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The Gentle Guide to Downsizing: Making Space for How You Live Now

  • Writer: Cathy Borg
    Cathy Borg
  • 5 days ago
  • 5 min read
Cozy armchair with a knit pillow, open book, and blanket beside a window. Text reads "A Gentle Guide to Downsizing." Calm setting.


Does any of this sound familiar?

  • The house feels bigger than it needs to be.

  • The work it takes to keep everything running feels heavier than it used to.

  • You're not in crisis, but you can tell something isn’t quite lined up anymore.


Most people don’t arrive at downsizing eager to get rid of things.

They arrive because keeping everything comes with a cost. The cost is their time, energy, money, and mental space.


This guide is here to help you understand what downsizing is, why people choose it, and how to approach it calmly and thoughtfully.



What Downsizing Is — and What It Isn’t


Downsizing is not about getting rid of everything you own.

It’s not about minimalism. And it’s not about rushing decisions or forcing change before you’re ready.


Downsizing is about fit, how well your home and belongings support the life you’re living now.


Done well, downsizing focuses on:

  • Reducing the effort it takes to manage your home

  • Keeping what still supports your daily life

  • Letting go of what no longer does

  • Creating space so life feels easier, not emptier


Downsizing does not mean:

  • Living with bare surfaces

  • Getting rid of meaningful items indiscriminately

  • Making decisions under pressure

  • Downsizing before you understand what you actually need



What This Downsizing Guide Covers — and What It Doesn’t


This guide helps with:

  • Understanding why downsizing becomes relevant

  • Making clear, grounded decisions

  • Reducing the mental and physical load of your home

  • Moving forward without pressure


This guide does not cover:

  • Room-by-room cleaning plans

  • Real estate advice

  • Legal or financial planning




Why People Decide to Downsize


People downsize for various reasons; and most of them are practical.

Sometimes it’s one clear change. More often, it’s an accumulation of smaller signals that add up over time.


You may recognize yourself here.


Time and energy

The house takes more effort to clean, maintain, and manage than it once did.


Health and mobility

Stairs, storage, and layouts once manageable now require more planning or physical effort.

Research from the National Institute on Aging and the Public Health Agency of Canada shows that environmental features like stairs, cluttered pathways, and poorly placed storage increasingly affect safety and independence as mobility changes.


Life transitions

Retirement, children leaving home, caregiving, loss, or changes in work routines all change how you use your living space.


Space no longer matches daily life

Rooms sit empty. Storage overflows. The home is set up for an earlier stage of life, not the one you’re living now.


Financial considerations

Upkeep, repairs, property taxes, storage costs, or unused space start to feel heavier than they once did.


Mental load

Keeping track of belongings, making repeated decisions, and managing clutter takes more time and attention than you want to spend.

Research in cognitive neuroscience from Princeton University and Yale School of Medicine shows that visual clutter competes for attention and increases cognitive load, making decision-making more difficult and mentally exhausting.


Looking ahead

Some people downsize because they want to make decisions on their own terms, rather than under pressure later.

Research on advance care planning, including large peer-reviewed reviews such as this meta-review and this systematic review of randomized controlled trials, shows that proactive decisions are more likely to align with personal goals and reduce stress than decisions made in crisis.


None of this means something has gone wrong. It means circumstances have changed.


Downsizing is often the practical response to that change.



Why Good Downsizing Is About Fit


Downsizing is often treated like a numbers problem. Square footage. Closets. Boxes.

Downsizing is about fit, adjusting your home and belongings to support how you live now.

For many people, especially those planning to stay in their current home, this kind of adjustment is sometimes described as rightsizing.

The term isn’t about being kinder or softer. It simply describes the outcome: a home that requires less effort to manage and makes daily life easier.


You may still be in the same house, but the way you rely on it has changed.


What once felt useful now requires upkeep. Storage turns into maintenance. Belongings ask for attention instead of supporting daily life.


That doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong. It means your circumstances have changed.

When downsizing is approached with that reality in mind, whether you’re moving or aging in place, your space can be brought back into line with how you actually live.



A Practical, Gentle Approach to Downsizing


Downsizing tends to work best when approached in stages.

This guide uses a simple three-stage framework that helps you move forward without rushing decisions.


Stage 1: The Emotional Audit (Before You Sort)

Before you touch a single drawer, it helps to understand where decisions are likely to be harder.

An emotional audit isn’t about revisiting the past. It’s about noticing which items, categories, or areas carry meaning, memory, or hesitation so you can plan your energy accordingly.


Memory items often fall into a few broad groups:

  • Items you associate with people

  • Items connected to achievements or milestones

  • Items linked to earlier roles or identities

  • Items kept “just in case”


At this stage, you’re not deciding what stays or goes yet. You’re simply identifying where extra care, time, or support may be needed.


A practical tip:

Start in areas with the least emotional weight, such as a linen closet, hallway cabinet, or utility space. Early momentum makes later decisions easier.


Stage 2: Sorting with Purpose

Once you understand where decisions may be harder, you can begin sorting.

Sorting clarifies what supports your life now and what no longer does.


Simple categories work best:

  • Keep

  • Gift

  • Sell

  • Donate or recycle

  • Discard (for broken, unsafe, or unusable items)


As you sort, keep one question front and centre:

Does this support the life you’re living now, or does it get in the way?

This question doesn’t ask you to justify the past or predict the future. It helps you make decisions based on present reality.


If something doesn’t clearly fit, set it aside temporarily and give yourself a date to revisit it.


Stage 3: Preparing for the Future

Sorting clarifies what no longer belongs. Preparing determines what happens next.

Selling makes sense when value and effort are aligned. Donating makes sense when speed and simplicity matter more than return. Discarding is sometimes the safest and most responsible choice.


Use professional help when time, energy, safety, or emotional load is more important than doing everything yourself.


There’s no prize for choosing the hardest option. Downsizing works best when the process fits your capacity, not when it tests it.


Downsizing doesn’t require certainty. It requires clarity.

Things start to feel manageable again, once what wasn’t lining up finally makes sense.



Selected References




About the Writer

Cathy Borg is a professional organizer and partner at In and Out Organizing, a Toronto-based company that supports adults 55+ through downsizing, aging in place, estate clearing, and major life transitions.

For more than a decade, Cathy has worked with homeowners, adult children, and families who want practical help without pressure or judgment. Her approach is grounded, respectful, and realistic. She believes downsizing works best when people are given clear information, steady support, and the space to make decisions at their own pace.

Her guiding principle is simple: clearing space makes room for your life.


Ready for Your Next Step?

If you’d like help thinking through what downsizing could look like in your situation, we’re happy to talk it through calmly and without pressure.




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