![]() Many senior living communities offer storage units on-site for a nominal fee. Now it’s time to be honest with yourself – is there realistically enough space for everything you’d like to keep? If not, consider a storage unit for oversized items or other possessions that won’t fit in your new residence. When you’re finally settled in your new digs, you’ll appreciate the familiarity of having things arranged in a similar fashion to your previous home. ![]() So make room for those things and leave the rest behind. Do you need a desk for writing or computer work? Will you really need a sleeper sofa in this next chapter of your life? The reality is, as you lived in your house, you developed a lifestyle and habits that you enjoy and work for you. Try to focus on the most important parts of how you live. Moving from a four-bedroom home to a two-bedroom home will require a good amount of downsizing. Be sure to think about: The size of your new space If possible, print out a floor plan of your new living arrangements and start planning where your items will go in your new home. Be sure to include details such as furniture arrangements and where family photos were hung on your walls. Plus, it’ll help you keep track of important documents and treasured items. Take pictures of things in various rooms of your home so you can recreate your surroundings in your new space. Then donate it to charity or sell it at a consignment shop or garage sale, knowing you’ve preserved the memory. For a less special item, consider taking a picture of it, writing a brief history of the item and sharing it with family members. Plus, giving important keepsakes and furniture to close friends and family allows you to see how happy those mementos make them. Most of us have things we don’t use or need anymore, but those things still have value and may prove useful to someone else. Give it awayĭonating items to family members or a nonprofit organization is a great alternative to throwing them away. This will get you in the proper mindset to let things go and set you up for success when you start going through more sentimental items. Go through your house one room at a time and pick out things you’re not using or aren’t emotionally attached to. Here are some ideas to consider when deciding what to let go of and what to keep: Get rid of clutter You’ll enjoy remembering a significant event or person in your life, and doing so will bring a sense of satisfaction and closure as you realize it’s the memory, not the item, that is valuable. Spend time reliving important memories and the good times each item brings to mind. Going through a lifetime of memories can’t be done in a weekend – or even a week. ![]() Doing so will help reduce your emotional attachment to your possessions, get them organized and focus your thinking on the future.īut take your time. The first step in our checklist for downsizing is to develop a plan. So, here are a few tips to get you started. We know there are many advantages to downsizing, but it can be a daunting task. Plus, it can be quite enjoyable to give cherished items to your family and friends, knowing they’ll be appreciated for years to come. When you downsize your possessions, you relieve your children of the difficult burden of sorting through belongings later on. Simplifying your life through downsizing and organization frees you from worry and makes your life more manageable. Clutter makes comfortable living difficult because things are always in the way, making it hard to walk around and find what you’re looking for. Paring possessions like unneeded furniture, unused exercise machines and outdated electronics means fewer things to worry about. In fact, seniors who remain in a large home often use only a few rooms in their house … often just the bedroom, kitchen and living room, leaving the rest to gather clutter. It also helps you realize which things are truly important and which things you’ve kept around only because you had space for them. Simply put, moving to a smaller home forces you to eliminate clutter and get organized. That’s why we put together this ultimate checklist for downsizing to a senior living community.īut before we talk about how to go about paring down your possessions, let’s take a look at three advantages to downsizing you may have never considered. But it doesn’t have to be as daunting as it seems. ![]() Plus, it’s likely that our new residence will be smaller – requiring us to let go of a good amount of our belongings. Just the thought of going through and boxing up the sheer volume of our possessions can be enough to keep us from starting. Most of us have filled our homes with our favorite furniture, belongings, keepsakes and mementos. Moving from your house to a senior living community is a big decision.
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