In a market where home prices have increased, and interest rates stifled buying power, downsizing appeals to those ready to ditch their mortgage and big spaces. An article on Business Insider cited the National Association of REALTORs, which stated that Baby Boomers were the leading sellers in the market.
For seniors, downsizing may feel overwhelming. However, partnering with Senior Moves and the team of senior move managers simplifies the process and helps every client feel excited and empowered about their move to a new, smaller home.
Table of Contents:
What is Deliberate Downsizing?
How We Help Downsize and Declutter
How to Downsize Personal Possessions
Top Tips for Downsizing
A Comprehensive Checklist for Seniors Downsizing
Should I Downsize My Home?
Synopsis:
Many seniors downsize in retirement, moving to a smaller home with fewer responsibilities. Senior move managers help retirees and seniors as they work through downsizing. From helping seniors understand what items to keep to creating a checklist of possessions, professional senior move managers offer helping hands and a helpful and compassionate heart during the move.
What is Deliberate Downsizing?
When clients choose to downsize deliberately, they are ready and prepared to decrease their possessions to move to a smaller space. Clients who initiate deliberate downsizing want to live with less and are happy to sell or donate items they no longer want or need.
Not every client is prepared for deliberate downsizing. For some, downsizing feels overwhelming. Helping seniors prepare to minimize possessions is a process. However, professional senior move managers help clients understand they can keep the items that mean the most to them. Downsizing efforts focus on uncovering items that are not cherished, special, or necessary.
How We Help Downsize and Declutter
The team at Senior Moves guides the downsizing process for clients. We work side-by-side with every client to help them understand what possessions bring them happiness (and must be kept), and we listen to them during this process.
Conversations are so important for downsizing preparation. Every possession holds a memory, and distinguishing the items with the most powerful and impactful memories serves as a litmus test for helping seniors decide which items to move to their next home.
During the downsizing dialogue, Senior Moves team members help seniors uncover items they are thrilled to discard. We all have possessions or items that weigh us down and take up space, yet discarding these items can be a task we would all rather avoid.
Senior move managers discover all the items in a home that help seniors lighten their load. Once they learn that important items move on with them, sorting through other items with less emotional value feels a bit freeing.
Senior Moves believes that possessions should never be tossed away without a conversation. There must be a method, a process, and, most importantly, a big heart when helping anyone downsize.
As senior move managers and seniors sort through items, the process lends to natural decluttering. Old papers, broken items, outdated clothing, and other unwanted or unnecessary items should be sorted into piles for donating to charities, recycling, or for the weekly trash pickup.
Feel the Love: How to Downsize Personal Possessions
Senior Moves recommends that any individual preparing to downsize should start thinking about the items they own with a “heart” scale. Think of how much love or joy the item brings; the emotional pull could be tied to a garment that looks amazing or a card that holds significant joy.
Use our Heart Chart to help understand how to rank the emotional value of items:
Heart Rating | Meaning |
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ | Five hearts denote absolute joy or love towards an item. These are the items you cannot live without and cannot imagine losing. Examples include photos, precious notes/cards, favorite clothing, family mementos, etc. |
❤️❤️❤️❤️ | Four hearts distinguish really loved items. While you could live without them, they still hold deep meaning. Examples of four heart Items could include favorite books, special knick knacks, etc. |
❤️❤️❤️ | Three heart items are those that you would rather keep, but if you didn’t have room for them, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Think of this heart rating as a neutral feeling. |
❤️❤️ | You don’t dislike the item, but you definitely don’t love it. These items might be donated or tossed. |
❤️ | One heart feels the least love. If the emotion for the item is this low, move on from it. |
Senior Moves’ Top Tips for Downsizing
Seniors should not try to downsize on their own. A houseful of possessions requires helping hands. When we help seniors downsize, we follow a few guidelines.
Here are five tips for downsizing the Senior Moves way:
Never try to sort items in one day. Downsizing is a slow process. We always allow seniors time to process emotions and think through each item.
Have a professional help schedule donations. Senior Moves manages donations for all clients. In addition, think of charities where you wish to donate unwanted items. What you don’t love could be the five-heart item in someone’s life! Spread the love!
Understand that extra trash pickups may be necessary. Senior Moves helps clients work with waste management companies to schedule pick up for bulk items.
Remember to recycle. Don’t just throw items in the trash. Consider recycling items that can take on another life through sustainability. Senior Moves also helps clients sort recyclable items.
Consider giving some items to family members. Some seniors pass on furniture or other items to their children or grandchildren. This is a great solution for saving loved items that would not fit in a new and smaller space.
A Comprehensive Checklist for Seniors Downsizing
Senior Moves strives to be certain that no item goes unchecked–literally! Our senior move team uses a comprehensive checklist to track items during downsizing. Not only does this help us understand where items are located once they are packed, but we also can help seniors track donated or discarded items.
Our tracking system helps our clients know every item's location (and destination). Nothing is misplaced, lost, or wrongly donated (or discarded).
Should I Downsize My Home?
Not every senior is ready to downsize, but some clients simply cannot wait to make the move to a smaller home. As Kiplinger reported, others upgrade to a larger space; about one out of every three seniors go bigger in retirement.
For those ready to downsize or thinking about moving into a smaller home, contact Senior Moves to inquire about our downsizing services. Our senior move managers guide you through downsizing, helping you ease into a move. Reach out today for a consultation.
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