In the prior post “Should I go or should I stay”, I noted that there may be a time when you may not be able to stay in your own home. For a multitude of reasons, you may decide you need to move on. What are your choices? You may want to downsize, move to a smaller home, rent, or move to a retirement community.
If you own your own home, you may want to consider downsizing. The large family home that hosted so many wonderful memories may be too large, too expensive to keep up, or simply require more repairs than you are willing or able to make. One option is to move to a townhouse, condo or apartment. This may be your least expensive option, since it is likely you can reinvest the sale of your larger home into a smaller more convenient place and still have some money leftover. Moving, however, is not inexpensive and downsizing is incredibly stressful. Fortunately, there is help. In addition to family members and friends, there are many resources to make the move a little easier. One of the most challenging parts of downsizing is what to keep for the new place, what to give to your children, and what to sell or give away. One of the most frustrating part of giving things away is that the precious art you have collected may not be of interest to your kids or even your friends. Having an estate sale is one choice; advertising on Craigslist may be another. But the more rigorous you are about your decisions, the easier it will be if you have to make yet another move later on. ( I thought I got rid of a lot of stuff in our first move to a smaller place, but was appalled at how much there was left to get rid of when we moved to our current retirement community!)
There is no easy way to downsize. It’s just plain work. My recommendation is to start as early as you can; do a little sorting and throwing away every day; find a Goodwill or other thrift shop near you and bestow on them as much of your wardrobe as you can stand to discard. One question I asked myself constantly was “If I haven’t worn this in 5 years, why am I keeping it?” You may not want to go as far as a Marie Kondo but she has some good ideas for how to de-clutter. If you have good ideas about downsizing, please share with us!
Wherever you decide to go—whether it is to a smaller place or a retirement community of some kind, be sure you take with you the things you love the most–who knows, there might be an opportunity to wear that brocade jacket after all!
Great advice Linda!