Complete Guide to Decluttering and Downsizing as You Age

There are a lot of reasons to downsize and declutter, and a lot of these reasons become more pronounced as you age and start to think about retirement, physical limitations, and the latter years of your life.

It can be difficult to downsize and declutter, and it can be emotionally draining to go through the process. It’s why so many people don’t have a plan for downsizing their lives as they age, even when they recognize the need for a plan.

While there isn’t one perfect way to downsize and declutter your life, there are lots of strategies and practices that can help.

There are also benefits to decluttering and downsizing that you’ll be able to enjoy once you’ve gone through the process! It might be hard work, but it can be worth it!

This article aims to provide a comprehensive guide to start your downsizing and decluttering. We cover benefits, considerations for when and why you’ll want to downsize, various proven methods for downsizing, and how this can extend the time you spend enjoying your life instead of stressing about it.

Lastly, this article isn’t just someone talking to others about what they should do: it’s personal. My own decluttering has improved my life greatly, and I’ve seen family members struggle and suffer with efforts to downsize as they age and it becomes harder for them to maintain their former lifestyle, until it affects those around them as well. No one wants to be a burden, and decluttering and downsizing is one way to avoid that.

So I’ve been through these things, personally and with loved ones. It’s not easy. But it can be worthwhile.

What Is Downsizing and Decluttering?

The two terms are related but can refer to different goals and practices.

Downsizing often refers to moving into a new home or other residence that is smaller than your previous home.

The reasons for this are potentially numerous, but many cases of downsizing involve children moving out of the home, the death of a spouse, or a desire to have less upkeep and space to maintain as you age.

Decluttering usually accompanies downsizing, though it doesn’t need to and can be done on its own.

Decluttering is reducing the amount of stuff you have in your life. Some of this benefit can be realized through organizational methods, but a lot of it involves donating, selling, or simply discarding items that no longer have use.

By the time you’re middle aged or older, chances are you have accumulated decades worth of items, both your own and those of family or friends. The result can be more than you will ever need, and often more than is ideal to maintain a balance in your lifestyle.

Increasingly, “clutter” can also mean non-physical items such as digital files and the less tangible “mental” clutter that many of us experience while stressed. We’ll discuss strategies for each of these below.

Health & Wellness Benefits of Decluttering and Downsizing

Get rid of stuff and improve your health! Ok, so it’s not quite so simple as that. But there are tangible health benefits that can result from systemic decluttering.

Before are some of the biggest benefits with short descriptions of what many people experience after downsizing and decluttering:

1. More Free Time - a smaller yard or fewer rooms to clean means more time back in your life to spend on other endeavors.
2. Accident Prevention - accidents in the home become a much bigger fear as you age, and the less you have to manage, the less likely it is that you’ll put yourself at risk.
3. Dust, Mold & Mildew Reduction - stuff accumulates dust, and if you have an overabundance of items in places like your basement or garage, you risk mold or mildew forming in them over time.
4. Pest Control - speaking of those boxes in the basement or garage, what are the odds that they’ve stayed pest-free for years or even decades? Small animals like to hang out in areas like garages that have a lot of little hiding places, which clutter provides.
5. Simpler Cleaning - you might not be able to do chores for as long as you used to, which means more of your time and energy on keeping everything clean.
6. Indoor Air Quality - this is related to some of the items above. When you remove sources of dust, mold, mildew and other airborne pollutants, the air quality in your home can greatly improve. Then this relates to allergies, contracting illnesses, clearing up lingering coughs and more.
7. Increased Focus - there are studies suggesting that we focus better in uncluttered environments. Whether you work from home or just want to be more mindful and present with the people in your life, decluttering can help to do that.

Decluttering isn’t a catch-all solution to each of these. For example, indoor air quality can be a larger issue that requires professional attention. But each of these areas can be improved with an attention on decluttering.

When Should You Downsize or Declutter?

There isn’t a one-size-fit-all answer to this question, but there are signs that it may be time.

The first possibility is that you should start immediately. Even if you aren’t planning a move in the near future, it can sometimes take months or years to make a dent in the clutter in your home. The benefits will help you in your current residence, and you’ll be more prepared down the road when you do want to move somewhere else.

For some, decluttering is an ongoing project, one that’s never truly done but has to be monitored periodically.

