Cutting clutter makes moving day manageable
By Sonja Haller
Arizona Republic
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Tight finances, empty nests and quality-of-life changes are reasons that 10 percent of baby boomers will buy some form of real estate this year, the National Association of Realtors reports.
For many, that translates into downsizing their lives so they can move into new digs with less clutter.
The difficult task may be approached with dread or even depression. But some who have downsized describe it differently:
"Extremely liberating," says Sally Heiser, 63. Heiser moved from a four-bedroom house to a mobile home in 1998.
Moving from the home that her parents built in 1936 was not as heart-wrenching as Heiser expected.
"To this day, I haven't shed a tear," she says.
Heiser, of Mesa, Ariz., believes it's because she focused on what she was moving to — a relationship with grandkids living in the same state — instead of what she was moving from.
Pat Thielen, 57, says downsizing may help you find what you didn't know you lost. She downsized from a 3,500-square-foot home in Gilbert, Ariz., to a 1,500-square-foot condo four months ago.
"I now have a weekend again. I'm able to date ... now. I would have never been able to date before because I had so much work to do in my (bigger) home," she says.
Here is a five-step plan to help make downsizing more manageable:
Ask yourself, will it fit? If the entertainment console won't fit in the new home, either by style or size, sell it or give it away.
Measure furniture and use the new location's blueprint or measurements to decide what goes.
Do you have enough room for the bed and both nightstands in the new place? A favorite piece of furniture that won't work in one room may be able to be reinvented in another. Accent tables can become nightstands; a buffet can become a TV stand; a table for six can become cozy seating for four when the leaves are removed.
Deciding what pieces will fit or can be reinvented will make it easier to decide what you want to let go.
Start with the least-used room, whether it's the guest room, attic, basement or laundry room. It's easier to purge a room that has become storage or garners the least emotional attachment.
Deciding room by room what goes to the new home and which items must find a home elsewhere prevents an all-out mess. Moving can be an energy drain. Keeping the boxes, tape and piles confined to one space will keep moving from taking over your life.
Things seem easy enough up to this point, but now it's time to decide what goes and what stays. Begin by asking yourself these questions about nonfurniture items:
Is this something I love and can't live without?
Will it serve a purpose in my new home?
Kitchens and bathrooms often hold the biggest collection of overstock items such as decorative soaps, bubble baths, sponges, potholders and towels.
Based on your answers to those questions, make the following piles: Stays. Goes. Questionable.
A tough-love friend can help speed clutter and closet elimination. For example, a friend might suggest donating the tie-dye T-shirt from Jamaica because the vacation photos are enough reminder of the great time you had.
Moving is emotionally and physically tiring. If you don't have family or friends to help, consider hiring professional organizers or senior move managers.
Professional organizer Brenda Scagnetti-Clement reports that 80 percent of her business is helping the older population downsize. She helps people sort, discard, pack and arrange items in the new home. She charges $55 an hour.
Valerie Cantrell of theunpack ers.com in Phoenix, picks up the slack on the other end of a move by having a team unpack belongings neatly and efficiently the day of the move. The price is $50 an hour, with a four-hour minimum.
You can find professional organizers and movers on the Internet; search for "senior relocation."
Go back to the "go" piles. If family members still need to claim items, set aside time to take them to the post office and ship them, or put them in storage for pickup at a later date. Take junk items to the dump or deposit them in the trash.
Take a second, third and fourth look at the question-mark pile.
Heiser managed to reduce 300 cookbooks to 40, and 400 books to five. She's still a collector: Christmas tins, decorations and baskets, to name a few. But she learned a valuable lesson from downsizing that she still practices when the mobile home gets crowded with stuff and the people in her life get crowded out.
"We don't need as many things as we think we do," she says. "Being with our kids and grandchildren became our focus — not our stuff."
