8
Tips
FOR
Decluttering
By Tom Sightings, Baby-boomer, writer & blogger
L
ike many retirees, our household is
downsizing. We have sold our house
in the suburbs and now, just last week,
moved into a one-bedroom condominium.
Six months ago we had a basement full of
old boxes and an attic full of memorabilia.
We had overflowing kitchen cabinets,
closets bulging with old clothes, bookcases
bursting with books and tabletops littered
with little trinkets and tchotchkes.
But now, everything has been packed
away and moved out the door. We have
one truckload in our condo, and another
has been sent to storage – to await the time
when we settle down into a house or condo
that is bigger than what we have now, but
smaller than what we had before. How did
we do it? Honestly, a month ago it seemed
like an impossible task. But it happened.
So, here are my eight tips for how to
declutter and prepare for downsizing
in retirement.
44 55PlusLivingGuide.com
• Visit: Sightingsat60.blogspot.com
1. Call the kids.
The first thing we did was put our four kids on notice that we
were moving, and we expected them to come and sort through
their things, take what they wanted and dispose of the rest.
One son had already moved 800 miles away and had taken most
of what he wanted. We sent him photos of the rest. He told us
what to bring him when we met him at B’s mother’s 100th
birthday party. The rest we got rid of. We were lucky that
another son had recently bought his own house. He came with
a U-Haul and not only took all of his own stuff, but loaded up
a couple of extra pieces of furniture into the back of the truck.
2. Donate to a church rummage sale.
Our church has a big rummage sale every April. We donated
two carloads of clothes and kitchen equipment. Plus, church
volunteers came with a pickup and took away several
bookcases, a TV case, a dining room sideboard and a few
other pieces of furniture.
3. Make trips to recycling.
Our town recycling center accepts old electronics (so do
electronics stores such as Best Buy), both paperback and hard
back books, scrap metal and paper of all kinds. I made at least
a dozen trips to our recycling center.