8 Tips for Senior Downsizing

Downsizing Your Life

Downsizing can be a traumatic experience for many seniors.Growing old is a fact of life. People are living longer and much healthier lives. Even after many years of living in and loving their dream homes, inevitably the decision will need to be made to move on to a smaller, more manageable and stress-free lifestyle.Because of this trend “Senior Lifestyle Communities,” featuring the most beautiful homes and condos with unbelievable amenities are popping up everywhere! Since the baby boomer generation is retiring at the rate of 10,000 people per day, the marketplace has responded to this statistic. So many great options are now available that downsizing has become a trend and families are now more willing to get the process started.At Get Your Move On, our friendly and knowledgeable staff can help make this transition so much easier. We have organically built a free service that helps people struggling with decisions to move into smaller spaces find helpful support from our team.We are very aware of the emotional toll families go through as they come to the crossroads of needing to downsize. Frequently, they must make difficult and emotional decisions regarding their personal belongings, excess furniture, home accessories and valuable possessions.In many cases, these families have lived in larger homes for 20 to 30 years. They realize the decision to move poses a gigantic, and in many cases, a nerve-wracking task.The idea of moving makes them feel a lot of stress and pressure when they think of what to keep and what to get rid of because they are usually moving into much smaller homes, condos and senior communities.

Get Your Move On's Commitment to Seniors

As a moving and storage company, we come across these families almost daily. Over time, we have developed very viable and useful solutions and suggestions for these families to consider once they decide they need to move.When we get calls from clients facing a downsize, they express their concerns to us. Our customer service team assures them we have some great solutions to help them.Once we get out to their homes to do an estimate, we can sense that they are overwhelmed and extremely uncomfortable with the idea of moving into a smaller home. In many cases, they have no clue what to do with their excess belongings, furnishings and many of their worldly possessions. Get Your Move On can empathize with them because we come across this situation often.We share our experience, our knowledge and introduce them to our very capable team of downsizing professionals. Each team member has been vetted to make moving into a smaller space so much easier for seniors.As moving and storage professionals, we have made it our business to lower stress, minimize anxiety while delivering moving and storage services. We have compiled a list of very honest and thorough downsizing and rightsizing professionals. Included in that list are direct buyers, consignors, professional organizers, auction houses, estate sales professionals and stagers. Several other service providers are available to come in and quickly make the moving transition a lot easier for our clients.

Here are 8 tips to make downsizing easier:

1. Start early

   1. Start small

   2. Eliminate rooms you won't have in your new home

   3. Get rid of duplicates

   4. Only make Yes or No piles – no Maybes

   5. Reduce collections creatively

   6. Don't be afraid to sell things yourself

   7. Consider legacy gifts early