Preface to the meaning of the linked post below:
I remember six or seven years ago my parents (then in their latter 60’s) decided to sell their house of 30 years and move from NC “back home” to TN. I didn’t like the idea at all because they hadn’t lived “at home” in the last 50 years and were leaving a place where they really had roots; family, church, friends, and familiarity.
I was a bit shocked when they didn’t get rid of many things at all. My brother and I took some things, their grandchildren took a few and the rest got packed and moved.
They moved into a much smaller house and put most of the extra boxes/furniture in storage. To this day, there are boxes that have never been opened. I admit, I was a bit confused watching all this play out.
Two years ago my mother-in-law rented a much smaller house in an adult community in TX and moved there, from SC, with just a few pieces of furniture and some decorations, etc. to see how she liked TX. For two years she kept her former house, in tact, only missing a few items here and there.
She decided last year that TX was a good place for her and she wanted everything in her house boxed up and moved to TX. We coordinated said move but there were a few heated discussions about this decision – because Trapper and I just couldn’t wrap our heads around moving all these things across the country.
Trapper and I had many conversations with all the parents about getting rid of extra things. And all of them did get rid of a handful of items that they knew they’d never use and hadn’t used in forever.
We tried being understanding but we didn’t understand the need to move a lot of things from place to place nor half way across the country. (My parents have since moved two more times).
We would say, “It’s just stuff – get rid of it!” Or, something along the lines of, “Why are you keeping this? Get rid of it!”
It wasn’t until the table got turned on us that we started to understand. Our words came back (a little) to bite us in the butt!
But during our own downsizing process I did come up with some “ease into it methods” that we used. I wish I’d known these when I was talking to our parents about downsizing. I would have been a better person guiding, assisting, and helping vs. dictating.
Ultimately we sold 95% of what we owned and at 54 and 62 – we owned a lot! It wasn’t easy for me at the very end. It wasn’t easy for Trapper at the end. Turns out somethings weren’t just stuff!
For more detailed content and Tips and Tactics check out the below posts.
Thanks for reading! And I hope the next two posts help someone. That’s the reason I’m doing this – to help others!
https://thefryway.com/index.php/downsizing/downsizing-tips-and-tactics-pt1/
https://thefryway.com/index.php/downsizing/downsizing-tips-and-tactics-pt2/