Have you/ are you planning to ‘downsize’

We moved out of our house to live on a canal boat. We spent 2 years planning it and I spent all of that time getting rid of things, eBay and charity shops. We still have the house and the loft is full of the things we wanted to keep. We now live in a flat by the sea and so have re-bought everything!

Bazza

To those of you who worry about sleeping on the ground floor and not being able to open windows, my bungalow bedroom has a very large window at the top, plus two normal ones. No one could get in without a ladder, and as it visible from the road extremely unlikely anyone would try! I always sleep with it open whatever the weather and feel perfectly secure. So if contemplating moving to a bungalow have a good look at the windows! These could also be replaced if necessary.

Or you could have detachable insect screens made so that the windows could be flung wide open to let in fresh air but no one could get in.

I have got 2 of these although I sleep upstairs, but one night I was woken by a bat swooping round me while I was fast asleep. I found this totally horrific and was frightened to leave my windows open on summer nights after that. I got a local handyman to make up an insect screen for a window at the back and one at the front - both upstairs - to allow a through draught, and I could then sleep soundly.

The screens also mean I can leave the windows open during the day and not worry about my cat doing a kami kazi walk on the outside windowsill.

To those of you who worry about sleeping on the ground floor and not being able to open windows, my bungalow bedroom has a very large window at the top, plus two normal ones. No one could get in without a ladder, and as it visible from the road extremely unlikely anyone would try! I always sleep with it open whatever the weather and feel perfectly secure. So if contemplating moving to a bungalow have a good look at the windows! These could also be replaced if necessary.

Same here caro57 hate where I live bad memories and house is too big I’ve been longing to move for 10 years now but hard to even get husband to talk about it, fearing we may miss the boat as not getting any younger ?

I downsized from a large Victorian villa to a bungalow about 6 years ago when I was more or less sure neither son would be boomeranging back. As I was still working full time I was spending weekends and holidays cleaning and decorating. I got rid of a lot but haven’t yet missed one item. I bought all new furniture with storage in mind and heating and maintenance costs are a lot lower

Give it VERY serious thought. I have three older friends who have all done this when their husbands retired, and have deeply regretted it. Not only are they in homes half the size of where they moved from, but both at home 24/7. Far too many changes to cope with all at once. One in her mid 70s returned to work part-time as she could not stand the confinement of the smaller home...and the husband being there 24/7.

Bought and rented out our 3 bed detached bungalow 11 yrs ago and moved into it from accommodation provided by my husband’s employer when he took early retirement 8 yrs ago. I also owned a property from my first marriage which I sold 2 yrs after we moved into our bungalow. There was more than enough room for my much loved Old Charm furniture which I would have been reluctant to part with had we chosen something smaller. We each have our own space during the day as we use the 3rd bedroom as a snug. 2 manageable gardens and a detached garage which still houses some of stuff from our move. I’ve only regretted moving once during and that was last summer during lockdown when we had our neighbours 5 children to contend with in the garden every day. The noise nearly became too much and I did contemplate moving somewhere else but peace was restored once they got back to school. Bungalow life has suited us well and I would recommend it.

I downsized through necessity five years after divorcing. From a 4 bed large detached to a 3 bed semi, the houses are a five minute walk apart, so the children kept their friends and schools. This house has an ensuite shower/loo, family bathroom and cloakroom as it had been extended, plenty of room for us two and we can pack in 6/7 of us at Christmas overnight. The garden is easily manageable, most importantly I stayed in the village I’ve lived in for over 30 years, with necessary facilities and good friends. Also met my now husband when I moved, bargain!

When I downsized I read The life-changing magic of tidying - the Japanese art by Marie Kondo. It helped me get rid of a lot of stuff.

Isn’t it said u should downsize before u need too? We’ve just done it we moved from a large 3 bedroom Victorian terrace house to a smaller 2 bedroom detached bungalow. Oh boy the ‘stuff’ we got rid of! Lol ? we brought a lot with us but it’s in the loft and we’ve not missed it so we obviously don’t need it!
Before I retired I worked in a social work team doing assessments for older/elderly people I saw so many elderly people living huge houses but unable to use the stairs and hadn’t been upstairs for years. So sad I vowed it wouldn’t happen to me so we’ve downsized before we needed to. Now we’ve got a lovely little garden where before we had a yard it’s taking me a while to get used to as we were in our house for 26 yrs but it’s worth it.

