Walker Methodist | Apr 1, 2019
You’ve spent years accumulating the many items that live in your home. Offloading some of those belongings can be hard, but once it’s done, you’ll likely breathe a sigh of relief.
When you donate, sell, or dispose of your excess material items, you prepare yourself to enter the next phase of your life. You can make a fresh start, complete with new friends and adventures. If you’re moving to an assisted living or independent living community, you will want to make your new space feel like home, and by sorting through your things and determining the most important items, you’ll be well on your way to making a true home of your new place. But first, you’ll need to get through the sorting and discarding phase. Here are a few tips that can help.
Host a Goodbye Party
It’s not uncommon to feel attached to your items, so consider honoring those memories. Invite a cherished friend or family member who shares those memories to your house and spend an afternoon reminiscing over the various related items. Then if you determine you’d like to let them go, ceremoniously load them into a box to send them on their way. This will help highlight the fact that even when the item is gone, the memory will remain.
Donate to Family
There are many benefits of donating your items to family members. One is that you can have them stop by and pick them up, saving you the trouble of having to transport it and getting a bit of family time in at the same time. If you have a young relative moving into a new apartment or buying a first house, it can really come in handy since you may be able to easily send most of your furniture to a good home. Best of all, your favorite items will stay in the family.
Have an Estate Sale
An estate sale is an easy way to sell most of your items in a short time period. There are companies that specialize in planning and managing every aspect of your estate sale so you won’t have to do a thing. They’ll take a fee for their services, but the money you’ll make will help you pay for it. If there are items that don’t sell, they’ll also handle donating it for you if you prefer.
Invest in Storage
No matter what you decide to do with your items, there may be a few things you want to keep. Those cherished memories can go into a treasure chest that you take to your new home. You could also invest in a small storage unit to hold your items so that they’ll be safe and secure in case you someday want to use them. This is also an option if you want your relatives to consider taking some of the items the next time they’re in town.
As you prepare to embark on your next phase of life, there are some things you’ll inevitably need to part with before you go. Some you’ll be able to keep, but many will hopefully be passed on to a good home, where they’ll help another family create lasting memories. If you’re still in the process in determining where your new home will be, let our community guide help you decide if independent or assisted living would be good options for you.