Many of the features of your home and the possessions you’ve gathered in your life are less necessary after retirement. In fact, to accomplish many of the goals that retirees have, getting rid of things, simplifying, and downsizing can make room for all the things they most want: time spent cleaning and maintaining a home in the past can go into travel, time with family, or hobby pursuits. Here are just a few options that can make retirement feel a lot richer even if you no longer have as much house or as many things.
Find a Home for Excess Furniture and Possessions
While there are certainly heirlooms that should stay with you and personal connections to items that you might share with family members, most of us also have a wide variety of stuff that is just… stuff! These items are better off finding a home, be it through handing them down to friends and family or by donating them to a worthy cause or even a regular thrift store. Furniture and possessions are, for the most part, there to be functional, and when you can give functional items a new place to be useful, you take them out of your orbit so that you don’t have to clean, maintain, or think about them any more.
Work to Digitize Paper-Based Records To Have Less to Move
Many retiring individuals find that they’ve accumulated a truly massive amount of paperwork over the years. There will always be room for truly important physical documents in a safe or a filing cabinet, but whenever possible, consider creating digital records instead. Having a grandchild or other person looking for flexible part-time work go through and scan your documents and shred the originals after saving them in with a few backups can be a way to keep your records with confidence, all while making space in your home and downsizing.
Evaluate How Small a Home You Can Comfortably Live In
Many people expect to have a certain kind of home because others in their social circle have that size of home, but it is worthwhile to think through if you could be just as happy with less to clean and maintain. It’s totally fair if you aren’t up for the tiny-home life, knowing that you and your spouse would be too cramped, but if something quite small would actually work great for you, consider how you can leverage your current home, ideally by selling your home as-is or renting it out, and get a home that suits how you really want to spend time.
Sell Your Current Home and Reap the Benefits of A Simpler Home Life
If you opt to sell your home in a high-value area like Seattle, Washington, you’d be amazed at what you can afford in a lower demand home. Many smaller beaches, mountainous areas, and other destination living locations are still less expensive than the Seattle metro, and if you add in the option of downsizing as you go, you may end up more financially comfortable after it is all done. This financial windfall can help you to accomplish those big retirement goals even more.
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