Downsizing:  How to Make This Challenging Process Easier
De-cluttering and distributing your belongings prior to a mid-life or retirement household move can be an enjoyable process if you give yourself the time.

Prospective residents of apartment homes in 55-plus lifestyle complexes often wait too long to move and do so only after the death of a spouse or an illness.  Planning and executing a change of living arrangements under these circumstances adds to the difficulty inherent in a move to a smaller space. Your adult children may be lobbying you to make decisions now because they do not know the value of your belongings or what you most want to have with you in a new setting.  They also want you to be proactive because otherwise, the time-consuming work falls to them. 

It is understandable that most people want to avoid leaving their own homes, yet downsizing a life of belongings does not have to be hard work, says Laura Moore, principal of ClutterClarity at Home (www.ClutterClarity.com).  Downsizing is made unnecessarily difficult when you do not allow enough time to respectfully go through your belongings. She recommends starting at least six months prior to your moving date. By doing so, you will be able to reduce the emotional stress of de-cluttering and letting go, feel more in control, make good decisions, and can even enjoy the process.  One of the biggest mistakes people make is trying to do too much, too fast, when pressed against deadlines.  To avoid exhaustion, set aside two-hour time slots each week to get started and stay motivated.

Following are Moore’s recommendations:

•  If you are in a relationship, sort through your own belongings and encourage your partner to do the same. It is never O.K. to clear someone else’s belongings without permission, except if your partner is ill or after a death.  Handle your collective belongings after you have decided what to do with your own. 

• Make an inventory of belongings that will not be taken to your new home. Ask the next generation what they want from the list rather than just give it to them.  If you do not ask, you may be creating another generation of clutter.  Far better to give that furniture to someone who truly wants it than to have it sit in your child’s basement. Review the list after items are selected and equitably divide based on sentimental or financial value.

•  The order of gifting should be family first, followed by friends, then charitable donations to legitimate non-profit organizations that can give you a tax receipt for value donated, and then yard sale or trash.  Starting to distribute your belongings prior to a crisis or looming moving date gives you the greatest control, and other benefits:

•  You are comfortable knowing that important family belongings will go to members of the next generation who will appreciate and care for them.

•  You can identify and pass on the history and story behind the items, even in writing, which only adds value to the items.

•  You can identify photos that have been boxed away for many years, and store them in acid-free and temperature-proof boxes.  A collection of pictures will make a great gift to the next generation, but prior to a move is not the time to organize photos. You can do that in your new home – a perfect project in the wintertime.

•  You can identify important financial, medical, and legal documents that will go with you. Moore’s book “Paper Clarity At-A-Glance: What to Keep and When to Let Go” is available on Amazon, and will help you make good decisions about what to bring to your new home, and what is safe to shred.

•  You can improve your relationship with your children because you have kept only what you now deem valuable, distributed the rest, and not left all the work, the burden of de-cluttering and distribution, to them. You will have more time to enjoy yourself while healthy and clutter-clear.

The assumption that you can do this by yourselves may be erroneous for your family.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, by definition, it is impossible to untangle the volume of belongings and make good decisions on your own. An unrelated specialist who knows how to streamline the process can be invaluable.  To investigate professional help, visit The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO.org) to find a professional organizer in your area. 

Don’t wait until a death propels you into this.  Successful downsizing is not as much about getting organized as it is about making good decisions, based on the right criteria, in a time frame that is comfortable and leaves you in control.