Downsizing Wobbles

Haha.. when I saw the thread title 'downsizing wobbles' I thought it related to loosing weight!....I definately need to downsize my wobbles

Good to see you again, kiora!

Hello Kiora, haven't seen your posts for a while?

Sewsilver, I can't really comment because I have no real experience. I'v only ever lived where i'v been put ( ex army wife) or where we can afford. However whats the hurry? The house is yours until you sign the final agreement ( can't remember the name) I think you should take as much time as you need before making a final decision. You have been through such a lot. What ever you do I hope it's right for you and you'll be happy. X

When we were heading for retirement we swapped one large house for another, a tall three story Victorian semi in a busy town for a two storey much older house, which had the same floor area, in a village. We are now in our 70s and still have no problem looking after it, but accept that we may need to move to a house with a smaller garden at some point.

I am a thrower outer rather than a hoarder and could happily dispense with furniture from rooms like bedrooms if I had a house with fewer bedrooms, but I really object to the whole casual assumption by people, that when we get older and possibly not as fit etc, we should willingly accept that we have to give up things that we hold precious and rehome ourselves in a rabbit hutch.

Why do they not design housing for older people with bigger rooms and adequate storage facilities where we can keep all those things of sentimental value to us and where there is ample space for the accoutrements of whatever hobbies and interests we may have?

Sewsilver did you actually do anything about decluttering and downsizing?

We upsized and spent the same when we moved here. How did we manage before?

Upsized and downpriced- perfectly worded and exactly what we did.

We upsized and down priced when we moved here from a very expensive area and have not regretted it a bit even though there are only 2 of us. When all the family come there is plenty of room and we can all shower in the mornings without the queues getting too long! One day it will be too much for us but in the meantime we are enjoying the space and room to each have our own office! Didn't someone say something about good marriages need time apart! [grin}

view and vie ... (life) both

Parkinson' law has operated in our house for years; we are trying to declutter then re-assess if we can downsize.

We upsized when we came here and there were then 5 of us living in this house - a couple moved in nearby into the same type of house, and they had downsized considerably.

If we did ever downsize, we already said we would rent a small storage facility nearby for suitcases, and a swap place for Winter and Summer clothes, etc.

View, not vie!

I don't think I could cope in a smaller house. DD's house makes me feel mildly claustrophobic. My first house was tiny, my second much bigger, this one bigger still. I've been here over 35 years now and I love my vie.
3/4 tide in the channel with the blue sky with a few puffy white clouds. Wales is looking green in the sun

Yes, I upsized from a sprawling four bedroomed house to an Edwardian semi with more rooms. I still cater for great numbers of people even though there are only five of us living in the house full time, so can't get rid of the dozens of plates, serving dishes, glasses, bed-linens, towels etc. I still sometimes run out of space and have to juggle sleeping arrangements. The problem is that if we did downsize we would still end up with people living with us long-term and then we'd be cramped. In one (three bedroomed) house we ended up turning our lounge into a bedroom for a year as there were me and my husband, plus three children all occupying the bedrooms - and a friend in need of accommodation (was supposed to be for a few weeks, but turned into a year). In each of our houses we've ended up providing accommodation for waifs and strays; at least here we have the space for permanent long-term visitors and it's easy to accommodate large numbers of people who are only staying for one or two nights. Our current lodger is part of the family now and even though he's had several work transfers he'd rather stay here and commute than move.
So, no downsizing for us for the foreseeable future.

Has anyone on this site actually up sized? A part from Charleygirl's parents.

I'm clearly not as houseproud as some of you! I simply switch off the heating and close the doors on the rooms we don't use! When people are coming to stay I put the heating back on and clean the room.

After my parents retired they decided to move from a 3 bedroomed house with some land in the country to a 2 bedroom flat with no land, not even communal in a small town.

My mother tolerated it for 6 months and then they bought a 3 bedroom house with lots of garden space which my mother loved but my dad was the labourer. This house was on the edge of the same town in Scotland. They were there until they died in 1979.

We don't need all the stuff that we think we do. However, for anyone fairly newly on their own for whatever reason, keep the 'memory' things at least.We don't need hundreds of wine glasses, or vases or other things though. De-cluttering is definitely good for the soul though and signifies a new start.Even if you still need 3 bedrooms [visitors] you can buy a smaller house all round.I seem to do so little cleaning these days [and it still looks good!] that I'm glad we downsized.I would always want a garden though, even if I had to have a small courtyard style garden, as a private outside space.

my older daughter is in the process of downsizing from a 4 bed house to a 2 bed flat as her children have all flown the nest..shes moved a few tims over the years and has always said when you look at a new property you know instantly wether you feel at home in it and shes always used that as a guideline....shes been very happy in all the places shes lived in..

My husband and I downsized four years ago, but we rented first for six months in one place, then decided to move somewhere else, where again we rented for six months.
We bought the bungalow I now live in in the second village but my husband died two years ago. Last year I was going to sell this bungalow, as it does not have happy memories for me, and move into a flat in the centre of the village. Unfortunately I was then ill myself and had to live with my son and his family for three months, and now cannot carry anything weighing more than 5kg. It's going to take me forever to get rid of all the books, etc., that I do not want/need and get the bungalow looking smart enough to put on the market.
The problem now is that I do not like planning ahead just in case anything else bad happens.

But we are in rented accom - so there is the option of finding somewhere a little bigger with a bath.

Keeping a big house is costly - heating and council tax for a start. We downsized ourselves from a 5 big bedroom house to a 2 small bedroom flat. It is fine. Threw away a mountain of stuff (over £1000 of stuff to Oxfam alone). Some that remains is in boxes that have not been opened since we moved in August. We do not need all the "stuff" we accumulate over the decades.
I miss the bath and that is all at the moment.

Crossed post with nonnie!

Is it possible to rent for a while sewsilver? Give you more of a chance to look round and find somewhere you like and is the right size. It would also give you a chance to find out which of your belongings you can live without. We have friends who moved from a 4 bed detached to a small flat but found it was a step too far. She got rid of things with the mantra 'do I love it, do I want it, do I need it?' Think I mentioned that on a decluttering forum , so excuse repetition. I ended up with some of her stuff!! They then decided it was a step too far and moved into a 3 bedroomed house - now think that could be too small because of when the DC and increasing number of GC come! Which is one reason why we have dragged our heels over downsizing, although I must say that our house is not huge and is not too bad to heat.