No matter your age, moving is always a hassle. You spend hours boxing up everything you own just to haul those boxes somewhere else and slowly take everything out. If you’re downsizing your living space, you might experience a number of additional challenges that you may not be prepared to handle.
Here are 5 easy tips on how to figure out what possessions to take with you and what you should give away.
Start in the Rooms You Don’t Use
It’s pretty easy to see that when we accumulate furniture and possessions, we’ll often keep our favorite and most precious pieces in the rooms we use most. This piece of knowledge can actually be a great place to start when sorting and purging your trinkets.
Start off in the rooms you use the least. There, you’ll easily identify plenty of possessions that you wouldn’t mind giving away which will help you build up your momentum for the rest of the house.
Ask Yourself, “What Would I Replace?”
If you’re struggling to decide what goes in the donation bag, the trash bag, or the keep box, think about whether or not you would or could replace it.
If something is replaceable, it can be both a good or bad thing. It means you can temporarily ditch it and potentially buy a new one in the future, but it also means your new home can fill up with stuff quickly. It’s up to you to decide if the replaceable item is really something you NEED.
Keep Costs in Mind
When you’re downsizing and deciding what to take and what to discard, it’s important to know that your new space may have limited storage space. Depending on what you choose to keep, you may have to consider renting a storage unit.
Storage units can be expensive to rent, and if you’re a senior living on a budget, the financial costs of keeping your possessions may be more than you’re willing to spend.
Look at Your Furniture Holistically
Pieces of furniture are often like pieces of a puzzle: they look great when together, but lose their effect and beauty when pieces go missing.
If you have a furniture set that you absolutely adore but cannot keep entirely, it’s important to think about how the pieces would look on their own. Would they be a comfy place for guests and visitors, or would they be an out-of-place eyesore?
Keep the Things You Cherish
We’re giving plenty of tips here on knowing what to toss, but it is just as critical for downsizing seniors to know that these are just tips. You have built up a lifetime of memories and a lot of these memories have physical mementos and connections.
So even though you may have to downsize and make some hard decisions about what you will keep, know that it’s totally okay to keep whatever you want so that you can enjoy those precious items for years to come.
Making the move to your new home can come with plenty of hassles and baggage, but our staff have plenty of experience making this task a breeze. Give our community living centers a call today at 610-696-4177 or visit us online to see our suites and start organizing your floor plan today.
