6 Tips to Help Senior Parents Declutter and Downsize 

I’m 81 years old, a widow and moved from a 3 bedroom home into a 600 sq foot condo. It helped me to use the term “resize”, not “downsize.” It simply helped me mentally, to accept this change and to acknowledge that life needed to be simpler. My family members didn’t want much, I shared with friends and had garage sales and donated so much. The grandchildren didn’t want the silver, crystal, fine China, linens…I learned to let the things go and to keep the memories.

Thank you.I love the humane way you handled your parents decluttering process.

This is such a great video. So many people are going through this or will be soon. You are gifted with the ability of imparting useful information without wasting time with needless chatter. I love how you mention that you could have done things better or differently. That's true for everyone. I am sure that your parents appreciate all that you and your husband have done. Thank you for sharing

Thank you for a gentle approach to what can be a difficult, though necessary and helpful task.

I really appreciate this. I am doing this . I am old and trying to do this so my family doesn’t have to to do this together. I am the only one to know what the things I love who they belonged to before me. I liked and subscribed. Thank you

Excellent advice. I am helping my father declutter his home, to bring order back to his home, to make it easier and safer for him, for this next stage in his life. It is a long slow process as there's a lot of stuff to go through, but I'm glad he is finally on board. I am actually enjoying spending time with him doing this, we are having a bit of a laugh and making it fun, where possible! No arguments yet anyway! I think it's bringing us closer.

I have witnessed people who have decluttered and organized long before life forced them and others who had it forced upon them or their children with time constraints. I continue to work at being the former.

Don’t forget your cousins. A lot of times your parent is holding onto things from their parents. Your cousins have the same grandparents and may be interested in those things. I made sure the family chest from Europe stayed in the family.

This is so helpful. This is hard for me because I am a minimalist, and my mother is not. She is at a place where she needs to start downsizing b/c her health has deteriorated, however, she is very resistant to doing that despite acknowledging the need to do so. What empathy I may have had has all but dissipated given her resistance and the desire to just let me deal with it when she's gone.

I was thrown into this situation when my father became ill and passed away over a 6 week period. He was my mother's caregiver, although with them in their 90's, I had taken on a certain amount of care for both. Mom, now 97, has been a widow 2 1/2 years. During this time I have been decluttering their home, somewhat at her pace. My brothers and I know just this much should make a difference when we clean out the house, which will be soon. A major sorting is most helpful.

Well I think the first step is move all your own stuff that you left behind when you moved out. Then get your siblings to do the same.

Thank you for your wonderful advice. Downsizing for elderly parents is very difficult.

Such a timely video. Great tips. Thank you

I AM the parent trying to declutter so that when I need to go into care I will not place a big burden on my children. Having seen what happens when a parent die or suddenly goes into care. Also, there are valuable items that might bring a good price when sold, my children won't know which of these are valuable so I am selling them now.

Great advise!

Thank you so much! This video was such a generous offering 🙏🏽

My Mom will have to move soon, and suddenly. We may get one or two days’ notice when she has to go, and will have to drive two days to even get to her place. Mom did not want to declutter earlier-even things like cookbooks, when she hadn’t cooked for herself for a few years. I wanted to put aside a few of her photo albums for her to take with her, and bring others to my home so I could share pictures of my childhood with my son. Instead they are collecting dust and spiders at her place. Her drawers are full of mixed papers. Some are letters from family friends who I will want to keep addresses for, some contain important documents, and some are just old bills-all mixed together. There are mouse droppings in some of it. She still wouldn’t let me go through any of it when I was there. Now, my husband says when we have to move her, he’s going to take 4 days off, we’ll go get her into the care home, and we’re “just going to have to throw everything out”. He’s not renting a van to move her stuff to our (somewhat cluttered) home. Neither is he willing to sort or bring things to sell (if anything is worth anything, that’s my “inheritance”), to give to any of her friends, etc. I may get to bring home one box of important keepsakes. In any case he seems to think we can move her, clear out the (rented) apartment, clean the place for the landlord, and go home in a few days, nevermind a few weeks. I’m an only child, so I have no siblings to help. I’m already making myself alternately sad and furious at the anticipation of this. I had wanted to go to Mom’s myself, move her to her place, take a couple of weeks to go through things and get the apartment cleaned (if this happens in summer when I’m not working and if we have time left in the month-we could even pay an extra month’s rent if needed just to give us that time), make sure she has what she needs and is most important to her, before my husband comes to join me to take stuff to the dump, load a box of keepsakes into the car, and brings us home. Any suggestions on what to do in this situation?

Great video! I need to declutter but it's too overwhelming!

My Dearest please accept my deepest gratitude for uploading such a Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful video

Thank you so much! This was helpful. Jesus loves you!

Some people have too many things, some too little. Some elderly people were "decluttered" by their children so much they have nothing to look at. They sit there stirring at wall when caregivers come and just talk bad about their (oftast) daughters as depression and dementia takes over. But then remember, you take nothing with you when you die...

It is impossible to declutter successfully when your adult children want to keep too much of theirs and your othet half is a hoarder extraorinaire