@silpat we ended up having to replace a lot of the furniture we brought as it was too big for the new place. We ordered it last May and gradually got everything, last delivery was just last Friday!
Good luck!
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H said the same thing 20+ years ago and I think he meant it, too.
Good luck Silpat!
Youdon_tsay - so interesting that you are staying w/friends in a 2BR/2BA apt in an urban area. What a great way to get a sense of all the variables.
Curious - do you think it seems like a small space interpersonally? One thing I think a lot about (discussed a while back) was whether two retired folks would be āon top of each otherā in a smaller footprint - and the noise if one of them, for instance, watched a lot of loud TVā¦
When we ultimately downsize/simplify, and I run into the inevitable exhaustion, pain, bittersweet feelings, and frustrations related to same, I will think of how much time and effort Iāll be saving my kids down the road. I spent way too much time dealing with my parentsā āstuffā and am going to try really hard not to subject my kids to same.
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To me, the acceptance level on small space would depend on climate and access to outdoor space / parks.
Hint for loud TV (assuming it is in your own place, not neighbors) - The TV watcher can wear airpods. We have a big house, but occasionally I want to do a zoom meeting on kitchen island when hubby is watching TV in adjacent family roomā¦ so he just put in his airpods.
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Our house is not an āold peopleās house.ā Early 1970s split level ranch so stairs from main level to bedrooms / bathrooms and stairs to finished basement. Husband doesnāt want to think about it but itās about all I can think about. When I retire from my current job in two months my plan is to downsize as much as I can - H is a packrat so it will be a challenge in many ways ā so we are ready to move when an opportunity comes up. When my mom passed my siblings and I were all far away and we had to rush through the clearing out and ended up selling most of the contents together for way less than it was worth. And I still regret not taking a few things. That motivates me.
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My 95 year old dad (and his younger wife) are in a house like that. The stairs are a huge challenge to them, even more daunting than the yard and upkeep (which can be hired out, painful and pricey but possible). You are wise to be thinking about that.
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Our house is a nearly 100-year-old 1.5 story bungalow, which weāve lived in for close to 35 years. We plan to stay here as long as at least one of us can still handle the stairs, since our bedroom and a bathroom with tub is on the main floor, but laundry is in the basement. I mentioned to H that Iād like to move to a new CCRC in the area when the time comes, but heād rather move someplace warm. Hopefully, weāve got awhile before we have to make that decision. The new CCRC is part of a new development being built on a 122-acre site of a former Ford assembly plant. It will basically be a very walkable small town in the middle of the Twin Cities. By the artist renderings, it looks like it will be so beautiful when itās finished in a few years!
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I donāt really want to move or downsize, but I am starting to think a lot about whether we will have to move. Our house is about 80 or 90 years old and a split level with 4 steps between the main living area, (living, dining, kitchen, and bedroom) and the bathrooms, other bedrooms, tv room, back patio etc. Plus a basement living room, furnace room, garage. SO it is turning out to be quite difficult right now as my spouse is on crutches and really not comfortable with crutches. I foresee more trouble ahead, even if this particular injury heals up soon. I just canāt see how this old house could be remodeled to be more accessible. My husband is one of those who announced when we moved here that this would be the last move and that heād have to be carried out feet firstā¦ but I think we might have to move and I would love to get some of our belongings streamlined first.
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This apartment is about 1100 square feet. I think that if they were to be here permanently theyād do things differently. For instance, they both seem to work in the living area. Iām sure one of them would use the second room as an office if they were going to be here longer, but right now they are leaving it strictly as a guest room because so many of us are coming to visit. They have a little balcony that Iād make more use of, but itās kind of cold to sit our right now anyway. They donāt make use of the fitness center, and I totally would. I think the amount of space is about right. The kitchen is just big enough. Laundry facilities in the apartment, and bathrooms are both spacious.
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Never say never!
When we moved in this house I fully said this was the last stop before the nursing home. Now 25 years later I cannot wait to give another home some love!
