Retirement Re-set: Moving to a Senior Living Facility
Retirement Re-set: Moving to a Senior Living Facility
As exhausting as it may be to downsize and move after 29 years in a well-loved residence, moving late in life and adjusting to a new environment is also exciting and a chance to reinvent one’s lifestyle. It’s been just 10 days since the moving truck delivered our furniture and other possessions to our new home and my husband and I are already settled in – boxes emptied, pictures hung, and food in the fridge.
Just as my life is divided into earlier episodes – childhood with parents, going away to college and grad school, early career experiences, self-employment, service as an elected official, early retirement accompanied by a variety of part-time and short-term jobs, followed by full retirement and volunteer positions – our recent move to Parkshore at Juanita Bay is a new beginning, offering new friendships, activities and the opportunity to be free from some of the stresses of home maintenance and bill-paying.
Downsizing our possessions was painful but at times rewarding. It’s hard to let go of possessions that are a reminder of special people or special events, but you probably wouldn’t even have thought of them if you weren’t carefully going through containers of long-stored items. Family heirlooms can be a burden to maintain, so when no one in the next generation is interested in preserving them, it’s time to let them go. Pictures that have been stored for decades are items you can leave behind, or plan to store electronic copies of the ones most important to you. It can be fun to review all these old items, as long as you enjoy the memories and give yourself permission to dispose of them.
If you begin to feel overwhelmed regarding the need to let go of objects, just be grateful you aren’t forced to lose them due to a fire, flood, war, or another disaster. It’s a privilege to have been able to accumulate these precious things and now it’s time to let many of them go. Downsizing is key to enjoying the last years of your life, without the stress of managing a large household or acting as the curator of the family history museum. Downsizing is also a gift to your family, freeing them from the need to sort through a whole household of stuff when you are gone.
In previous moves, we did much of the work ourselves: packing, truck rental, loading and unloading, and unpacking. With added years, weaker bodies, and more financial resources, we opted to get help wherever we could. We paid for packers, movers, and unpackers. This assistance did a lot to lessen the stress of the move and made it possible to adjust quickly to our new home.
Our strategy was to determine early on which items of furniture would fit in our new home. We also considered the storage available in the new building and planned to only move furniture, clothing, pictures, kitchen paraphernalia, books and memorabilia which we were confident would fit. The contents of three file cabinets were pared down to fit in one. The contents of several bookshelves were adjusted to fit in one. Duplicate kitchen utensils were disposed of.
One of our biggest challenges was dealing with surplus items without sending them to the landfill. Some people have success selling items online or even putting them into an auction. We explored those options unsuccessfully. We were able to sell some jewelry to persons in the jewelry business, but we totally failed to sell anything else. Instead, we gave items away, first to friends and family, then charities, and eventually to anyone who would take things away. In the end, the moving company delivered a desk, table, and bookcase to a charity for us, since we had been unable to find them new homes.
Moving surprises:
1. We had to laugh as we discovered how many unnecessary duplicates we had: measuring cups, toilet paper, towels, glasses, water bottles, band-aids, bars of soap, pill containers, etc.
2. Pillows can be hard to downsize. We had way too many, but Goodwill does not take most pillows and it was hard to figure out where to take them to avoid the landfill.
3. Some people successfully sell things online. I think those are people who participate in many different online marketplaces and have experience knowing how to best present the items and conclude a sale. We attempted online sales but it only brought us frustrations. People would ask many questions and then decide they did not have an ability to pick up the selection or they’d come to get the item and decide they don’t want it after all. We had zero success with online sales.
4. Our best help in giving away furniture came through an online post offering our file cabinet, computer desk and breakfast table for free. An immigrant family, new to this country, responded and offered to take almost everything we offered to them. They may have used the items themselves or passed them on to others, but it didn’t matter to us, since we had concluded we could not sell these things. They were too large for us to take to a charity donation site, and they needed to be removed so we could complete our move. It helped that these recipients continually expressed their gratitude for our gifts, gave us small thank you presents, and wished us well in our new home.
5. An online auction had been suggested to us but was not workable because we didn’t have sufficient items of significant value. An estate sale or garage sale was not practical because we lived in a condominium. Rummage sales put on by charities might have been an option if they had coincided with our moving schedule, which they did not.
Now that we are settled in our new home, we are enjoying getting to know our neighbors and neighborhood. The view from our windows is Juanita Creek and the wooded area along the stream. Active birds, bunnies, butterflies, and bees provide regular entertainment. The food in the dining room is delicious and reasonably priced. We are beginning to participate in the exercise program. Juanita Beach Park is just a few steps away and I’ve already walked over there several times. All my favorite pictures have found places on the wall – probably too cluttered for some people’s tastes, but I enjoy the memories and history the pictures represent, along with the many collectibles I brought with me in my curio cabinet. There’s a story behind every object, or I wouldn’t have brought them.
People sometimes joke that “aging is not for sissies.” I admit that moving can be hard work, but planning ahead, working out details when you are still agile and alert enough to manage changes, is key to a successful move.
I have some other blog posts that are related to this topic, please take a look:
The Pain and Joy of Downsizing
Making Your Retirement Work for You
Downsizing Challenges – What Do I Do with all this Stuff?
Tips and Traps Regarding Senior Living and Finances
Save Stress and Money for Your Loved Ones through End-of-Life Planning
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