Downsizing Tips for Helping Seniors Move

As the Boomer population continues to retire, many seniors are looking to downsize their homes. This requires giving belongings away to friends and family, donating to charities, or storing items in a self-storage unit. Below are tips for helping seniors move while saving time and money for downsizing seniors.

Inventory Household Items

Downsizing is the process of reducing the size of your home. This also requires reducing the number of items that are stored in your home. The first step to effectively downsize is to take an inventory of your household belongings. These items will then be placed into four categories:

• Items to move into your new home
• Items to give away to friends and family
• Items to donate to a charity
• Items to store in a self-storage unit

Giving Items Away to Friends and Family

After determining which items will be moved into your new home, the next group of belongings for downsizing seniors are those that will be given away to friends and family. These household items typically include family heirlooms, or those items with sentimental value. This could also include furniture that will no longer fit into your new home. Large dressers, dining room tables, or couches could be given away to family members who have space and needs for them. If you’re willing to part with them, other items that remind you of a time you spent with someone special, may also be given away before downsizing into your new home.

Donating Items to Charity

This aspect of downsizing for seniors is an opportunity to help others while also improving your own living situation. In a smaller home, typically there is less closet or storage space. A condominium, for example, may also not have a basement. Taking an inventory of your closets, basements and attics would usually help find quality items to donate to a charity. Clothing, hats or winter jackets that you no longer wear, for example, would be gladly accepted by a donation center. Toys that grandchildren used to play with that occupy space in your basement are another example of household items that could be donated while seniors are downsizing.

Storing Items in a Self-Storage Unit

A self-storage unit is an effective downsizing service for seniors. Seasonal decorations are an example of items that are ideally kept in a self-storage unit when downsizing. You will only need your Halloween or Christmas decorations for a limited time. These are items that seniors could store in a self-storage unit and retrieve when needed. If you have patio or lawn furniture that doesn’t have place just yet in your new home, these items could also be stored in self-storage by downsizing seniors. Self-storage is a great option for seniors or anyone else looking to downsize and it gives you the option of deferring how you will downsize those special items you took a lifetime to acquire and may not yet want to part with.

Find the Right Storage Solution for Your Loved One Today

Our self-storage professionals will be happy to answer any questions about the downsizing services that we can assist with. This could include storage unit size, features and climate control, to arranging a unit for more easy access. Find an ezStorage facility near you or call us today – we’d love to help make you and your loved one’s transition as easy as possible.