Why you should downsize sooner rather than later..

Once the kids have all left home and set up homes of their own, thoughts can turn to all the lovely things you can do now your free, free, free! But rarely do those thoughts turn straight to downsizing. We think maybe they should, and here’s why.

1. A family-sized home means family-sized overheads

While the kids no doubt still visit, do you really need all the bedrooms you have? You can save money and time by reducing the volume of space you have – money and time you can divert into more pleasurable pursuits.

2. Do you really need a family-sized garden?

It may be that you chose this home in part because of the external space – room for your children to play and for you to relax. But now they’re gone, a smaller space might be easier to manage, saving you time – and aching joints!

3. You have the energy to make changes right now

You might find the perfect house to move into, but perhaps you find one that could be perfect, with a few changes – maybe a new bathroom, a new kitchen, and extension… Building work, whether that be relatively minor or something much larger, requires a lot of thought, energy and time, and confidence. In ten years, your energy levels, and possibly your confidence levels, will have lessened, making it so much harder to plan and then live through any works you want doing,

4. Your emotions become harder to manage as you age

Downsizing is a more complicated process than moving to a larger home when you’re starting to grow your family. Your home is filled with memories – and with all the bits and pieces gathered over a long and full life there. It’s been our experience that people making arrangements to declutter and divest themselves of ‘stuff’ can find it a lengthy and often upsetting process – and the older you are, somehow the harder it gets. 

5. Your physical strength deteriorates as you age

It won’t come as any surprise to hear that moving house can also be a testing physical challenge. All the decluttering, as mentioned above, the need to be on the go for hours and hours dealing with this and that, moving things, lifting things, packing things – do you really want to be coping with that in ten years time?

6. You don’t want people making decisions for you

Right now, you’re in charge. But have a think, at what point did you find yourself taking on more and more from your own parents, worrying about them and encouraging them to make decisions you knew would be helpful? At this time you are in full control – you get to decide what kind of property you want to live in, and where, and what you want to take with you to your new, smaller, home.

7. Money

Yes, at the end of the day, the decision to downsize makes financial sense. As well as reducing your overheads, downsizing could mean you can release equity and earn a lump sum to add to your pension, or to blow on the round-the-world trip of a lifetime you have always dreamed of. 

Eddie – Friday 2nd December 2022