Downsizing your home?

[DaveNV]

Has anyone successfully downsized your home in the same town? By "successfully" I mean, have you actually disposed of excess possessions, and moved to a smaller place, without filling every corner of the smaller place with new or found items you feel you MUST have, until you're up to the rafters in "stuff" again - just with fewer square feet to store it? Were/are you HAPPY that you did that?

I'm a couple of years away from retirement, (spouse is seven years younger), and I've started looking at our home, all the stuff in it, asking myself "Do I/we really need/use/want that?" I like the house, (a very nice house, bought new 14 years ago), I like the town, and I'm happy to stay here. But I'm starting to question two people living in a 2000sf 2-story 3bed/2.5bath house with a quarter acre of urban yardwork, etc. Our two small dogs and an indoor cat are about the only others who ever see the place. Seems like they'd be just as happy in a smaller location.

I recently heard that the days of "saving that for the kids" isn't all that popular anymore, as family heirlooms aren't as desirable, many millennials aren't interested in the furniture their parents or grandparents owned, and "possessions" (in whatever form) aren't generally as much in demand for the succeeding generations. They have their own stuff they're trying to get rid of. So Baby Boomers are trying to unload their stuff, but so are their kids. And the grandkids have their own stuff.

So then I think, "I should look at a two bedroom condo someplace nearby," but I find nothing affordable that I'd consider living in. So I keep coming back to staying right where I am. For the money, this seems like the best bang for the buck.

And therein lies the problem. Every time I clean the house or mow the yard, I wonder if it's all just getting to be too much. So, is it possible to successfully downsize? Are you happy for doing that, and what would you do differently? What is your story, good or bad?

Dave

 

[jackio]

We are doing that right now, moving from a 3 BR to a small 2 BR cottage in a 55 and over community about 25 minutes away. We never use the big yard, and the neighborhood is transitioning to a younger community once again as the original owners are moving out. We have been here 31 years and have accumulated a lot of stuff. We have been purging, donating and throwing stuff out. Our 3 kids don't want much of anything. In fact, we still have a lot of their crap, which is not coming with us!

 

[Luanne]

Dave, yes we downsized. But we didn't stay in the same town, or even in the same state.

We started at least a year before we knew we were going to move and started getting rid of the things we didn't need. When we got more serious (we'd bought the house in Santa Fe) and knew what size of home we'd be moving into we got more serious. I started selling the big stuff on Craigslist. I got rid of an electric piano, three daybeds, a television set, and other assorted furniture. As my daughters moved out I was literally selling their furniture right behind them. What we couldn't sell we either donated or gave away (freecycle was a great resource for this). When we moved we had pared down so that we used every bit of furniture and other "stuff" that we brought with us. We were even able to get both cars into the garage right away.

We downsized from a 4 bedroom 3600 square foot two story house with pool to a 3 bedroom 2300 square foot one story house. We did still find a few things as we were unpacking that we thought we'd gotten rid of, and we ended up donating a lot of wall art that we just have no room for here.

Overall I would say we were happy we did the downsizing, I haven't missed any of the things we disposed of (and it's been almost five years). So yes, it can be done.

 

[VacationForever]

After we retired last year we decided to sell our 4600 sq ft home which included an Endless indoor pool, attached to the house with a four seasons sunroom. My husband and I moved to a 2800 sq ft one story condo in another state and I occasionally comment on how small this place is. The issue is that we furnished the condo 3 years ago when we bought it. My son bought a 1400 sq ft home in the same county as our old home. We split the furniture and still left a ton of expensive furniture behind in the home that we sold, which included a gorgeous and humongous dining table and chairs set, entry way table, side tables french chairs etc. We also left much of the artwork behind. We lost about 200K from that the sale of that home but we wanted to move on. Painful, yes, but simplifying our lives has been good.

 

[ottawasquaw]

Yes! Multiple times! You are smart to take your time. It's a quality of life issue: there's the location, which you seem to like; then, there's your living space, and finally, your stuff!
You are smart to start with your stuff. Edit, edit...and right size for your life style today. Your living space is a bit trickier. From a single-family home to a condo is a bigger step than most, er, men....realize. I am saying this from years of working with people in their housing needs and listening to what makes them happy and unhappy.
Everybody's different about what they use and what they need to have around them. I've got one kid who is a minimalist and the other who grabbed a bit more of my things then I wanted to part with. haha. Oh well! It's all working out. I am giving my cherished furniture to him to furnish his first home. He loves the pieces and so does his future wife. I get to visit my things!
Currently, I am in 1000SF with 2bd/2ba and it's just right! It's great to host family for short visits. I have my outdoor space without much yard work, I've got outdoor storage, too. Previously, I had a 1300SF and before 1800SF? and even bigger before. My goal is that my kids can just get a dumpster for my stuff when I'm gone and cash the checks...

