Simplify Possessions for a Manageable Life Downsizing Household Items can Help Prepare You for Your Next Transition Maybe your children are grown and living on their own and you find yourself with more house – and more possessions – than you need or want. Perhaps you want to trade your life in a multi-story house with a basement for one in a retirement community with one level and less upkeep. Or maybe you are thinking of moving to an assisted living or skilled nursing facility. Reducing the number of household items you own may better suit your needs at this stage in your life and there are many professionals and resources that can help with this transition. Consider Hiring a Professional Sorting through and getting rid of possessions – especially in a home where you’ve lived for many years – can feel daunting particularly if you have a lot of household items of yours and your loved ones. You may benefit from employing the services of professionals who specialize in sorting and organizing, managing paperwork and documentation, selling items through estate sales, coordinating the donation of possessions to charity and arranging packing and moving. 50
Professional organizers include Senior Move Managers who are members of the National Association of Senior Move Managers. The organization has a searchable database of Senior Move Managers at nasmm.org. Tips for Tackling Downsizing Tasks To do some downsizing yourself, start by honestly evaluating what items you need and currently use in your life and think about what you really will need – or won’t – in your next living arrangement. When considering what to do with items, categorize items as those to “keep,” “sell or donate,” “see if a family member wants” or “throw out.” Using color-coded stickers to indicate which category an item falls into or putting items into different designate piles also can help during the sorting process. Because it’s easy to become overwhelmed, pace yourself, enlist the help of friends and loved ones if possible and limit your sorting and purging sessions to no more than two hours at a time. If you have possessions that you think friends and loved ones would like, invite them over to take items for themselves, perhaps at a “downsizing party.” Consider contacting local nonprofit thrift stores and other charities about your donations which may be taxdeductible. Many organizations will come to your home to pick up furniture and other Aging Resources 2020–2021
