Stress-Free Downsizing Tips for Seniors
As we get older, we may find ourselves wanting to downsize our homes. But the thought of moving can be daunting, especially if we’ve lived in the same place for many years.
Luckily, there are some things we can do to make the process a little less stressful. In this blog post, we’ll share some tips on how to downsize without feeling overwhelmed.
We hope you find these tips helpful!
Collect Your Thoughts
Before you start making decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of, it’s important to sit down with your family and come up with a plan. Think through what items are most important to each member of your household and why. For example, if someone in your family is an avid collector, that person may feel strongly about keeping certain items on display at all times. On the other hand, if someone has a hobby that requires lots of tools or equipment, that person may not feel as strongly about keeping those items in the home.
Set Goals for Your Downsize
Next, come up with some general goals for your downsizing effort. For example, you may want to free up enough space so that you can move into a smaller house or apartment. Or maybe you want to be able to fit all of your belongings in one storage unit. or you might want to sell everything you own and start fresh in a new space. Once you’ve decided on your goals, make sure everyone in your family is on board.
Identify Areas of Clutter
Once you’ve collected your thoughts and set some goals, it’s time to begin the process of downsizing. One of the first things to do is identify areas where there’s too much clutter. This can be difficult because we often have a hard time recognizing clutter in our own homes! To start with, look for rooms that are cluttered or messy. If those rooms belong to someone in your household, ask that person if they would be willing to clean those areas up for you.
Only trash items that are really trash, as sometimes people clean out too much and do not leave enough for an estate sale or garage sale. It is best to only throw away items that are broken or are no longer in good condition as everything else that is unwanted can be sold in the future, so keep this in mind while de-cluttering.
Find Out What’s Worth Keeping
Once you’ve identified and started working on the areas of clutter, it’s time to get started on figuring out exactly what you will be taking with you. To begin with, think about what items are worth keeping and why they’re worth keeping. If an item doesn’t fit into either category, it’s probably time to get rid of it. For example, if there are things that pieces of furniture that are not going to fit into your new home or can’t be used, and they don’t have sentimental value, it’s an easy decision to let go of them.
Next, think about the value of each item that you want to keep and whether it’s worth keeping for sentimental reasons or because it has monetary value. We always suggest keeping items that mean a lot to you and selling everything else. Usually downsizing means moving into a smaller space or a new space. It’s hard but you don’t want to drag things around that really don’t mean something or that won’t be used going forward.
Start by marking with a sticky note, only everything that you want to take with you to your new home. everything that doesn’t have a sticky note can be left behind for an estate sale!
Get Rid of Unwanted Items
Now that you’ve identified which items are worth keeping and why it’s time to get rid of the unwanted stuff in your home. Throw out any trash or broken items, set things aside in piles that are going to be left for an estate sale, and start packing items that you are going to take with you.
Donate items
We suggest waiting until after the estate sale to donate. This way we can sell as much as possible, maximize the revenue for your estate sale, and then whatever does not sell, can be donated or disposed of.
An estate sale is a great way to downsize. To summarize this post; basically, all you have to do to downsize and have an estate sale is; identify and remove the items you want to keep, throw out any trash or broken items that can’t be sold (which we can also help with) and leave everything else as is, in the home. We will then come in and organize, arrange/display, research and price, do all the advertising, and sell everything that is left in the home.
Do you or someone you know need to have an estate sale?