 

[VacationForever]

I want to add that the biggest adjustments needed are for my cats. They are a little claustrophic, and I am not kidding. In our previous home, they had so much space to roam in our house that they had no interest in going out. They are indoor cats. In my current home, one of my cats always tries to sneak out when he hears us coming in or going out. They also try to get into every closed door in the home.

 

[Talent312]

I'd like to downsize, but my DW won't budge. She still holds a grudge over a garage sale that I talked her into 12 years ago.

My fall-back is to rent a U-Haul, fill it only with what we want, dispose of the rest, then drive around the block and unload at our "new house." Apparently, that won't fly either. <sigh>
.

 

[chellej]

We started about 5 years ago....After my parents passed away (they lived with us) and two kids have graduated college and the 3rd in the Military we decided we could move and live where we wanted. So we had yard sales, a huge garbage container and about 3 truckloads that went to the woman's shelter.

I got a job in Washington state and went from about 2700 plus a garage apartment on 5 acres and pool to a 1200 sq ft house on 7.5 acres with a shop. The 7.5 acres is a forest with a small maintained yard so much less than the five acres we maintained in Texas. I still have a few boxes in the garage I need to just donate...if I haven't missed it in 5 years...I don't need it.

The Kitchen has been the hardest part for me...I have much less storage now but it is better

 

[breezez]

I'm about 7 years from retiring, live in a 3400 sqft house, was just me and the DW here until daughter asked this week if her and her boyfriend for the past 4 years could move in while they were going to school. So we just went from 2 to 4. But I also came home yesterday and her Boy friend just finished mowing which typically takes me 2 hours man was I happy to see that!

When I do retire, I don't want a tiny place but definitely don't need something as big as my place now. I hope to down size to a 3bdr condo or townhouse where outside maintenance is part of HOA fee.

3Bdr gives us one to live in, one for an office/computer room, and finally one for guests. My goal is to travel lots up 26 weeks a year so just a simple house is fine with me.

 

[bbodb1]

We too are approaching this situation and have not really started to go through all of the accumulated items from over the years. I suspect that will be a long process full of memory and remorse if we decide to get rid of the 'wrong' items. Dave, your point about time spent cleaning and mowing has merit, but the other end of that equation would leave you with little (or no) control over your house and yard. You might not be able to paint that wall any color you like, or hang that wacky bird feeder out back. I wish I had solid answers for you on this but I don't - I'm starting to struggle with questions over what is going to happen when we retire too and I am not finding any answers that provide comfort.

As I look around the community we currently live in, I just don't see many activities or pastimes that look fulfilling as we hot the retirement years. Our connection to our current location is weakening by the day as our kids have moved off and are spread about a good bit. I am hoping to use the idea of downsizing as a way to make our next house a bit more affordable bit every area I want to retire to has a higher costs of living than we currently have in Central Arkansas.

This will not be easy.

 

[VacationForever]

We too are approaching this situation and have not really started to go through all of the accumulated items from over the years. I suspect that will be a long process full of memory and remorse if we decide to get rid of the 'wrong' items. Dave, your point about time spent cleaning and mowing has merit, but the other end of that equation would leave you with little (or no) control over your house and yard. You might not be able to paint that wall any color you like, or hang that wacky bird feeder out back. I wish I had solid answers for you on this but I don't - I'm starting to struggle with questions over what is going to happen when we retire too and I am not finding any answers that provide comfort.

As I look around the community we currently live in, I just don't see many activities or pastimes that look fulfilling as we hot the retirement years. Our connection to our current location is weakening by the day as our kids have moved off and are spread about a good bit. I am hoping to use the idea of downsizing as a way to make our next house a bit more affordable bit every area I want to retire to has a higher costs of living than we currently have in Central Arkansas.

This will not be easy.

