Let It Go - Peter Walsh Page 0,6
said, emotion rising in her voice.
Susan and Rich pulled an all-nighter trying to finish clearing out their home before they had to vacate it at 8:00 a.m. Ultimately, they left a pile of useful stuff on the curb for a garbage truck to pick up, because they had no more room in their cars.
Susan was about to embark on an amazing journey, but found herself stressed out and in tears, in large part because she couldn’t let her stuff go.
We made plans to reconnect later to see whether her new life would change her outlook on her possessions. Did she really need all her stuff once she got to Arizona? You’ll find out at the end of the book!
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The Accenture consulting firm estimated that boomers are in the process of receiving more than $12 trillion dollars in inheritance from their parents. This is changing hands in the form of bank accounts and homes, of course, but also vehicles, artwork, and stuff that will need to be kept, thrown out, or sold.
Departing boomers are already starting to pass along their own possessions to their Gen X and millennial children, and before they’re finished, they’ll leave $30 trillion worth of inheritance to their heirs.
This means a lot of adults—of all ages—are facing tough personal and family-related decisions:
How much of my parents’ stuff should I keep?
How do I decide what’s important and what’s not?
How do I want to use the next phase of my life?
What kind of legacy do I want to leave my children?
Those downsizing in retirement or contemplating their inheritance are certainly not the only ones struggling with these kinds of decisions. People regularly hit life-changing milestones that call for downsizing throughout their adulthood, such as:
Young adults who leave the family home and start their own households. One of the first challenges for many young people who are heading out on their own is to figure out what to do with the possessions they’ve collected over 20-some years. (Often their parents see this as a great opportunity to sweep the family nest clean of this stuff.)
But these belongings may not fit comfortably into the apartments and houses that young adults can afford on an entry-level salary. Also, many twentysomethings don’t have accurate insight into which items will be important later—which frankly is a quality they share with adults of all ages.
They may end up storing stuff they don’t really want. (“I can’t throw this away—it was obviously important enough for mom and dad to keep for me!”) Conversely, they may toss out childhood treasures that they’ll later wish they’d kept.
Couples who are marrying and combining households. Wedging the lives of two independent young people into one home can be challenging. Second marriages that combine households with children can lead to even tougher downsizing choices. These decisions can fuel arguments at a stressful time when relationships need all the nurturing they can get. (“How do we bring a fair amount from our old lives, while leaving room for our new family to make new memories?”)
Couples who are divorcing and splitting their household in two. One or both exes may need to downsize to a smaller home because of tighter finances or difficulty maintaining a large home and yard alone. (“My lawyer and I fought long and hard to keep this stuff during the divorce! Um, now what do I do with it?”)
Workers and their families who are moving long distances for a new job. Often the cost to ship a houseful of items is more than those items are actually worth! Also, relocating families may have to rent a temporary house for a while before settling into a home of their own, which means two moves loom on the horizon. (“This job change is turning into a bigger journey than a Mars expedition!”)
Families who must downsize because of a job loss. Though we’re now years past the Great Recession, plenty of workers still face job insecurity and tight household budgets. Following a job loss, workers and their families may need to move into a smaller home and sell a lot of possessions, either because they’re valuable or they won’t fit. (“This was important in our old home, but now we just can’t afford to keep it.”)
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Real-World Downsizing Discovery
MaryLisa says: Four years ago, I moved from a traditional-style 4,000-square-foot home to an 1,800-square-foot cottage. The cottage was already fully furnished, and we knew many of our furnishings would not fit because of their size and style. I started going