Some endings are subtle. The last time you kept in touch with a friend who moved away. The last time you tucked your children in at night or read their favorite book. The last time you made lasagna from scratch before letting Costco do the work.

Other endings, not so subtle. Last month, I locked the door and said goodbye to the house we lived in for 44 ½ years. A house we built with the help of family and friends.

A year ago, I had no idea it would be our last Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter there. I suppose in a way, those were subtle endings.

We're so grateful for the wonderful memories raising our family in Madera Ranchos. We’re grateful too for another young family to now enjoy the house and community in that space.

Ironically, I had scheduled two Rightsizing your Home and Belongings presentations for September, before I knew we would be in the throes of a move ourselves.

These are some of the “practice what I preach” ideas that helped us accomplish a downsize from first entertaining the idea on June 19th to selling, buying, and moving into a brand-new house by September 19th.

Timely Tips for rightsizing

STOP AND CONSIDER.

What size home and yard is appropriate for your current phase of life?
What location aligns best with your priorities?
Are you needing a place with more services provided?
What’s the cost verses benefit of making a move?
Why might now be the best timing?

As we near retirement age, we were ready for less yard due to use, cost, and maintenance.

The benefits of moving included becoming more energy efficient and regulating our living expenses. With Prop 19, being 55+, and buying a smaller less expensive place, we were able to roll over our property tax rate.

Finding a home close to our church and community was a priority.

In general, moving aligned with our goal of simplifying life.

KEEP THE TREASURES. If everything’s precious, nothing’s precious.

Sort through and identify the things you need, use, and love.
Keep those that will fit comfortably in your new space and support your current phase of life.
Ensure you have your important records in order and purge what’s not needed.

Prepping our house for showing, helped me identify the things I use. Those got to stay inside. Things we use infrequently moved to the garage temporarily, and things we no longer used were donated.

I realized I wasn’t living as lean as I could be. After the move, some things we lived without access to for a couple months also became donations.

A few large items we loved didn’t make the cut. Although that was hard, and our granddaughters haven’t quite forgiven us for replacing our piano with a keyboard, I’m grateful on this end that our new place isn’t crowded with furniture.

A project that was on my “when I’m retired” list was purging my large three-drawer lateral cabinet of business and personal files. I rightsized to an open-topped rolling file cart that fits in my new office closet. The printer sits on top and a few infrequently accessed file bins are stored in the garage.

ORGANIZE THE PROCESS.

Create folders for categories: House Sale, House Purchase, Service Providers, Items to Purchase/Receipts, Checklists, and Timeline.
Keep these together in a portable file tote or briefcase.

There was much to keep track of. I set up matching digital folders for the things I could save electronically.

Rightsizing doesn’t always mean a move, but it does mean paring down to create a comfortable environment with easy access to what you need and use.