For us, we pay high HOA fees now but never needing to worry and being unhappy with the gardener over the condition of the lawn, weeds and shrubs, paying arborist each year to fertilize, remove trees and planting new ones, worry about something going wrong with the pool, paying for pool maintenance, high water bills, something breaking, blocked sewer, roof and expensive house cleaning. When the cats pass away one day, we can just lock up and go away for months to travel.

 

[Cornell]

I did this 6 months ago. I'm not retirement age but downsized from a large , single family home that had been in my family since the 1930s. Moved into a significantly smaller townhouse with new construction. It was FREEING and LIBERATING. I allowed 6 months for the process of getting rid of "stuff". Sold a lot on Craigslist, Facebook garage sales, etc. Gave a lot away. Donated a lot. I was horrified and appalled at how much "stuff" I had accumulated. Not necessary! I don't ever want to go back to that place. I also used 1-800-GOT-JUNK at one point during my purge. That was some well spent money. Now that I've moved to a smaller place, I've told all the people in my life to NOT give me new "stuff" as gifts. I don't need it nor want it. The smaller floor plan has improved the quality of life for me. I interact w/my teen daughter now more and the space just works great. The longer you wait to do this, the harder it will be.

 

[vacationhopeful]

I moved 10 months ago .... well my pillow and pj's moved along with my computer. And about 15% of my worldly possessions.

I left behind enough stuff to make the 6bdr house with 3.5 acres of ground looked staged. And my realtor is about to be REPLACED .... esp as her new 6 month plan is to TAKE the place off the market, sub-divide off 2 lots and sell them to 2 other real estate sales females in her office for an undisclosed sum of money ... alledgedly to build their personal dream homes .... Yes, I must have just fallen off the turnip truck ... if they think I am going to agree to their plan to cheat & steal my lots from me and leave me with a 1951 built home on a small lot .... I am selling the HOUSE because I have been living alone in that HOUSE and it is too BIG for a senior citizen. And 6 months of paying $12,000 yearly property taxes plus heat and water & sewer ... (my electric is FREE).... only to TRY selling a BIG OLD house on a way smaller LOT... my realtor is being REPLACED.

PS I already owned my current sleeping space since 1985 ... did not do any remodeling ... just moved in with a new mattress & box spring and my 'staging' furniture from the last house I sold (about 5 years ago).

 

[clifffaith]

Timely topic! As I mentioned in my other thread we are looking to move into a Contiuing Care Retirement Community about eight years from now. For several years I have already been using eBay to off load some of my collectibles and some of the silver and odds and ends from my grandmother's estate. I'll be stepping that up, as well as garage sales and Craigslist to off load things that are too heavy to ship. Then I look around at what I'd have left and sigh -- do I really want to be known as the old lady who is "a basket case" and has "creepy skeletons" in her apartment?! Our home is loaded with baskets and Dia de los Muertos stuff, and every wall is covered with Mexican, Indian (from India) and other folk-arty stuff. I'll try to clear the clutter, but next trip to Santa Fe or Old Town San Diego it will start all over again!

 

[slip]

Nice question and thread Dave.

I did 12 years ago. I got a 30 yard dumpster and filled it. Mostly stuff I thought I would use and never did. Some things were things I thought I would use but couldn't find it when I needed it so I bought another. When I went through everything, I asked if I used it in the last 6 months and if I said no, it went in the not keeping pile. We did a garage sale and some of the bigger better items went on Craigslist. The rest went in the dumpster. That dumpster was some of the best money I ever spent.

We went from about 2,000 square feet to 1,300 on two acres. The new house is a newer ranch so the maintenance was considerably less work to take care of. The only thing that's a pain is our deck. Snowblowing a 100 yard driveway is no fun either but I live in Wisconsin.

We have been thinking about downsizing again to a condo. My wife is 58 and will be retiring in 2 to 4 years but I'm only 54 so I have six to eight left. Maybe even 11 years if the economy is an issue. All the rentals in our area aren't much cheaper than us living here. Our Hope was we could save some money to put away so we could retire earlier but the savings aren't there to make it worth it. So for now we're staying put but to answer your other question, we haven't accumulated more things. The larger things we have, we have for work around the house and will probably sell these with the house.

You're also correct about the younger generation not wanting some of this stuff. They may want one or two things and that's about it. Most of that stuff we gave them already.

 

[Luanne]

Just a bit more after reading the posts.

