Tips + Tricks: Senior Living Downsizing Guide
Preparing to move is quite a monumental task, and the transition from life in your home to life in your memory care community can be uniquely daunting. This major shift in life can be accompanied by all sorts of feelings – anticipation; anxious feelings about a big change; grief as one chapter in life closes; excitement as a new chapter opens – every one of them valid. But this transition in your life isn’t just a sentimental or emotional one. Moving brings with it a list of tasks to complete, often including downsizing.
At Aiken Memory Care, we know the move can feel larger than life. We’re here to help! Check out our list of helpful tips and tricks as you navigate this piece of your journey.
Tip #1: Take Your Time
Our homes reflect who we are; a sort of personal museum to all we have celebrated and endured in lives. Our seasons of lean and plenty, stagnation and growth, loss and love are encapsulated within the walls we call home. When you approach downsizing, we encourage you to take your time. After all, this is a collection of all the versions of you. Deciding up front to take your time with this process is a kindness in itself.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was your home. Whenever possible, we encourage downsizing to be spread across several weeks, or even a few months. This is the perfect opportunity to sit with your things, moving room to room. Reflect on the memories you hold with certain items and determine which others might not move with you into the next phase of your life. Take your time to ponder: Which of my personal belongings hold memories worth carrying forward? Which items am I letting go?
Tip #2: Many Hands Make Light Work
Helping hands will make this process more manageable, both in the literal sense of moving and packing items, but also in the emotional sense. If you have friends or family members who are able to help, you won’t have to face the accompanying mixed emotions alone.
Downsizing provides a unique opportunity to reminisce. Engaging in the process with your loved ones can create a truly special time capsule in which to revisit shared memories. Perhaps you and your children will go down memory lane together or even share some never-before-heard tales with your grandchildren.
Alternatively, professional movers (especially those experienced in senior transitions) may provide you with some extra peace of mind. Their organizational skills and experience-based insight could help the process of downsizing and packing flow more easily.
Tip #3: Three Pile Method
One way to organize your downsizing process is to sort your goods into three piles: keep, donate, trash. Trash items that are broken, unsuitable for donating, or irreparable. Donate items that are in good condition, items you no longer use, don’t need, or have less attachment to. If an item hasn’t been used in more than a year, it’s probably ready to be donated. Keep only the things you truly love and need.
Within your three-pile practice, try to limit duplicate items. Simplifying your belongings will help to keep your new space organized and free of clutter. Duplicate items are perfect for donating. Additionally, try to reduce your collectible goods. Place truly meaningful collectibles in your keep pile and consider donating the rest. To make some extra cash, you may also consider selling collectible items you don’t plan to keep.
For donating items, you can likely schedule a pick-up with a local second-hand shop. This will help remove the burden from you when the time comes to part with your donation pile. When trashing items, consider scheduling bulk pick-up on your trash day, or possibly renting a dumpster for additional trash holding if needed.
Tip #4: Tackle Tasks with Purpose
The reality of downsizing is that it can often be accompanied by the sadness of letting things go, literally and figuratively. The passage of time is never easy, but tackling your downsizing tasks in a way that cultivates purpose can make all the difference in your emotional experience. Consider a few of these purpose-driven downsizing tactics:
Donate Goods: anything that can be used again by someone else is good for donating! There might be a charity shop, thrift store, or reuse craft store in your locality that would love to have the items you plan to part with. If you have lots of bedding or clothing items, consider donating to a women’s shelter, children’s shelter, or local thrift store; for any crafting items you wish to donate, check to see if there is a craft reuse center in your area. Furniture goods and other household items such as kitchenware, décor pieces, lamps, and the like could be donated to a local nonprofit that helps unhoused folks get on their feet, or perhaps a local church ministry to support those in need. If you have unperishable food items you’d like to donate, check to see if there is a local food bank or pantry in your area who could use these items.
Gifting & Repurposing: if there are items you don’t plan to keep, but find sentimental value in, consider repurposing and gifting to your loved ones. Sentimental garments like baby clothes, special garments of a spouse or loved one could be repurposed into a quilt, small throw pillows, or even stuffed animals. Heirloom linens, holiday ornaments, dishes, and/or trinkets could all be given as thoughtful and personal gifts to the people in your life who bring you joy.
Use Photos to Preserve Memories: so often, the memories we associate with our belongings are what makes them valuable, not always the items themselves. In order to preserve some of these memories, without feeling inclined to keep every item, consider creating a digital or physical photo album or scrapbook of such pieces. This will allow you to look back on these memories, while preserving physical space.
Tip #5: Hire a Moving Company
Another way to show kindness to yourself amidst your downsizing and moving process is to hire a moving company when the time comes. This can help to significantly reduce the stress that accompanies move-in day while allowing you additional bandwidth to ease into the transition of settling into your new home. Professional movers not only provide the equipment needed to safely transport your items, but they also have the expertise to handle things with care, ensuring your valued belongings arrive in good shape.
As you embark on your downsizing journey, remember to extend grace to yourself and to your loved ones during this special moment in life. It can be packed with conflicting thoughts and emotions, some somber and others joyful. Give yourself the permission to embrace your feelings and remember: every part of your life’s journey is significant. You are significant.