Is it Time to Downsize? A One-Week Home Exercise

Cathy Borg

38 minutes ago

4 min read

Smiling older woman in a white shirt holds a laundry basket beside a staircase in a bright home interior.

You’re at the bottom of the stairs with a full laundry basket. You’ve made this trip hundreds of times. Maybe lately you’ve started to dread it.

You might wonder how much longer you’ll want to keep doing this. Perhaps you’ve even started thinking about moving. But you’d miss your garden and the neighbours you’ve known for years. And you’d be making a big decision over a laundry basket. You’d be letting the tail wag the dog.

Take another look at the laundry. You can find out whether someone could help with it, or whether you could keep more of your clothes on the main floor. You might find a way to make the job easier without moving.

That’s a useful place to begin.

Before you decide whether to stay or move, spend a week noticing how you live in your house now.

Spend a Week Noticing How You Live at Home

You’ll need a notebook and a pencil. Begin with one ordinary day, then keep adding to your notes through the rest of the week.

When you struggle with a job, describe what you’re doing and which part you’d like to change. Write down what you enjoy, too. You’ll want to remember why you like living here.

For example, you might write, “I take the laundry upstairs, then leave the basket in the hall.”

You don’t have to fix anything during this week.

Do this exercise before you look at what you can afford or whether your home is safe for you. You can use your notes when you seek advice on either one. If you’re worried about falls or changes in your memory, speak with your doctor now. You don’t need to finish this exercise before asking for help.

I’m a professional organizer, and I’ve spent 14 years helping people make decisions about their belongings and where they live. I can help you arrange your belongings so you can reach what you use. I can’t assess whether you can safely live alone.

If you’re an adult child reading this, you can offer it to your parent. Let your parent decide whether to try it and what to write down. Ask before offering your own observations.

If you’d like more ideas like this one each week, you can sign up for our weekly tips.

Five Things to Notice About Daily Life in Your House

You don’t need to work through all of these in one sitting. Choose one and come back to the others during the week.

Start where you sleep and follow your morning. Notice what you step around and whether you make extra trips to get something you need.
Pick one thing you enjoy doing here, such as gardening or having coffee with a neighbour. Write down what you’d need close by to keep doing it if you moved, such as a patch of ground or a friend within walking distance.
Think about January or a week when you’re unwell. Consider which jobs you’d still need to do and who you’d ask for help. If you haven’t talked with those helpers yet about what they’re willing and able to keep doing, add that to your notes.
Choose one household job and look at where you keep what you need. Pay attention to which part of it you put the most effort into.
Look at a room you seldom use. See what you use it for now and how much work you do to look after it and the things in it.

Pick One Thing to Change Before You Decide to Move

At the end of the week, read your notes and choose one thing that matters to you.

Perhaps you reach into a low cupboard every morning for the frying pan. You could try keeping it somewhere you can reach more easily.

Perhaps you spend Saturdays looking after a garden you no longer enjoy. You could find out what help would cost.

For the observation you’ve chosen, ask yourself:

What would I like to do more easily, or stop doing?
Could I change where I keep things or how I use the room?
Could someone help with this job?

If you can safely try a small change and undo it, give it a try. Then notice whether you’ve made the job easier.

Choose Your Next Step, Whether You Stay or Move

By the end of the week, you’ll have a short list of what you’d change and a next step.

You can take your notes in more than one direction. If you stay, you might get help with one job or find out whether you could use a downstairs room as a bedroom. If you move, you might look at smaller places and compare what you’d gain with what you’d give up. You’ll have something to work with either way.

To see what downsizing involves, you can read Downsizing in Toronto: What It Really Means and How to Decide. If you’re looking at a specific place, you can use graph paper to test which furniture fits. You’ll have something to work with either way.

Before you close your notebook, finish two thoughts in your own words: what you’d need to keep living here the way you want, and what your next step is. If you don’t know yet, write down what you need to find out.

If you’re considering a move, you can take our Downsizing Readiness Quiz.

If you’d like help with the organizing, call Brad at 416-859-0518 for a free 30-minute Clarity Call. Tell him what you noticed and what you’d like help doing.

About In and Out Organizing and the Writer

I’m Cathy Borg, a professional organizer and partner at In and Out Organizing, a Toronto-based downsizing and estate specialist serving adults 55 and older across the GTA.

In and Out Organizing offers: