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Six Steps to Downsizing
 Promote Your Health or Elder Care Related Service Here This helpful article on downsizing is written by Brenda Scagnetti Clement, a Professional Organizer with fifteen years of organizing experience in homes and offices. Brenda is the owner of Complete Organizational Services LLC a Certified Senior Approved Service. Do you feel overwhelmed at just the thought of downsizing?Do you get stressed just looking around at your accumulation of ‘stuff’? Well downsizing doesn’t have to be stressful and overwhelming. In fact, with some simple planning and preparation, and perhaps some help from a professional, you will be amazed at how stress free, exhilarating and rejuvenating the experience of downsizing can be.These are the very “six steps” that I follow when I work with clients that need a little help with their downsizing and organizational goals.
Step #1 – Ask yourself, ‘Why do we have so much stuff?’ Consider the fact that having too much stuff or clutter in your home weighs you down, both physically and emotionally. It squanders our time, space and our money and saps our precious energy. When you have an overabundance of stuff it hides the treasures that actually bring us delight. Are you willing to let it go – perhaps to someone that could truly use it right now? Are you holding on to a gift that you won’t use but feel badly passing on? Are you keeping things based only on sentimental value? Are you saving clothes because you think it might fit one day? Are you storing items because, ‘I might need it some day’, or perhaps you plan to ‘save’ it for the kids? Step One prepares you emotionally to consider the possibility of letting go those things that are not necessary or of current use. Begin this task by breaking it down into small manageable pieces. Work in one room at a time or one closet at a time and ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” Step #2 – Deciding What to Keep Ask yourself these three important questions when you are deciding what to keep and what to get rid of.
Step #3 – Share Your Knowledge People love to save books even after they have read them. After spending time with a book, you become emotionally attached to it. Besides they look pretty sitting on our bookshelves. However, when downsizing, now is the time to start getting rid of books that you don’t plan on reading or referencing again. Go ahead and share your books with someone you know will make good use of them. Step #4 – Items that seem to Multiply Yes, those empty food containers make great storage containers, but how many do you really need? I say, a few at best. If you have more then five or six empty yogurt or cottage cheese containers stuck in a cabinet collecting dust, it’s time for a trip to the recycling bin. Step #5 – Disposing of items Decide that -
Step #6 – Discover the Freedom of Simplification! One important thing to remember when downsizing is that letting go of the things you don’t regularly use can truly set you free! Downsizing doesn’t mean you can’t own what you love, it just means owning less of it. It means focusing on what’s important and what really matters and letting go of the rest.
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