News & Resources
From Family Home to Retirement Community: How to Help Parents Downsize
Recently we interviewed residents at Sequoia Living to find out their experience with downsizing and planning their moves to senior living. This is part one in a three-part series that appeared in the SF Business Times in October 2022. We feature two residents who shared their experiences and several tips.
Helping your aging parents downsize from the family home to a retirement community can feel like a monumental task, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Downsizing is often the first step, and with careful planning, it can be an opportunity to celebrate cherished memories while preparing for a fresh chapter in their lives.
Many older adults have accumulated decades of belongings, making the process emotional and logistically challenging. In this guide, we’ll walk you through practical tips and insights to help your parents downsize with ease and confidence as they move into their retirement community.
Where to start?
It is tough to know how to start the process and even more difficult to actually start. In 2020, Michael Gordon, a resident at a Sequoia Living community, began the process. He was ready to downsize after being a widower and living alone in San Francisco for nearly 40 years.
Hindsight is 20/20. Gordon shares his wisdom:
- Find a professional organizer to assist you.
- Have the dimensions of the space you are moving to, as it will greatly help with the downsizing process.
- Plan ahead and give yourself a reasonable amount of time for the move. Downsizing can take a lot longer than anticipated.
For adult children, many of whom are juggling families of their own and careers, helping parents downsize or move can be especially stressful. Katherine Gilpin oversaw her mother’s relocation to a Sequoia Living community from Texas for almost two years.
