. this can be a great way to keep items you want to stay within your family, but which you may not need in your new home.
When it comes to actually moving, consider a moving company that specializes in downsizing or moving to a senior living community. There are a number of resources and services that specialize in moves for older adults.
While any mover may be able to do that job, senior-specific moving options will have systems and resources in place to assist you or your loved one. They will be more sensitive to the added emotional layers or giving up a family home, and may have connections to antique appraisers, senior living communities, estate planners and other resources more relevant to older adults.
Making the choice to downsize and move to a smaller home or senior living community may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be a negative experience. Community living has so many benefits, from peers and activities to on-site amenities and services.
At Pacifica Senior Living we are here to make the transition as smooth as possible for new residents and their loved ones. Want to learn more about downsizing or Senior Living Community in your area?
Reach out to us!
Our friendly team is here to answer any questions, connect you with resources (including senior movers and downsizing experts) and help you along every step of the journey.
