Moving into a senior living community is a major life change — one that often requires downsizing.
While the process of sorting through decades’ worth of items can be overwhelming, downsizing also can be a happy and liberating experience. People accumulate tons of things over the years, and that can lead to clutter that’s hard to tackle when it’s time to move.
Getting through the process with your wits intact is possible, but it means knowing how to go about things the right way.
Below are five step-by-step recommendations to downsize safely before relocating to a senior living community.
1. Plan Ahead and be Patient
Procrastination is the enemy of an orderly downsizing effort. It’ll have you going in circles, stress you out too much, and perhaps even leave you second-guessing whether moving is even worth the hassle.
So, rather than waiting until the last minute, get started months before your moving date.
Break up the project into tiny, bite-sized pieces. You can, for example, do as follows:
- Do one room or section at a time.
- Set small daily or weekly objectives, such as getting through one closet at a time.
Early planning also gives you time to donate, sell, or give away things to family members instead of dumping them all at the last minute when you’ve run out of time and lose patience.
2. Measure and Plan Your Space
Senior living community units usually come with pre-measured floor plans. Take measurements and think carefully about what you can bring along. If your new living room is smaller than the one in your current home, for instance, you can’t bring a large sectional sofa.
Draw a floor plan, take appropriate measurements, and visualize what will fit.
If you take the time to plan, you’ll save yourself the frustration of shoving furniture around, wondering if it will fit through a doorway or into a room.
3. Implement a “Keep, Donate, Sell, Discard” System
Set aside four boxes with one of the following labels on each of them — Keep, Donate, Sell, and Discard. This will help you figure things out sooner rather than later. It’ll make itemizing stuff easier by being honest about what you’ll ultimately take and what you’ll part with.
Remember that downsizing doesn’t mean throwing everything out — but it likely won’t be realistic to take everything from your home to your seniors living community unit.
4. Digitize Memories Wherever Possible
Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of downsizing is figuring out what to do with items with sentimental value like photo albums, letters, and memorabilia. You can’t keep tons of boxes of mementos if you downsize, but technology allows you to save the memories without taking up square footage in your living space.
Options include scanning vintage photos and creating digital picture books or albums, creating short videos describing the history or origin of each item, and using a cloud service or external hard drive to store important documents and keepsakes.
Once digitized, these memories are easier to share with family and are protected from potential damage. Plus, you’ll free up space while keeping sentimental items. That’s a win-win.
5. Bring Comfort and Familiarity into Your New Space
Choose a few favorite items — a favorite armchair, a favorite quilt, or some family pictures. Incorporating these things can quickly turn your new unit into a place that feels like home.
Look through your current home and find items that speak to you and your interests, like a bookshelf of your favorite books, an art box, or a knitting basket. Add some plants or tasteful decor.
The goal is to ensure your unit is as comfortable as possible so that moving is less about losing something and more about going forward.