Preparing for retirement often comes with new living arrangements, such as the Independent Living community at Montereau, where you can maintain your privacy while enjoying the amenities of the community. While this living option can give you the carefree lifestyle you want, it might mean downsizing to a smaller home. Parting with your cherished belongings is never easy, but these tips for downsizing for retirement can help.

1. Start With a Plan
Before you start downsizing for retirement, make a plan to keep yourself accountable. If your plans include a move to an Independent Living community, develop a timeline from now until moving day to spread out the activities. Decide how you’ll approach the process. Will you go room by room until you’re done? You might start in the area that has the most clutter and save the easier spaces for last in case you find yourself in a time crunch. Create milestones for downsizing and lists to help guide the process.

2. Consider Your New Space
If you’re decluttering your home and downsizing to move to a smaller home, consider the layout and available space in your new residence. If possible, sketch a floor plan with the room dimensions, so you can plan where things will go. This assists in choosing furniture and decor that fits well and is functional for your new space. You might decide the loveseat and accent chairs from your formal living room fit better in your new living room than the larger sofa set you have in your den, for instance.

3. Create Your Criteria
How will you decide what makes the cut for your move? Establishing criteria can help you eliminate certain things quickly. Here are some examples of things you might get rid of:

• Duplicates of tools and utensils
• Items you haven’t used in the last year
• Collectibles that no longer bring you joy
• Clothing that no longer fits
• Items you won’t need in an Independent Living community, such as lawn mowers
• Things that don’t have sentimental or practical value

4. Secure Your Valuables
As you start downsizing for retirement, your home may become a little messy. Protect your valuables by placing them in a secure, designated location while you downsize. This minimizes the chances of them getting misplaced or accidentally put in donate or sell piles.

5. Create Multiple Piles
As part of your system, decide what you want to do with the items you’re not taking. You can also have a category for items you’re unsure about for now. Examples of piles you might create include:

• Keep
• Sell
• Donate
• Toss
• Decide later

You might have storage containers or designated spots in your home for each category. As you go through your home, move items to those areas until you can actually pack, sell, donate or do other things with them.

6. Go Digital
Letters, photos and artwork from your grandchildren can be sentimental and bring you joy, but they also take up a lot of space. Turn those memories into digital copies, so you can still enjoy them without taking up physical space. Digital photo frames automatically flip through your photos to eliminate the need for piles of thick photo albums. You can also scan letters, cards and artwork to create a digital copy.

7. Hire Help
You don’t have to do all the work on your own. Downsizing and decluttering your home can be a huge undertaking, especially if you’re currently living in a large space. Hiring a downsizing specialist or professional organizer gives you expert help for the process.

This specialist serves as a neutral party, which can help when downsizing becomes emotional. They can be the voice of reason and help you talk through decisions on especially difficult pieces. Hiring help can also be useful if you have limited mobility or you’re on a short timeline for your move to senior living. If you’re interested in hiring help and in need of recommendations, some of our favorite senior moving companies in Tulsa are Senior Transitions and 2b-Organized.

Schedule a Tour
When figuring out how to prepare for a move into a senior living community, one of the biggest decisions is where to live. Montereau offers a friendly, sophisticated community with upscale amenities, including a spa and exquisite dining options. Contact us online or call us at 918-495-1500 to schedule a tour.