Downsizing Will Defeat you - Retirement Dilemma

I find that the hardest thing to STOP thinking about is "how much is that worth?". When my Mom passed, I took all her Royal Doulton and Beswick figurines to a charity shop. People were shocked that I did that, but I had no interest in collecting "dust catchers" and did not want to clutter my mind thinking about $$. I don't care if they were sold for pittance and later sold for a fortune on Kijiji. They are gone, and hopefully being enjoyed by someone who wants that kind of thing. Donate, Donate, Donate! You do not have to be rich to be a philantropist ... I learned to just donate stuff and stop thinking about what I could sell it for. It wasn't easy, but worth it.

I can remember visiting my Oma in her room at the nursing home when i was 25ish. I thought to myself, "in the end all that was left was a chair, night table, dresser with 3 or 4 outfits and a picture of my Opa".... Funny, I still have that chair in my garage at 55 years old. Cheers

Hi, my husband and I are starting to talk about retirement and I really enjoy your videos and advice. I had a neighbor that pAssed away, 93 years old..the children came, rented a dumpster and clear the house…I cried…thinking here are all her things she held on and they saw it as junk. It makes you think, hold on to the memories and pictures and let go of the things that no one wants. I’m trying to do that. Thank you and stay well.

I’m a home stager and I help a lot of people with decluttering and down sizing. One thing I suggest to my clients it to take a photo of the item before you sell or donate them - that way you will still have the memory without having to trip over the item - hope that helps folks on here

We’ve been downsizing every time we move…we FINALLY moved in to our “forever” retirement house 5 1/2 years ago. I’m still downsizing. The less I have now, the happier I am. I’ve been a hospice volunteer…you don’t take it with you. Cheers. 🇺🇸

Downsizing was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done and required help from a therapist and anxiety medication. We moved from a 4500 sq fit house to a 1400 sq ft apartment and moved in 16 days. You are correct, the small stuff is what kills you. These small things that have emotional attachments are the worst and it is a grieving process to let these things go. We brought too much stuff and are working through all of that stuff now. It is a process. As my husband said, “We thought it would be minor surgery, but it is actually a quadruple amputation.” And it was just that and continues to be a process. Thanks for your videos.

I downsized my mum twice, my mother-in-law twice and my father-in-law three times over the space of ten years. This included me storing their stuff in my garage to sell to help with their care. This included ten garage sales. This included taking care of my adolescent children with learning challenges. Now I have to downsize my household in the next few years to prepare for our retirement. Yikes!

Well, Norm and Tina we did it! Ever since we began watching your videos we have thought about selling our condo and renting. We found a great apartment which spurred us on to sell our condo (which sold in just 5 days). We had one month to downsize and move. We have been going non-stop and ruthless in getting rid of things, either by selling or donating. Margaret a Magnuseen has written a book titled ‘The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning’. Essentially the theme is to declutter so it is not left to your children to deal with it all after you are gone. Our condo was in a 6 unit walk-up with most of the upkeep falling to my soon to be 80 year old husband. While we loved the condo itself, we could see the time to move was now, not 3 years from now. Oh, two things…..one, we are surprised how many people ask us how much we pay in rent, and two, the idea of not owning seems to shock people. We are fine with it, but we do see raised eyebrows. So, bottom line, although we are tired we are delighted with our decision and glad we made the move. AND, the rental building has an elevator! Thanks for planting the seed, we are so happy we made this move.

My rule is to never store anything in the attic because you obviously don't need it and will forget it is there. My mom always said "If you haven't used it in six months and it is replaceable, out it goes". Here is another good one - if you find something you forgot you had, you obviously don't need it; out it goes! And, making decisions about what to keep shortly after a parent dies, is not the time to make that decision. Decide beforehand and stick to it.

Moving abroad is the ultimate downsizing motivation. I sold my house in 2015 and put some in storage as I traveled for a few years. Then I returned, took everything out of storage and moved into a small apartment. I got rid of a lot but now I'm moving and can't ship more than a box or two. I have no kids so everything will be sold or donated . Yes Norm, even my antique camera collection...

I started downsizing 10 years ago…and my house is still full! 😂😂 I describe going through layers - letting go a little deeper each time I go through things. Another few years and I should be down to basics…about time I figure that I’ll move down in space. Great topic kids! 🤗🙏

We sold our parent's 3000 Sq ft house in Vancouver and only kept 2 items ftom my dad and two from my mom. To get rid of so much crap we simply hired a junk company to get rid of it. We have no regrets. 😊 And yes I have all those photo albums and don't know half the people in them...lol.

I absolutely love Tina and Norm and this channel! This content is pure gold in helping me think about and plan my retirement planning and journey. Thank you both so much!

I sent Mike to the basement while listening to music from his youth to go through boxes of cr*p when we downsized. Not only was he able to get rid of so much stuff, the music helped take him back to that time memories. I would check on him enjoying the process. This is now a special memory we talk about.

It’s so true, decluttering is an ongoing process no matter what your age but when doing a true downsizing you have to be really honest with yourself about what you need to support the life you’re moving to. It doesn’t mean you can’t keep some of those sentimental items you love but it has to fit comfortably in the space you have. Comfortably, easy to access - not crammed in or stuffed away. Life is so much easier then.

It is an ongoing process for sure. One thing that was so sad about clearing out my mom’s house were the things she kept and never used because they were for “nice”, and now no one wants these silver, crystal, linen items. So USE your nice stuff now, or let it go so your family isn’t stuck trying to decide what to do with it all. If someone admires a thing you have, gift it to them now!

Decluttering is most definitely a lifelong process. So many ways to get stuff into your home and the only way out is that conscience effort which can be terribly difficult especially with sentimental times. My hubs and I did a quick run thorough of our basement and even that resulted in a bin full of stuff to throw out/giveaway. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Tina and Norm! Ok off to get rid of more crap now 😂😂

I love your channel! My husband left 8 years ago and we lived in a very large home. I stayed in it for two years until the kids finished high school and then downsized. Your are absolutely correct…I thought I had downsized, but realized that I still had too much. The big things were easy, but the more sentimental things were harder. I was quite surprised at the lack of interest in things that I thought were so valuable. You are also correct that my kids don’t want a lot of things that I thought they would. However, I don’t want to leave my kids with a “mess” of things to get rid of when I pass away. I really like your idea of “continual downsizing” when you retire. It is a really hard process mentally though because it is coming to terms with your own mortality and the fact that you don’t “need” things in the future…especially the sentimental things.

Thank you! The benefit of "living light" and removing stuff/crap/unused space from your life is amazing. We went from 3,500 sq ft with a second home and a crazy number of big toys to a 600 sq ft condo and it is my favorite home so far. It is not just physical decluttering. It is mentally decluttering as well. I suspect many of us have "home esteem" or "stuff esteem" but it is a high tax on your time and your happiness - ultimately, I suspect it is a drag on your happiness. When you think about how little of your home you really use, and things you can easily rent (boats, exotic cars, party venues, vacation homes, etc.) versus own and maintain, it's amazing how little space and stuff you need. We are converts and love it!

We started downsizing months BEFORE we made the decision to move to our very small vacation home. One thing we did was go through the hundreds of photos in albums and just thrown into boxes. Many of those photos were duplicates, blurry, landscapes with no people in them, places we had visited that we could not remember. We made a “sweater” sized plastic box for each of our two children and one for ourselves. Tossed what was left. Now we only have our favorites. Also, we make a family photo book each year at Christmas time of the year’s best photos using the Shutterfly app. Each book is the same size and they stack neatly. No more guilt over just tossing memories.