It seems that nearly every week I speak with someone who says they have been thinking about downsizing. They often haven’t decided where they will go yet, but they have been thinking about the process of clearing their home of stuff collected over decades. If you have been thinking about it, the time to start is now… for many of my clients, it can take years!
In the past many things were passed on to family members, but today’s younger generation is often not interested in family heirlooms. Minimalism is a common aesthetic… which doesn’t usually include china, silver, linens, collectibles and antiques. If you have furniture and other pieces from the 50’s and 60’s, however, you could be in luck. If your family doesn’t want it, mid-century-modern furnishings are in high demand right now and you might find some buyers online or in MCM resale shops.
Although people can downsize at any age, retirement is often a trigger and Baby Boomers are now retiring at a rate of about 10,000 per day! Download our free Baby Boomer’s Life Planning Guide to help you get started thinking about things you may not yet have even considered.
You don’t have to wait until you have it all figured out before starting the downsizing process and clearing the clutter in your home, however. It seems the longer you have lived in a place the more ‘stuff’ you accumulate… we humans seem to fill the space we have.
The process involves a lot of decisions… sort, donate, sell, consign, recycle, toss… and then executing those decisions. The decision process can be helped by knowing where you will be going and how much space you have, but the Marie Kondo mantra of ‘does it bring you joy’ can help in deciding what to keep and what to let go of. Need help guiding you through the process? Professionals Laurie Wrobel of Clutter 911 or Rachel Gold of NeatNik Solutions can help keep you on task in dealing with your stuff now and can also help plan your move when you are ready for that step.
Panic can creep in when you reach the crunch time of actually moving. It can be overwhelming even with the help of family and friends. Longtime move management companies such as Gentle Transitions and Rose’s Daughters can be life savers.
More and more people are having estate sales when they are cleaning out for a move or emptying a loved one’s home, but if your possessions won’t bring in $2,000 or more, many companies are suggesting a garage sale instead. Craig’s List is an option for bigger items, but the problem is many items are hard to sell or even give away. That’s where services such as Empty the Nest and JunkLuggers can step in to clear out what is left.
Check out this real life example.
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com
