Downsizing isn’t just about getting rid of stuff—it can be one of the biggest gifts you give your kids and grandkids. From passing down meaningful keepsakes to clearing future burdens, Kathy Buckworth reflects on the upsides to downsizing.
Not unlike many people my age, we are new empty nesters, sitting on a good sized suburban home that at one time held four growing children (and all of their stuff). Now, 26 years later, we are getting our house ready to list and sell as we plan to move to a smaller house closer to the city.
Will we be sad to give up the extra space and the memories made in this house? Of course.
Will we miss our neighbours and good friends, and the pub up the street? Yes.
Is this the right financial, emotional and physical move for us? Absolutely.
If you find yourself in a similar situation and are struggling with the transition, I’d like to offer my two cents on how to make it a little easier (finding the upsides down downsizing!).
What You Should Keep for Your Grandkids
Our four grandkids have come to love this house as well (although I’m sure the 14-month-old will get over it quickly), including the swimming pool in the backyard, the basket of toys in the family room and the spare bedrooms for sleepovers. And are you even a grandparent if you don’t have a collection of much admired and doted on cement bunnies and cats in your backyard?
Our oldest grandchild is six, and we’ve made sure to tell him and his younger brother, aged four, what’s coming. They know we are moving. We’re planning that last sleepover here, and we will plan more quickly in the new townhouse.
Passing on the Right Things
What I hadn’t anticipated as an upside to this upheaval was our grandkids delighting in the mementos from their mom’s childhood that we delivered to their house (not to their mom’s excitement at seeing clothes that she or her siblings had worn, ready to be passed down to her kids).
Did we keep a lot of clothes and toys from our kids’ childhood? Not necessarily. We just kept the things that meant a lot to us. Most of the toys were missing pieces or not safe anymore—as was any baby equipment we might have wanted to hold on to. Those were thrown out years ago. The clothes are more nostalgic and fun for Instagram than they are practical to keep.
Timing Your Downsizing
When’s the best time? It’s now. I’m pretty sure you could walk through your house right now and fill more than a few boxes of items that, to put it mildly, no longer give you joy. They might be something that your grandkids want to keep, however, so check in with them and their parents before you discard them entirely.
We’ve already made plans to move the garden creatures with us, probably to a rooftop patio, and the toy basket in the family room will always find a corner in our new house. We will always have a spare bedroom for a kid or a grandkid to have a sleepover or a longer stay.
There Are Unseen Benefits
But those aren’t the biggest favours we’ll be doing for our kids (and our grandkids). It’s the clearing out of all of this that is our gift to them, so they don’t have to do it one day. A Swedish Death Cleanse, some might call it, but I’m going to go with the Suburban Life Cleanout; it sounds a little less dramatic.
Grandkids get attached to material things (homes, for instance) just like the rest of us do, but you have to keep in mind that it’s the people within the walls that count the most, and that will never change no matter where we go.
