Page 47 - Ashbridge Senior Living

How to Start Downsizing
for your New Home
After months (or maybe years) of searching, you have finally selected a new home at a senior living community. You are ready to move-in and start joining
in on the activities and meeting your new neighbors. However, for many older adults, the excitement of starting a new chapter can often be overshadowed
by the stress involved in downsizing a home. Evaluating a lifetime’s worth of possessions can become so overwhelming that the move stalls. Fortunately, experts have uncovered strategies that can help shift the project from exhausting to empowering.
By beginning the process before your move date is set, you will remove the
sense of urgency. Without the pressure of a deadline, you can take your time and gradually progress towards your goal. Starting early means you are taking control of the situation. For so many of us, what we own defines who we are. Additionally, starting early gives you time to address the underlying emotional issues that can often be attached to moving. When a task seems daunting, a good strategy is to break it up into manageable pieces. By starting with a small area or things that you do not use, you are setting yourself up for early success. Find areas of the house where you have multiples of the same items. “Do you really need three whisks or so many coffee mugs?”
The process of “right sizing” is something many older adults go through when preparing to transition to a community. ‘Downsizing’ sounds so intimidating, but it just means that you are doing what makes sense during this phase of your life. It is a challenge, but most embrace it. Making the difficult decisions of what to keep and leave behind, ultimately makes your new home a special place. You will value what you have even more so because the items you have kept are truly a reflection of who you are.
SO how do we decide what to keep and what to eliminate? Only consider items that fit into two categories: What you love, and what you need. Ask yourself why you like it and then envision it in your surroundings.
You do not have to do this alone, family, friends, and professionals can assist you. Senior Move Managers can work with you to assist on either end of the move. Everything from arranging estate sales or coordinating charitable donation before the move, to creating a floor plan and physically setting up the space during the move-in. Hiring a Senior Move Manager can free you from the burden of unpacking all the boxes, arranging the furniture and disposing of all the paper and trash; they can even come back and help hang pictures.
Creating a home that is designed to meet your current needs can be an extremely rewarding and satisfying experience. This can be a journey of self-discovery in which you experience serenity and contentment knowing you are surrounded by what matters most. The result is living in a streamlined home that is beautiful and practical.
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THE MOVE