We bought a three bedroom for the same reasons as breezez. Our bedroom, guest bedroom and office. The office has a sleeper sofa so when both of our daughters (and our son in law) are here the younger dd gets the couch. The nice thing is there are also three full bathrooms so she doesn't have to share a bathroom with anyone.

We picked a place to move to where there would be a lot for us to do, and get involved in, in our retirement years. Dh's first thought when we retired was we should both get part time jobs so we'd have something to do. It's been five years and we've both found ourselves busy to the point we couldn't work.

Dh had a huge vegetable garden, and a greenhouse he built for his orchid, in California. He gave all of that up when we moved to Santa Fe. He did do quite a bit of landscaping, but the maintenance is not anywhere near what he had before.

 

[theo]

Has anyone successfully downsized your home in the same town? By "successfully" I mean, have you actually disposed of excess possessions, and moved to a smaller place, without filling every corner of the smaller place with new or found items you feel you MUST have, until you're up to the rafters in "stuff" again - just with fewer square feet to store it? Were/are you HAPPY that you did that?

I'm a couple of years away from retirement, (spouse is seven years younger), and I've started looking at our home, all the stuff in it, asking myself "Do I/we really need/use/want that?" I like the house, (a very nice house, bought new 14 years ago), I like the town, and I'm happy to stay here. But I'm starting to question two people living in a 2000sf 2-story 3bed/2.5bath house with a quarter acre of urban yardwork, etc. Our two small dogs and an indoor cat are about the only others who ever see the place. Seems like they'd be just as happy in a smaller location.

I recently heard that the days of "saving that for the kids" isn't all that popular anymore, as family heirlooms aren't as desirable, many millennials aren't interested in the furniture their parents or grandparents owned, and "possessions" (in whatever form) aren't generally as much in demand for the succeeding generations. They have their own stuff they're trying to get rid of. So Baby Boomers are trying to unload their stuff, but so are their kids. And the grandkids have their own stuff.

So then I think, "I should look at a two bedroom condo someplace nearby," but I find nothing affordable that I'd consider living in. So I keep coming back to staying right where I am. For the money, this seems like the best bang for the buck.

And therein lies the problem. Every time I clean the house or mow the yard, I wonder if it's all just getting to be too much. So, is it possible to successfully downsize? Are you happy for doing that, and what would you do differently? What is your story, good or bad?

Dave

I have no words of insight or wisdom to share; I am going through very much the very same thought processes (and the same angst) right now myself. I really like the town I live in, which is why I bought 1.5 acres and designed and built a house here in 1983 and stayed here since then. However, over those nearly 35 years, my little town has become very much "gentrified" (to my great dismay, not pride). If I sold my house, I certainly would not want to pay what the market now dictates for any place we'd even want to live in if we remained within our own town.

Joining the hordes of the elderly driving around (...badly and often entirely clueless) in Florida is not a scenario that I can imagine ever seeing in our crystal ball. It's a process and there is lots to consider for anyone facing the dilemma of advancing years (no one is excluded or exempt, to the best of my knowledge) .

A bigger problem I'm having is really inside my own head. I designed our house myself and a lot of blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice, both physical and financial, went into constructing it. I try to tell myself now all these years later "c'mon, it's just a building with four walls and a roof and the land it sits on", but there are several decades of family history and many happy memories residing there too. There is somehow an emotional bond that I'm having great difficulty severing (at least for now). Maybe that sounds immature (or nuts), but it's the truth nonetheless. In addition, who wants to just walk away from the friends, the unique New England Yankee culture and the community of which you've been an integral part for decades? Not me, at least so far, as age 70 looms ever closer.

I've got no more than 5-8 more years (if that) of sufficient physical ability, agility and / or energy (God willing) to maintain a house and grounds of this size, so it will certainly be time to "fish or cut bait" in the not too distant future. A good problem to have, I guess, still being in excellent health and with a happy and healthy family off starting new families of their own, all of them happy and successful and productively contributing to their world. Life is good!

Thanks for starting this thread Dave; I'll be watching it with great interest.

 

[Passepartout]

Wife won't move or downsize. I'm considering a match.

 

[bnoble]

I'm farther from retirement (late 40s) but am starting to seriously consider getting rid of at least one large box of "stuff" each weekend. We have lots of things we've not touched in years, and do not need.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Theo,
Theo, move NOW ... so you can build/find/bond with a place where you will enjoy your later years. Live among relatives or YOUNGER relatives with their families. Who wants to hunt for services at age 70 or 75 or 80 or 90+ years old.

