Downsizing your life

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10: When the kids are well and truly off your hands and no longer asking for money, and you are not working full time anymore, you may find that the large family home is costing you too much in maintenance and taking up more of your time than you would like. It might make more sense for you to start look at different accommodations. Before you make a decision to adjust your living arrangements, you should think about the pros and cons, making sure that any change you make will continue to fit your lifestyle. 

What does downsizing involve? It may mean selling your existing house and buying something smaller with less upkeep, or it could simply be reducing the amount of belongings you have accumulated.

Let’s first look at reviewing your possessions and matching them to your new lifestyle. Downsizing can be a scary thought but if you think about what you really use in your home on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis, it amounts to a fraction of what is in your home. There is nothing worse than a home cluttered with pointless and useless furniture, and a whole heap of knick knacks that collect dust.

Where do you start in downsizing your belongings? Why not start with areas of the house you’re currently not using and work on removing large items first. I have found that the easiest way to start the downsizing process is to use different coloured stickers to mark what you want to keep, what special pieces you want to give away to family and friends and what you want to sell or throw away. I am sure you will feel quite liberated about getting rid of some of those possessions after completing this process.

Options

Once you downsize your belongings, you may discover that the family homestead is a little too big for one or two people. If that is the case, then downsizing your home makes the most sense.

There are many options available: 

• Moving to a condo or townhouse
• Moving to a retirement village
• Restructuring or renovating your house to better fit your lifestyle, perhaps creating a smaller home or a portion that you could rent.

There are plenty of options for condos and townhouses on the island.  Working with a realtor to help you with that search once you have determined your requirements would be your first step.

If you are looking at a retirement village, then you will need to look off island as currently that type of facility is not available in Bermuda. Once you have decided where you would like to reside geographically, then you can start your search for a retirement village. 

A retirement village is different from a nursing home.  A retirement village is a community-based lifestyle that suits different types of people and will incorporate recreational facilities, restaurants, and cafes. The residences within the community are either condos or semi-attached cottages that are within walking or golf cart distant to a main lodge. A retirement village feels more like a holiday resort that captures your next chapter in your life opposed to the traditional perception of the final chapter of your life.

Before you decide to downsize your lifestyle, make sure you have a clear vision of what you want and what you need to do in order to achieve it. You can’t turn back once you have sold the family homestead or downsized your possessions.

Carla Seely is a senior wealth manager at AFL Investments. She may be reached at 294-5712 or [email protected].