Other signs are related to your specific living conditions. Are there fewer people living in the home than it’s designed for? Are rooms that were previously navigable suddenly turning into storage closets? Do you find yourself slowing down in completing weekly or monthly chores around the home?

We’ve focused on in-home clutter, but yard work can contribute to this as well. Large yards can take as much time to maintain as a part-time job! While many people take pride in their yards, other times it can be a burden to keep up with all of the work that needs done.

So even if your “stuff” is manageable, the size of the space you’re maintaining may be the indicator that it’s time to downsize.

Options to Downsize

Depending on your age and living situation, you have options when it comes to a new place to live.

The first, and probably most obvious, option is simply to move into a new home that’s smaller than your current home.

Renting is another option. Some homeowners are hesitant to switch to renting after owning their home for a long time. But many end up enjoying the benefits of not having to worry about upkeep and maintenance of the property, which rental property owners generally handle. The free time and peace of mind you get back can be enormous.

Lastly, you may not need to look for caregiving or care facility options, but retirement communities exist that have a lot of amenities and benefits baked into the community infrastructure.

While a lot of retirement communities are standalone, others are linked to care facilities in a CCRC, or Continuing Care Retirement Community. These organizations provide different types of living arrangements depending on your needs, from independent living all the way up to skilled care nursing homes.

Decluttering Methods, Tips & Tricks

Below we’ve included a lot of popular methods for decluttering and downsizing your life.

Not all of them will work for every person. And it may be difficult to use more than one method simultaneously (conversely, some methods may compliment others). Read through each and decide which one works best for you.

KonMari Method

Marie Kondo is a Japanese consultant who became popular through her KonMari method for decluttering and organizing.

She advocates a method wherein you go through types of items in your home (clothes, kitchenware, etc.) and decide which items spark joy, or not. It’s this immediate emotional reaction that helps people to shed many items that don’t “spark joy” in their lives.

This core method is supplemented by organizational techniques and products.

Swedish Death Cleaning

This isn’t as morbid as it sounds, and can even be quite lovely for some.

The core idea is decluttering before your stuff becomes a burden to you, with the intent of not allowing it to become a burden for your loved ones after you pass away. It’s also seen as an opportunity to go through your things and remember what they meant to you, traversing the memories they bring up as you go through them.

The point isn’t to get rid of everything, but to keep only those items that you’ll feel good about leaving behind; those most useful or of greatest sentimental value to you.

Various tactics help to make the methodology easier for many. For example, many will start with items that they have less emotional attachment to, to give themselves a sense of progress. Some will also inform family members they’re doing this, with an invitation to take part in the process. This can make it a shared experience where you recollect memories alongside loved ones.

Four-Box Method

This is a simple way of quickly deciding what to do with items. The four boxes are:

1. Keep
2. Donate
3. Discard
4. Store

That last category is where items go that you’re undecided on, so it’s not forcing you to decide definitively on getting rid of or keeping something.

Many can go through each room in their home and are surprised to find out just how much stuff they’re willing to donate or discard.

Packing Party

This is an idea pioneered by a group who refer to themselves as The Minimalists. The idea will seem drastic to some, but can facilitate quick decluttering for those desiring immediate change.

You “pack” all of your belongings as though you were moving. But you’re not moving.

Then you unpack items only as you need them. Once you’ve hit a certain time limit (30 days, 90 days, 6 months, 1 year, etc.) you donate anything that’s still in a box. It’s intended to help you prioritize the items you actually use in your life.

Smaller versions of the method can be viable for some who don’t want to pack up their entire lives. You can do this with just clothes. Or just shoes. Or a single room or area of the home at a time.

90-Day or One Year Rule

Variations on this method exist, and it’s sort of similar to the packing party idea just above. The core idea is that you have a certain time limit, often 90 days or one year. If an item isn’t used in that time, it’s time to get rid of it.

The one year rule can hedge against seasonal differences in item usage. If you go for 90 days, but those 90 days are hot summer months, you won’t use your winter jackets and many other items intended for use in colder weather. So variations on this rule can be more appropriate for some.

Yard Sales

Yard sales aren’t as common as they used to be in past generations, but they still exist in every part of the country and can often help you to shed a lot of items while putting a little money in your pocket at the same time.

