Downsizing is a common event for seniors, yet it can be a very overwhelming experience too. Not only is it hard for seniors to leave the homes they have lived in for many years, but making decisions as to what to keep and what to get rid of can also be very difficult. If your parents have decided to downsize and need some help to do this, you may need to step in and offer assistance, solutions, and ideas. Here are some tips you may want to use to help them downsize in an effective, yet stress-free manner.

Determine The Absolute Essentials

One of the best first steps to take when helping your parents downsize is determining which items are absolute essentials. Absolute essentials are primarily large items, such as furniture, that will definitely be needed. For example, this may include the bedroom furniture, kitchen table and hutch set, and the couch and loveseat. These are the items that will definitely fit inside the new home and that will absolutely be necessary for living.

To complete this step, it might be helpful to have a picture of the layout of the new house they are moving to. The layout should not only contain the shapes of the rooms, but it should also include the locations of windows and doors as well as the dimensions of the rooms.

You can mark any items that are absolute necessities by placing a sticker of some kind on these items. As you go through each and every piece of furniture in your parent's house, you can also take the time to rule out items that they definitely do not want.

Start Early And Work Through Every Area Of The House

The next step you will need to do should be something you start on as soon as the decision is made for your parents to move. This step will involve going through every area of the home to sort through the things your parents own. As you do this, start with areas your parents have not touched in a very long time, such as the closets, attic, and basement. As you go through the things, create the following three sections:

• Things to definitely keep for the new house
• Things to keep that are not needed in the new house right away
• Things to get rid of

In addition, you will need to plan on throwing a lot away as you sort through the things. For the things that your parents will definitely want for the new house, use boxes to pack them up. Label the boxes as you go with their contents.

If there are a lot of things your parents want to keep but do not really need right away for their new house, you may want to consider renting a storage unit. You can pack these items up in boxes and label them as you go, and you could store them in a storage unit. The benefit of this is that they will still be able to keep the items; however, they will not be in the way while moving. As you pack them up, you can slowly move them to the storage unit.

Once your parents get moved to the new place, they can then bring a few boxes each week to their new place to go through them and make final decisions about the items. They will not have to rush through this, and this may make it easier on them knowing that they can keep these items, even if they are not currently being stored at their home.

If there are things they no longer want, you can help them make the decision to throw them away, sell them, or donate them.

Renting a storage unit makes downsizing a lot easier and a lot less stressful. To learn more, contact a storage unit facility like Access Self Storage.