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When we moved from the Boston area to Scottsdale when our son was two (heās now 26), we scoured the area for a house that would be our ālastā one and found the āperfectā single-story home in which to age in place. For 16 years, it was perfect untilā¦ (fill in any blank here). We sold that house to right-size into our current āperfectā retirement-years community/home. It was perfect untilā¦ (another fill-in-the-blank). Iām pretty sure we will move yet again in the next three or four years because, you know, life happens, things change.
Iām with @abasket: Never say never. Because thereās no need to.
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I donāt really want to downsize as much as I want to different size. Iām used to having a big house with a big family. As the kids leave, I want more square footage dedicated to my and my husbandās wants and needs rather than kids rooms and playrooms. I still want large entertaining areas to host everyone and I want fancier materials than I could have with four kids. Weāll see what we end up doing. Weāve been in our home almost 20 years. Itās updated and beautiful, but Iām ready to go.
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Nice to read a couple of posts from others with Hs who arenāt quite as collaborative as some others about purging old and unneeded stuff. There is a concept in Japan of āmottainaii.ā It translates as āwasteful,ā but it really seems to mean āyou should never throw away anything that has any - however minimal or unlikely - potential usefulness in the future.ā My Japanese MIL embraced this idea and passed it on to her son. Just as an example, we are currently using in our kitchen a roll of saran wrap that she received as a gift from a Japanese bank that has been out of existence for more than 20 years - he found it in her home after she passed away and apparently thought āmoittainaii!ā So downsizing is very challenging for him, and trying to persuade him to downsize is very challenging for me. We both do our best - I agreed to convert half of the garage in our new house into storage, and he (finally) agreed to part with five giant cartons of tea cups accumulated by prior generations. The tea ceremony set is, however, coming with us, where it will enjoy a place of honor in the converted garage.
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And that makes sense given Japanās 20th century history. My husband is a much youngest child of a couple that spent their teen years during the Great Depression. I can understand why they also instilled in him similar ideas. But 21st century me doesnāt see it the same way!
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Love the term ādifferent sizingā - that is what Iām looking for!
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I agree - different sizing may be what I would want if we move. We donāt really need 4 bedrooms, an office and a full basement. I still want a large open kitchen/family room kind of thing, a large primary bedroom, bathroom and closet, and a couple of other bedrooms/bathrooms. I feel like I need a dining room, but maybe just a large open space that was part dining room would be fine.
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Similar. I still want 4 bedrooms (or 3 with a bonus space) but they only need to big enough for beds. Current kids rooms are very large and there is a lot of extra hall space. The one thing I would miss with a smaller house is my very nice storage closets.
We unsuccessfully bid on a place that was custom built by a local contractor as his retirement home. A rambler with 1,900 sft. The master suite was on one side of the central living space, and two bedrooms were on the other. Each had a bath. The master bath was giant but lacked a tubā¦ though there were 2 enormous closets! Hers was a shoe display could have been envied by Imelda Marcos. 
They were selling becauseā¦ the play spaces were too small for the grands (as indirectly confirmed by our inspector when she found shards of glass under the beautiful Ortal fireplace- the remains of the glass screen taken down by a soccer ball! )
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Iād like a primary bedroom/bath w/walk-in shower, laundry, kitchen, family room that would be for guests and my sewing area. We donāt really need a living room AND family room, and eat-in kitchen AND formal dining room ā family room and bigger eat-in kitchen are fine. 1800-1900 sq feet, arranged in a way that works better for us going forward, would be perfect. If only those were available around here!
Our four-level split isnāt going to work for us forever. Would like to have a plan before something catastrophic happens and we have to make quick, costly decisions.
Am trying t =o get more aggressive on hauling stuff out of here, but I canāt carry it all out myself. If I ask DH, then he starts going through it and saying, āBut you canāt get rid of thatā¦ā Hey, bud ā I can do it now, or YOU can do it when Iām gone!
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