Tips For Downsizing Into A Senior Apartment
After you've retired and moved to a different stage of life, you may be considering moving to a senior community. You enjoy the benefits that come from senior living, including reduced maintenance costs, community services, and a simpler lifestyle. Moving from your current home to a simpler, smaller senior apartment may, however, seem daunting.
Here are some tips to effectively downsize in preparation for moving into your new senior living complex.
1. Give heirloom gifts away early.
Some of your things are special to you and you might hope to leave them for your children, grandchildren, or other friends and relatives. Don't hold onto these things until you pass away. Instead, make space in your life and simplify the moving process by giving away your heirlooms early. You can explain the significance and get opinions from your family on what things they want to adopt into their own lives, and you get to see the items enjoyed again by people you love.
2. Digitize keepsakes.
You might have boxes of old school projects, graduation photos, announcements, and photo albums. You can hire a company to make digital copies of things that are special to you so that you can put the original copies in a storage unit or even eventually throw them away. Digital copies will mean the keepsakes are accessible at any time, and then you can easily share them with family and friends. For very special things, such as letters and important cards, limit yourself to one stored box of special items in their original format.
3. Eliminate duplicates.
Downsizing means going through the things you've collected during your lifetime and eliminating some of the bulk. The easiest way to get rid of bulk is to purge duplicate items. For example, if you have four sheet sets for your bed, you might keep the two best ones. The same goes for things like coffee cups, dish sets, towels, blankets, winter coats, and books.
4. Donate lifestyle items you no longer have consistent use for.
Finally, you accumulate gear and supplies throughout your life that had a good use at one time but might not serve you anymore. For example, you may have children's toys left over from when your kids were young. You might have a large collection of camping gear, Halloween decor, or other niche equipment that doesn't see use anymore. Reducing this bulk can be challenging, as much of it is still useful. Consider selling it to recoup some costs or donating it to a family who will use it often.
For more information on finding a senior apartment complexes for you, contact a local real estate company.
