Moving Tips: Advice for seniors downsizing their homes

Calling a moving company, packing up your belongings and heading to a new, smaller home can be an emotional, and sometimes difficult, experience for many residents. However, the process may often be most difficult for seniors who move out of the houses they've dwelled in for years, possibly even decades.

Downsizing generally requires those moving into a smaller residence to get rid of some of their possessions due to a lack of space. Younger consumers may not need to worry about this, as many likely haven't accrued many belongings over the years, or at least ones that merit holding onto.

Senior citizens, on the other hand, may have an excess amount of possessions they have garnered during their lifetimes, thus making it difficult to discern what should be saved and what should be thrown away, sold or donated.

To determine this, elderly residents may want to begin by taking stock of everything they own. This can be time-consuming and might require a considerable amount of effort, so recruiting a younger family member could help substantially.

An ideal way seniors can figure out what's worthy of keeping and what's not is to determine how often they use an object, as well as what items can be easily replaced if needed down the line. For instance, an older person may have a significant amount of luggage. If they don't travel much anymore, though, it may make sense to get rid of some of the bags to younger relatives.

And when it comes to packing everything they decided to hold onto, the next best step could be to have a family member or two come to the house to spend a day packing everything a week or so prior to the move, save for anything needed on a daily basis.