My 92 year old aunt relocated back to NJ at age 89 from the west side of Philadelphia to NJ. She is NOT driving ... lost her life partner... her 4 other siblings ... and depends on her High School friends for rides or me ... or on paid "help" from her LAWYER'S OFFICE to shop for her, take her to doctor's appointments, pay her bills, etc. She does have church people to & from her new church on Sundays. And almost weekly outings with her deceased sister's husband (also 92yo) whose has a live in helper who drives them to events & lunches.

And I regularly see another of my aunt's fellow HS graduates at his old hardware store ... run by his son ... he is still kicking around with his original wife ... another set of 90+yo. All living within 10 miles of each other.... all 16yo or 17yo when Pearl Harbor was attacked.. graduating HS in June 1941.

PS The high school my aunt graduated is the high school and town featured in the movie, Jersey Girl. And this year, that HS (building & grounds) is celebrating its 100th year.

Has YOUR high school been open for 100 years?

PS#2 ... I graduated from a Florida college ... 20 miles due west from Daytona Beach on RT 17/92. Guess I could move back to my college town.

 

[geist1223]

Patti and I laugh about our down sizing 7 years ago. We went from a 1916 3 Bedroom 2 bath 1750 sq ft 2 floor Craftsman to a 1918 5 bedroom 2 bath 3100 sq ft 2 floor with an unfinished cement basement Craftsman. Hey it is newer. The big draws were we can sit on our covered front porch and admire one of the nicest Parks in town; and, we can live almost entirely on the ground floor. There are 3 bedrooms on the first floor (Master Bedroom, TV Room/Library [we do not believe in TV's in the Livingroom or Master Bedroom], and Office/Library). The second floor is 2 Guest Bedrooms, Bathroom, and large room that was with previous owners the TV and Game Room. We use it climate controlled storage. In our prior house the Master Bedroom was on the 2nd Floor. Going up and down the stairs many times a day became a pain.

 

[PamMo]

We downsized almost 10 years ago (well before retirement) and haven't ever had second thoughts about it. Our kids lived thousands of miles away on both coasts, and didn't need/want any extra "stuff", so when I finished renovating a derelict little (1,600sf) Arts & Crafts native stone home in town that I'd fallen in love with, we had a huge estate sale and gave all the proceeds to our local food bank. We only had to move out what we wanted, and the estate sale company took care of everything else - down to thoroughly cleaning the 6,600sf McMansion for the new owner. It was by far the easiest move we've ever made.

EXCEPT....now that DH is retired, we're thinking about moving closer to our kids/grandkids, and that's proving impossible to figure out!

 

[SmithOp]

We did it two years ago. Lived and worked in Sacramento for 25 years, decided when we retired to move to SoCal and live near the beach, just enjoy life.

A year before retiring we started having garage sales the first weekend of every month, when everyone has cash for "stuff". We had a three car detached garage with a 4/2 on 1/4 acre. One bay of the garage was full of "stuff". We got rid of everything and it felt so free not having to care for "stuff" any more.

We had a neighbor that bought abandoned storage units, she had three units of her own plus a garage and shed full of "stuff", she enjoyed it I suppose. She told me something that stuck with me "nobody wants your stuff when you are gone, they only want the cash". She would find family photo albums galore and contact the heirs, they didn't want them.

Now we live in a rental on a postage stamp lot in a gated community of 25 homes. The owner pays the hoa and gardener. The guest bedroom is empty, has a blow up bed, wife uses it for yoga. Garage has a couple of gorilla racks for essentials. I play golf twice a week and ride my bike twice on the beach bike path. Life is good, don't spend your retirement tending to possessions!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[littlestar]

My husband is 60 and I am 58. We have been looking to possibly go to one level in a single family home, but I have not found a neighborhood I like as well as our current one. We built our two story home 26 years ago. Our oldest daughter plans on buying it if we can find a ranch in a location we love. Homes sell super fast in the townships surrounding Indianapolis (shortage according to our realtor) so we would probably have to build again.

 

[vacationhopeful]

...<snip>
EXCEPT....now that DH is retired, we're thinking about moving closer to our kids/grandkids, but that's proving impossible to figure out!

\

Buy DVC points and tell the grandkids they can visit you at WDW each year or every other year or every 3rd year.