Downsize Today

Inspiration, motivation and guidance to ensure a smooth move to a smaller home.

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Ready to Downsize? Answer These Questions.

downsizing to smaller house,
Downsizing doesn't necessarily mean moving from a massive home into a tiny one. These side-by-side houses on 10th Street North in Arlington, Virginia, show how differently people can live. It's unrealistic to think that the owners of the big house could possibly be happy in a small house, and also a little unrealistic that the small-home occupants would ever want or need as much space as their neighbors. Downsizers may want to consider a more realistic goal of cutting their living space in half, though, to fully enjoy less stress and more freedom (and lower utility bills!).

Quick Quiz about Downsizing

  • Have you ever thought about selling your large house and moving to a smaller one?
  • Are there rooms in your house that you never use?
  • Are there rooms and closets in your house so jammed with "stuff" that you either hate going in there, or don't go in there at all?
  • Do you feel a little "stale" in your house and believe a total re-do of your life and style would be fun?
  • Do you long for a simpler life that allows you more freedom from chores and more flexibility to travel?
  • Are you afraid of what the next ten or twenty years has in store for you if you stay put?
  • Do you worry about the wear and tear and expensive maintenance on your house as time goes on?

If you answered YES to two or more of those questions, then the time is right to start the process. In addition to all the other reasons for downsizing "sooner rather than later" that are listed throughout this site (fewer people interested in large houses in the suburbs, growing demand for smaller homes and condos in desirable neighborhoods is pushing up prices, historically low interest rates that make it easier for people to buy your home, the longer you wait the harder it gets, etc.). one of the best reasons is because change is good.

Downsizing is hard. Change is good
Downsizing is hard. But change is good. Look past the challenges of downsizing and keep your eye on the end game. After the process is complete, you'll feel lighter and brighter and you'll expand your horizons by meeting new people experiencing new frontiers. Yes, it's hard, and it may take a couple of years, but downsizing is smart and enlivening!

 

It's easy to get stuck in a rut. It's simpler to view the huge task of downsizing and decluttering and finding a new way of life as too difficult than it is to embrace the process. And it's tempting to quell the desire to get out in the world and do something different with the excuse, "It's too big a chore," or "I am afraid of the unknown." As many people are fond of saying, change is good. Yes, it's hard, but it's necessary if we are to add layers of texture and depth to our lives. Everyone's life is a book, and every day is a page, every year a chapter. Make the book of your life more interesting and more colorful by embracing the big change that comes with downsizing.