4 Steps When Preparing to Move as a Senior

Once you reach retirement age, you’ll have to consider how to adjust to your new lifestyle. Now that you won’t be going to work every day, you may not need as many creature comforts. One of the most common ways to adapt to retirement and senior living is to downsize their living space.

Several options for seniors entering the next phase of their life involve modifying their living situation. First, they can move into a smaller house, apartment, or condo. Second, they can enter an active community that caters to the 55+ crowd. Another option is to move in with family members to cut down on costs and provide support for kids and grandkids.

Regardless of your situation, moving as a senior is much different than moving at other life stages. So, here are some top tips on how to make the transition as smooth and accommodating as possible.

1. Start Planning Early

Retirement is a massive shift that affects every aspect of your life, including your day-to-day activities. The best time to decide when and how you’ll move is before you retire, so you know what to expect. If you wait until after you’re retired, you may pay more than you must while waiting to make a final decision.

Overall, it’s best to weigh your different options and see which ones appeal to you the most. From there, you can look at logistics and develop the best solution.

2. Declutter as Much as Possible

When you’re younger, you accumulate more stuff as you move into bigger and better housing. However, as a senior, now is the time to declutter and downsize. You can save money by moving into a smaller space, but there’s less maintenance and upkeep when you have fewer belongings.

As with your retirement planning, you should start downsizing immediately. Now is the time to figure out what’s most important to you and worth taking to your new place with you. If you get stuck and can’t decide now what to eliminate, storage is always an option.

3. Get Moving Help

Now that you’re older, you want to do less heavy lifting than you once did. So rather than stress and sweat on your moving day, getting professional moving help is much better. This way, you can focus on the transition and settling, not packing boxes into a truck and bending over repeatedly.

4. Host a House Cooling Party

A house-cooling party is the opposite of a housewarming party. Instead of celebrating your move into a new place, you have one last hurrah before leaving your current location.

House cooling parties are an excellent way to put your move into a positive light, especially if you’re moving out of state or far away from your friends and family. Also, you can use the party to donate some of your belongings by giving them to guests.

Contact Us for Moving Help!

As the big day approaches, you want to avoid being bogged down in packing, planning, and logistics. Instead, contact us to discuss how much we can help you during your move. We’ll take care of the details, so you don’t have to.