Downsizing Tips From Rural Money To Make Money

Is The Next Chapter Of Your Life Downsizing To A Tiny Homestead?! #downsizing #downsizingtips #ruralmoney #rural #money #ruralareas

At some point, most aging adults will face the need to downsize from their current living situation so here are my best downsizing tips.

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Table of Contents

• Is The Next Chapter Of Your Life Downsizing To A Tiny Homestead?! #downsizing #downsizingtips #ruralmoney #rural #money #ruralareas
• Downsizing Tips To Make It Easier
  • Make A Plan
  • Start Sorting Smart
• Do’s And Don’t Of Decluttering And Make Money
• Emotional Toll Of Downsizing
• Downsizing Tips For Senior Moving Options

There are many reasons why downsizing is popular among older adults such as wanting to be closer to grandchildren, simplifying their lifestyle with less “stuff”, addressing their partner’s medical needs or their own, or to cut costs to save for a fun retirement.

Changing your lifestyle that you have been living for the last 30+ years can seem daunting and stressful, but we are here to help!

Downsizing can be emotionally taxing.

But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming if you have a plan to downsize.

Here are some tips to help you or someone in your life downsize their living situation to make that transition into retirement easier.

Check out these downsizing tips for empty nesters seniors looking to scale back but stay independent in own home.

Downsizing Tips To Make It Easier

Make A Plan

No matter how long you think this process will take, it will inevitably take longer than you planned.

Give yourself time to create a plan of attack on how you plan on downsizing.

Create a realistic timeline for yourself so that you can set benchmarks you can actually achieve to stay on goal.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Going through the entire house you’ve lived in will take time and you don’t want to make rushed decisions about keepsakes and belongings just because you didn’t give yourself enough time.

Give yourself a couple of weeks to maybe even a couple of months to go through your belongings, sorting through what you want to keep, donate, pass along to friends/family, and trash.

These are tips and tricks to downsizing for the next chapter of your life downsize to a tiny homestead, which is what I’m doing.

Start Sorting Smart

Most people have things in their homes that they know they want to get rid of.

If you are a hoarder, like me, you have lots of piles of things you want to get rid of.

And that’s a perfect place to start!

Start smarter by getting rid of things that first come to mind when decluttering your home.

Another piece of great advice is to start your decluttering process in an area with little to no emotional attachment.

You can also take advantage of storage if you aren’t sure what to do with your items yet. Look up how big is a 5×5 storage unit to find out more.

Think of this as your possible mud-room/laundry room, a linen closet, a guest-bedroom closet that’s full of clothes that never see the light of day.

These are some examples of good places to start decluttering.

A big part of sorting smarter is understanding your needs and your future needs.

If you are moving from a large home or townhome into a small tiny house, you won’t need as many towels, sheets, chairs, etc.

You need to know what type of space you are moving into so you can plan accordingly when sorting through your belongings.

Downsize to a tiny home to stay independent after retirement and have a smaller house with less stuff.

Do’s And Don’t Of Decluttering And Make Money

• Don’t keep duplicate items – do you really need all those pots and pans? Nope!
• Don’t make a Maybe pile – Only Yes or No piles here!
• Do pack all your keeper items first, then decide what to do with the items that didn’t make the cut.
• Don’t move the stuff you don’t want – moving isn’t cheap so be diligent when sorting and just know that less is more when it comes to stuff.
• Do sell items that you won’t have room for – outdoor tools and clean office furniture sell well at garage sales or for consignment.
• Don’t be afraid to sell your things, yourself – apps like OfferUp, Letgo, ThredUP, Poshmark, Depop, VarageSale, 5miles, Shpock, and Facebook are here to make selling your items easier. Or have an estate sale!
• Do let go of items that have been sitting on a shelf or in a closet for over a year.
• Don’t take all your collectibles with you – pick out a couple of items that have the most value to you, and either donate or sell the rest to someone who will enjoy them also.
• Do take photos of your collectibles – a collection of nutcrackers or Hummel figurines(hi, Mom) takes up a lot of space when being stored. If you take photos of your collection, you can always look at them on your phone or print them out to display on the walls at your new place.
• Do turn boxes of photos to digital – check out Fotobridge or Scan My Photos and you can thank us later!

Tips to downsize your lifestyle to move into a tiny home helping empty nesters.

Emotional Toll Of Downsizing

As you start going through your old photo albums and start moving souvenirs from past family vacations, the memories from these sentimental items might start to creep forward in your mind.

We all deal with our emotions differently, so just know it is okay to stop decluttering and let the nostalgia and happy memories have their moment.

It’s a great feeling to remember exactly what you were doing, who you were with, what country you were in when you look at something special you own.

Decluttering can bring up a lot of memories and emotions for people as they start planning this next chapter of their lives.

You are not alone in this journey and no one can take those memories away from you!

Just remember to stay on course, and keep the possessions that bring you happy memories and not clutter.

Another great tip we recommend when decluttering is getting your friends and family involved in the process.

Sharing those memories with your grandchildren is absolutely priceless.

And since younger generations are usually more technologically inclined than you may, or may not be, they can also help you sell those items online.

Bonding over the memories in your old house, going through old photos and sharing generational stories together is one of the best parts of decluttering with family and friends.

Your family is one the most important things in your life, not the clutter around you so take that as motivation to have your family help you in the transition process.

Emotional toll when downsizing into a new tiny home can help if you are surrounded by family and friends.

Downsizing Tips For Senior Moving Options

Since you have packed up all your belongings, decluttered your house and donated everything you realized you could live without, it is finally time to move.

Are you planning on asking family members to help you move?

Or have you looked into full-service movers to help you make your move?

We found a great moving option online that is known as senior move specialists.

Whether you are moving into an assisted senior living facility, a nursing community or into a smaller home or townhome, these senior movers are there to help you.

Check out the National Association of Senior Move Managers to find a senior move specialist near you!

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