Hello, I’m new today. This is a topic which has been under consideration for 3 years here. We’d like a bungalow/chalet bungalow not too far from where we are now but more countryside than now. We have a huge garden and as we get older it’ll become more challenging. Also maintenance issues will become apparent in the future. It’s not easy to find a bungalow though. We are both mid 60s. We did sell 2 years ago but it fell through so we stayed put. Now, we are thinking about it once more. We both have lots of ‘stuff’ which will have to go. My DH has a garage full of tools which he doesn’t use but won’t part with. It won’t be easy, that I know. On the other hand, two friends did downsize and neither are fully content where they’ve moved to. It’s a big decision. My MiL has a McCarthy and Stone apartment that she loves. It’s central, shops and GP all to hand but she’s in a 70s plus development. It’s a huge decision.

I think I’d prefer to upsize ! Maybe 2 bedrooms but with a larger downstairs space than we have at moment. Love gardening and lucky enough at moment to care for it on our own. Would like a bigger garden with room for a greenhouse. Maybe stay where you are and get a gardener?

We moved from a three bedroom house to a five bedroom for various reasons some years ago - not a wise move given our age, but we loved the house - and still do. We make good use of the space - hobbies, a computer room/study, and a guest room take up three of the five, and as only two are large rooms, one our bedroom, we don't feel that we have made a mistake. Time will tell - it will be a lot for one of us to deal with, and probably upsizing in our sixties was not the best idea. That said we never have been particularly sensible, and for one of us to move in the future isn't too frightening.

We sold our 5 bedroom house and rent a 3 bedroom bungalow (if you have no family to leave property to why not sell then rent). We're v happy with the bungalow.

We moved from a large flat in the city to a small house in a small town five years ago.

This entailed getting rid of a lot of the stuff we had "just kept" for years. When we sorted through our possessions, we decided that anything of great sentimental value and which didn't take up a lot of room in storage we would keep. Anything we had not used for years went out, as did all the odds and ends we had never really cared for but kept out of laziness or in order not to hurt the giver.

Five years later, we haven't regretted parting with any of the stuff that either went to a charity shop or into the bin.

We relocated to the countryside a few years ago and actually upsized rather than downsized. We moved from a three to a four bedroom house because we fell in love with the property and location. We are very happy here and don't intend to move again. When Mr J had a big operation a couple of years ago we were able to make use of a downstairs room for him to sleep in. We have a downstairs cloakroom which is very handy. We live in a lovely community great neighbours, our church, pub and village hall 5 minutes down the road, sadly the local store closed some years ago but we are a short drive/bus ride from our nearest market town that has everything we need. So we would prefer to stay put unless health and age have different ideas for us.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

When I retired early we sold our tall big three-storey Victorian semi and swapped it for a 450 year old house just as large, but long and low and over 2 floors.

We are now heading for 80 and use every bit of it. 2 of the bedrooms double up as sewing and keep fit rooms, but house the family when they come to stay, the other bedroom, I use when I am not sleeping well or, as now, when DH has just returned from hospital after a serious illness and needs the whole double bed for himself.

The garden is big, and this is it's weak point, we may have to move if the garden becomes unmanageable. Garden help is very expensive in my neck of the woods.

I'm 54 and already got my detached bungalow with a nice sized gardens front and back. Changed from a 3 bed to 2 as took a wall away and made a live in kitchen at the back of house. Only need 1 guest room so didn't want 2 bedrooms unused. Glad I've done it now as it's been hard work and living in the dirt and dust for a year has been awful, but I'm settled now and easy now for my future years.

Not too many people seem happy about staying put.
Our 5 bed cottage is not the easiest to run and we are both in our 9th decade with some health issues
However, what a joy it was when lockdown came that we had NOT thrown out any of the books, music, hobby supplies that we had collected over the years. Plenty to do in the familiar surroundings that we have learnt how to cope with over many years
We still have the option of shutting off the upstairs rooms or installing a stair lift . We could live comfortably downstairs
Yes. old houses are expensive but it is YEARS since we have
bought anything new. Machinery seemed to last longer when there was no built-in obsolescence. Good quality simple clothing still remains useful. Moth in a 'new' 30 year old cardigan was a problem recently but other garments survive.
We bounce off each other and have our own rooms for hobbies. My one extravagance is a gardener for 2 hours a week. Otherwise we have always lived frugally.
I would hate the thought of living in the same room all the time as my husband!