Micro-Goals and Incremental Progress

All of these methods can undoubtedly help those looking to declutter and downsize, but they come with risks of burning out or becoming stressed.

It’s here that we’ll stress two important points:

• Don’t try to go too fast. Go at your own pace.
• Don’t stress about the entirety of the task. Take it in small steps.

Sometimes all it takes to feel a sense of progress is going through a single box of stuff. If that’s all you get to in a week or month, it’s still progress. And if you truly want to declutter, this process will feel good, and it will motivate you to accomplish more.

Suddenly, one box per week might be two, then three, then five. And before long you’ll start to see the results.

Focusing on the Positives

Shedding items can be difficult. There are nostalgic memories tied to many of them. For others, they become overwhelmed with the enormity of the task.

This is why it’s important to focus on the positives as a result of decluttering. Acknowledging that the process won’t be simple, but that it’s a worthwhile project, can help you stay on track.

Related to this, it can be useful to remind yourself of your end goal of downsizing: why do you want to downsize and declutter? Whatever your reason, focusing on that can provide the strength needed to continue onward.

Digital Decluttering for Seniors

Increasingly, people live their lives online or on their phones, computers, tablets, and related devices, and portions of their lives are cataloged on personal websites or social media feeds.

Having a plan to “declutter” your digital life can bring peace of mind in much the same way that physically decluttering can.

Often it can be difficult for seniors to form a plan for digital decluttering. In these situations, it can be helpful to reach out to younger family members for assistance.

While strategies for digital decluttering are a bit beyond the scope of this article, we do want to mention it as a consideration as you begin to downsize your life. You might be surprised at how much time and energy you can get back by curating and reducing your digital presence.

Mental, Cognitive and Spiritual Decluttering

Physical clutter can often manifest as mental clutter. Stress, anxiety and depression aren’t necessarily linked to clutter, but the overwhelm of dealing with clutter can certainly lead to these negative emotions.

This is why it’s important to monitor your mental health alongside any downsizing efforts. Mindfulness exercises, meditation or prayer, counseling or therapy sessions, and more can all assist with these efforts.

There isn’t a single path to mental and spiritual clarity, but these sorts of techniques can aid in the process as you go through the things in your life and transition away from them.

Aging in Place and Decluttering

Dealing with stuff can be time-consuming and exhausting. A large yard takes time to care for. Numerous rooms mean that you will have dust, vacuum, and clean more often. Organizing and storing things can be its own burden.

When these burdens combine, it can be difficult to remain in a home or other residence long-term as your ability to manage it declines as you age.

Decluttering and downsizing can thus allow you to stay where you’re at for a longer period of time, without having to rely on costly hired help or transitioning to a care facility that you may not wish to live in.

Strategies for “aging in place” are numerous, and can include modifications to your home and maintaining your health. Decluttering and downsizing is another tool that can be useful in this goal.

Helping Elderly Parents Declutter

Often, it’s not yourself that you’re looking to declutter, but an elderly parent or grandparent, or other friend or relation.

These situations can be tricky to manage, because there might be hesitance or resistance to this change.

Getting the parent or relative involved in the process is the best way to ensure good results. Do they agree to downsize? Do they see the benefits they’ll experience by decluttering? Are they making decisions on what to keep or discard?

It’s here that tools like the “Four Box Method” outlined above can come in handy, because you don’t have to make decisions for your elderly parents. You’re merely facilitating their decisions and helping to execute them.

If your parent(s) are living at home and receiving home care, speaking with your home care specialist can also help to develop strategies for decluttering responsibly, in ways that maintains the agency and integrity of their decisions.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Looking for home care options? Check out our comprehensive National Care Directory for organizations near you!

Downsizing and Decluttering: Clarify Your Life

Remember the goal: clarify what’s important in your life by simplifying it.

Do you want to spend more time with your family? Continue with your hobbies? Travel more? Or simply have less to do around the home as you age?

Decluttering and downsizing can be powerful ways to achieve the most from your life, whether it’s these goals or any others you may have. Understanding your goals, and then forming a plan to achieve them, is the best step you can take.

The strategies and methods in this article can assist in these efforts in giving you the tools and tactics needed to downsize your life responsibly. Ultimately, downsizing isn’t about getting rid of something, but gaining back those things that are most important, then focusing on them for years to come!