Rightsizing for Seniors: How to Downsize Before It’s Too Late (and Avoid the Stress, Mess, and Cost)
Top 5 Reasons to Rightsize Early and Often
Less mess, more life – Every square foot you don’t have to manage is a square foot you get back in energy.
Clutter can’t collect where there’s no space – Downsizing forces decisions.
Save money without even trying – Smaller space, smaller bills.
Cleaning in minutes, not marathons – Less surface area means less scrubbing.
Stop storing what you don’t need – Heirlooms are great, but not if they’re buried in the attic.
Some friends still go “home” to visit their parents in the same house they grew up in—same street, same bike rides, same bus stop. I can’t relate. My mom sold our family home in the ’90s and traded in the three-bedroom, yard-to-mow lifestyle for something smaller, cleaner, and simpler.
At the time, I thought it was too soon. In hindsight, I see the brilliance—fewer stairs, fewer closets to fill, and a head start on the inevitable. But rightsizing isn’t just about square footage; it’s about timing.
Move #1: The Early Bird
In the mid-’90s, my sister Emily and I spent a week in the attic sifting through stamp collections, baseball cards, coins, postcards, and the occasional Barbie or G.I. Joe. Mom took what she wanted. The rest was ours to store, donate, or regret. I kept the coins and cards, hauling them from apartment to apartment like precious cargo. Once, a coin shop offered me $80 for the lot. Eighty?! Including the pre-EU European coins. That’s insane! No thank you I’ll cart this loot to the end!
Move #2: The Dream That Wasn’t
In 2014, Sandra and I helped Mom leap coasts—from a Boston apartment near her sister to a charming, walkable condo in Sonoma County. The checklist was perfect: one-kilometer flat walk to town, gym and pool across the street, only 20 units, modest rent, no house upkeep. We remodeled her bathroom to be ADA compliant. We even met her at the airport with a giant Welcome to California, Phyllis sign.
Then the dream setup unraveled. The shower insert crumbled on delivery. The handheld showerhead was too heavy. She didn’t walk to town. She didn’t buy a car. She didn’t make friends. The gym, the store, the paperwork—it all became too much.
Move #3: The Last Stop
After a fall, my aunt came to town to help Mom fill out the application for Assisted Living in San Francisco. By then, I wasn’t thinking about the charming condo, the walkable streets, or even the perfect ADA shower we’d tried to build for her.
That shower had been a project in itself. Mom—ever the industrial design pro—had hand-picked the insert, chosen the exact handheld showerhead, and trusted us to make it happen. The contractor tore out the tub, hit an unexpected slab of over-poured concrete, and spent days jackhammering it out. When the insert finally arrived, two men carried it in like it was the Hope Diamond—only to have it crumble in their hands. We ordered another. Installed it. Done.
Except it wasn’t. The handheld was too heavy. The walk to town was too far. The gym, the store, the paperwork—it all became impossible. She didn’t make friends. She didn’t buy a car. She went to more doctors than coffee dates, searching for what was wrong.
By the time she signed the assisted living paperwork, it was clear: no address, no “perfect” remodel was going to change what she was up against. This was her last stop. And I was done measuring her life in square footage.
That’s the thing: if you wait too long, the move stops being about possibility and starts being about necessity.
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EasyRightsizing.com by Jeannine Bryant — smart, compassionate advice for helping yourself or your parents make the move before it’s a crisis. Changing Spaces SRS — Jeannine’s senior move management company, specializing in smooth, drama-free downsizing transitions.
Not Born Yesterday is a podcast about the joys and challenges of aging. Check out the episode called “ Home Sweet Home Re-Examined”.
Gray Monster is a free newsletter “supporting folks supporting their folks as they age”. This article is chocka block with suggestions about different options to explore with your aging loved one about their future living sitch.
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Have you had the convo with your parent about rightsizing or is your bedroom museum still preserved (and are you selling timed tickets for entry)? Will you be the one to move your parent or aging loved one or are they on it? Share your story with us.