important.” It’s true. If something is important to you, you’ll always find time for it. If it’s not, you’ll always find an excuse for avoiding it.
When it comes to downsizing, you may have good reason to feel as if you don’t have enough time. But I promise you this: You’ll find it. And if you downsize properly, you probably won’t need as much of it as you expect.
The reality is that many of the milestones that require downsizing come with built-in deadlines. If you don’t get finished packing and moving on time, your missed deadline might be costly.
As I’ve mentioned, research involving older people found that they typically made their downsizing-related move in just 8 weeks. That’s not much time. But you may find yourself in an even bigger rush, like I did.
When it was time to sell our family home, my siblings and I had only 1 week when we were all available to work together. My mother was already in assisted living, and her house had to be decluttered, painted, staged, and put on the market in 10 days. The whole process—even for a professional organizer with a small army of siblings—was daunting.
Depending on your local market, you might find a buyer for your home within a few weeks, or even days, of putting it up for sale. If you’re moving between rental homes, you’ll likely hurry to move out to minimize paying rent on two places. If mom or dad is moving to long-term care, you may need to empty out their home quickly and sell it to cover their expenses. Or you may have to sort through their possessions under the deadline of an upcoming estate sale.
Of course, a lot of other tasks are filling your plate during this time, too—perhaps you’re checking out new schools, obtaining a mortgage, traveling between cities, or scrubbing the baseboards thoroughly enough to please the landlord or the new owner. Maybe you’re only able to tend to these chores on the weekend, while you juggle your job and your kids during the week. Maybe you need to take frequent breaks due to your health or fitness limitations. (Downsizing can be physically exhausting.)
If you’re asking, “Peter—if you already know how stressful downsizing is, why are you giving me even more tasks to do? Why can’t I skip all this self-examination and preparation so I can go get these boxes packed?” I’d have to say those are valid questions.
But I don’t recommend extra responsibilities for no good reason. I devised the Let It Go way of downsizing to achieve two purposes: It reveals the life-improving gifts that many downsizers never discover, and it should actually save you time!
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Two Downsizing Time-Savers
As you’re downsizing and sorting through items in your home, try to be as logical and methodical as possible.
Always sort like things together. This enables you to see how many of any particular type of item you have (like reading glasses, office supplies, and screwdrivers). You’ll be better able to choose the best or the newest to take with you.
Leave these things for later. Photos, scrapbooks, and personal letters or documents usually create the greatest distraction—and they’ll be the quickest to delay or derail your downsizing. Box up such personal items and leave them for sorting once everything else is done. I guarantee that the moment you start leafing through these things, you’ll find yourself losing time to nostalgia.
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The extra time and attention you’re already devoting to preparing for the downsizing will speed up the actual process once you begin. For example, if a loved one has veto power over your downsizing decisions—like a spouse or sibling—you’d better believe that this person has the ability to slow down the timetable or even bring movement to a halt. I’m going to help you create a proactive plan for teamwork ahead of time, which will prepare the path for speedier downsizing.
Another reason why the Let It Go method moves more quickly is because it streamlines the decision making that could otherwise swallow epic stretches of your precious time. And believe me, this easily happens!
“Do I need to keep this hand-carved tiki statue I bought in Hawaii? That was such a good time! Except for the huge fight we got into the day I bought this statue! My life is so much better now that I’m divorced. But I sure wish I had more money so I could travel like I did back then. Should I go through with this retirement decision,