Tailor Your Surroundings: Is It Time To “Rightsize” Your Life?

Posted by Richard on December 17, 2024

Is it time to make your house fit your life? Mid-life couples and individuals of all ages eventually have to consider whether their house is right for them today.
According to surveys, many are reluctant to sell their homes because they have low mortgage interest rates. But this thinking can sometimes just make you a prisoner of interest rates.

If your house is too large, you are paying utility bills on empty space. If your lawn is too big, you might struggle to keep it mowed and you have to purchase and maintain all the necessary equipment.

In order to visualize your rightsized life, visit some of the commonly-sized homes designed for people with small families or homes and condos intended for people looking toward retirement. When you understand the square footage involved and the room arrangements, you will have a better idea of how much you could keep and what you might get rid of.

Sometimes you have to sell the program to yourself, especially if you and your spouse have spent decades making your current home beautiful. A person’s identity, however, should not be tied to an oversized house that is difficult to maintain. Rightsizing doesn’t always mean going to a smaller place. It could mean going from two homes to one, which makes it necessary to cull possessions. Or it can mean adding onto a home in order to create extra space for parents or grandchildren. The important trend today is a shift to well-planned living quarters that suit a person’s age, stage of life, and situation.

Discussing your wish to rightsize will help others accept it. Talk about it with your spouse, your grown children, and your parents. Paring down a lifetime of possessions, and furnishing a new home with things that have meaning, will not be easy. Depending on the size of your home, the process could take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of years. If rightsizing is in your future, better start now.

Whether you ultimately make the move or not, your home will be better organized and have less clutter.