We're only in Our early 60s and wasn't our intention to downsize so soon but saw a bungalow with a lovely large, south facing garden .So we sold our large Edwardian semi on 4 floors with big draughy sash windows.It had been a fantastic family home for 20 plus years but even at our age all the stairs,plus a garden on basement level was hard work.We renovated the bungalow completely and even managed to make a 2nd bathrooms I would like to think we can stay here and eventually pay for some help in the garden.But for now I love it,and we've designated the bottom part a wild area to help local wildlife.
But we are pragmatic.And if one of us was left alone and much older would possibly move again to a 2 bungalow with less garden.The view,however, would take some beating.Plus we have lovelynearby neighbours so I hope not to.
At least we did that mammoth task of downsizing 'stuff' whilst we were young enough.Plus we not ones for hanging on to clutter.Sorting elderly relatives out made us conscious of not leaving too much of that for our DCs.

Everyone here is lucky they have the choice of whether or not to downsize! My husband and I were forced into it very much against our will just over 7 years ago!
I was forced to take early retirement from my senior nursing post, after I fractured my spine checking a patient's BP! I have severe osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, and have gone on to have other fractures!
Not long after I had retired, my husband's company were not doing well and paid off more than half their
staff.
As a senior manager and one of the highest earners, my husband was one of the casualties! Unlike myself, who is very well qualified academically, my husband has only school level qualifications, so it was impossible for him to get another job, despite over 1000 applications! Then he too became unwell and was never going to be able to work again! Bankruptcy followed, once we were no longer able to pay our mortgage! We lost everything - our house was repossessed, my husband's pension seized and we had to find alterntive accomdation!
Fortunately, they couldn't touch my pension, as I was already in receipt of it. I worked full time my entire career of over 30 years, therefore had a reasonable NHS pension, and that saved us from destitution! We managed to get a privately rented 3 bed detached house, and though it wasn't in great condition, we have spent some money on it and it's now our home. It's also in a nice area, so we are lucky. The downside is that it will never be "our house". We will have to rent for the rest of our lives! It's also rather upsetting to discover that our beautiful 4 bedroomed house sold last year for more than £500, 000! If we had been staying there and sold it, we would have had our choice of retirement properties!
My husband worked for over 35 years and me for over 32, and we have virtually nothing to show for it! So my advice to people is to enjoy what you have, you never know when it's going to be snatched away! We are both nearly 64, and while in poor health, it's not anything that's going to kill us, so we could have years of this miserable existence left! Sorry to sound bitter, but it's so hard not to feel that way! ??

That’s a reason I’d never want a bungalow either, @TanaMa - I’d hate not to be able to open windows - properly, not just a crack - at night, especially in summer. For the same reason I’d never want a ground floor flat.

I am 85 years young, widowed for many years, and live alone in an isolated, high hill top area. Nearest neighbours approx half a mile. Have considered downsizing many times but the thought of leaving the peace and quiet, lovely views, super wild life etc for the hustle and bustle of near (possibly turn out to be neighbours from hell!!)neighbours, busy roads and so on, I quickly put it on the back burner - once more!!
Don't like some of the ultra modern, badly built houses on estates and don't fancy a bungalow as like to have bedroom windows open at night and I wouldn't feel safe. I have done dummy runs of areas where there have been houses for sale but, for the time being, am staying put. Luckily I can still manage the.mowing and weeding and get some outside help with the hedges. They say down sizing is one of the most traumatic events to experience and I can see why!

Hello Nana8, we moved 7 yrs ago,from 16 roomed farmhouse ( 6 bedrooms) to a normal 8 roomed house ( 3 beds +box room).So, I had 8 rooms of stuff to dispose of, pine cupboards, farmhouse tables,the whole huge amount!!
I called an auction room and arranged for them to come and assess it. They listed every single item,advised us to put all unwanted bits and bobs ( cutlery,ornaments etc) into miscellaneous boxes etc and took whole lot away! We got thousands for it all at auction!!
Plus, they lifted and carted it all away, it was brilliant!
It’s a great feeling too,to start with new stuff, a fresh beginning etc,etc.
Our new house (60yrs old,) had walls knocked down, I’ve got huge kitchen, new central heating etc, and still have spare rooms for when any of my 6 sons or grandbabies want to stay over ? costs a fraction to run, and has neighbours.
I’ve known people leave it too long,then cannot manage physically,mentally,emotionally and end up trapped by factors that they can’t deal with. Do it whilst you’re still sharp,alert,and in control of every aspect of your life . ?????