Downsizing Your Home - when Seniors Retire

Today, many seniors are downsizing their homes after retirement. In our case, we want to move into a smaller home. The large house we live in now is getting difficult for us to keep up with cleaning, fixing, and all the maintenance that goes with owning a home. We also have a huge yard, with several huge trees - maples and one tulip tree. I love the tulip tree especially when it blooms. My husband is finding mowing the lawn to be quite a task because of the size, even though it is always beautiful.

In downsizing, we need to consider all of our stuff, and where it will fit in a smaller house. The best way is to start taking inventory of everything in the house - from furniture to knick-knacks, to clothing and on, and on. It seems we have an abundance of each of these. We will need to figure what we will really need in our small house. Being comfortable is important, but not too cluttered.

We will need to sell our present home before we buy another smaller one. In this economy, that will not be quick, nor will it be easy to get the amount we are asking. However, we are prepared to possibly except a lower offer if one is made. Below are some of the ideas I plan to begin acting on as a way of downsizing.

I have already cut out some of the paper lying around by stopping magazine subscriptions, and only keeping the ones we really enjoy or those that contain helpful information. I love to read "Birds and Blooms," and that will still be coming among others. No matter where I live, I love to have flowers, a nice lawn and birds which I feed and enjoy.

At the present time, I am cleaning out closets and bureau drawers to check for unneeded items. I also need to give some books to a good source, as I do not use most of my Children's Writing books any longer. Most of my poetry books will stay, since that is one of my favorites, but not my first love. This will be our last move, so when we begin looking at houses, we are going to make sure we get the right one.

When we first moved back to Indiana from New Mexico, we had a small house that was almost new. At the time, we were overwhelmed when we saw our furniture and everything and wondered how it could fit in the place. We kept talking about getting a bigger house and yard, and that was at least four years ago. So, we bought this house and a large yard, and now four years later, it is a lot to take care of with my husband's heart problem, etc. Now we are looking for a smaller house and yard. We want to have a pretty yard, still it doesn't need to be as big as the one. We also have five large trees - there are four maples and one tulip tree. Those cause a lot of work in the fall, with all the leaves to rake and haul away.

In the four years we have lived at this location, we have come to realize we are also four years older.

Sources:

Personal Experience