Downsizing for Retirement

This year, 6.2 million Americans over the age of 60 have decided to downsize. Most are over 65, in good health and wish to travel, untethered to lawns to mow, shrubs to prune, rooms to dust and homes to worry about.

Like the majority of older Americans who do leave their homes and flee to the Sunbelt, many settle nearby.
They are paring down their accumulated possessions of years, and are renting apartments so they will be able to get up and go and just turn the key with no worries. Something they couldn't do while still tied to their family home.

Many couples or singles have possessions of over 40, 50 and even 60+ years to sort through--kitchen wares, books, gardening tools, souvenirs of trips, hobby supplies, old paint and carpentry tools, furniture and all the 'stored in the attic or basement' accumulations. And what about all the other tokens of life and pastimes that no longer exist?

Moving ranks as one of modern society's top stressors. As we age, it becomes even more stressful and overwhelming, but we don't want to leave it to our kids to have to do when we get too ill and not able to do it ourselves. It is better to do when we are still able. A move such as this usually represents downsizing from a 2000+ square foot home to a 1000 or so square foot apartment, and his is not easy.

Many people can do it themselves, but many older Americans are opting to use the services provided by entrepreneurs calling themselves "senior move managers." They can help with the myriad details and emotions that accompany moving. It is traumatic and overwhelming to move, and a third party can take a lot of the stress off. Managers of these businesses use empathy, psychology and logistics in helping their clients decide what will fit, what to take and what to shed.

Some professional downsizes talk of the painful discovery some women feel when they learn that a dining room table, for instance, cannot fit in their new space. Particularly around the holidays, it's absence can be a powerful reminder that her days of being the clan matriarch--with a home and dining room that is the center of things--are over. Sometimes, though, this comes as something of a relief. At one time it is painful to think of leaving, but most people soon realize that you can't take it with you.

Here are a few tips for sorting and moving and some guidelines from a professional senior move organization.

Focus first on sorting, then on packing. People notoriously 'burn out' after three hours, max. Never tell yourself you will go at it for eight hours straight. It can't be done.

If you really can not part with something you know won't fit, put it into storage. Then, if you haven't used it after two years, give it away or sell it.

In your new home, try to replicate your old environment by displaying the same items and photos.

Give yourself time to say goodbye.

Allow yourself to see the benefits of having fewer responsibilities.

In the end, most people feel that wonderful sense of relief that paring down one's belongings brings. We realize we are truly free and finally ready and able to do all the things that we have been working towards. And, perhaps best of all, having the time of our lives doing it!