A Comprehensive Guide to Senior Rightsizing

It’s common to acquire a lot of items throughout a lifetime, especially when you live in the same home for many years. For many people, rightsizing their belongings and house can make their home feel more manageable. 

It’s natural to reevaluate the family house and if it still supports your or your aging parents’ needs. What may have once been the family home where everyone gathered together may feel like too much work to maintain. Rightsizing belongings—and even the family home itself—can help bring relief to household chores and make the house easier to manage.

Below, we’re exploring how to reduce your belongings, the benefits of senior rightsizing, and more.

The Difference Between Downsizing and Rightsizing

“Downsizing” can hold a negative connotation because it brings up the anxiety of getting rid of things and suggests relocating to a tiny space. Today, “downsizing” is no longer the commonly used term for clearing clutter and moving into a smaller space. Instead, “rightsizing” is used in its place.

“Rightsizing” provides a more accurate description of maintaining a home that better reflects your current stage in life. It involves understanding what you need in your home and then narrowing down your possessions to be more manageable and “right” for your living space. With rightsizing, you’re removing items that you no longer need.

Tips for Senior Rightsizing

Starting the rightsizing process can feel overwhelming, but we’re here to help. Here’s how to create a plan and successfully rightsize:

1. Create your goals.

Come up with rightsizing goals, how you or your parent want to feel afterward, and what you or they hope to gain from the experience. Keep this list to refer to later if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed or unmotivated.

Here are some questions to ask to get started:

• Do you want to minimize your possessions and have less clutter?
• Do you want to have less to pack when you move out of your family home? 
• Do you have a lot of possessions that you aren’t using and want to donate?
• Do you want to get things organized now instead of leaving the job for someone else later?

2. Set a target deadline.

Give yourself time and space to complete this project—there’s no need to rush to complete everything in a day, week, or even a month. Allowing yourself plenty of time will help ensure you don’t get burned out.

3. Tackle one room at a time.

For the most efficient rightsizing process, tackle individual rooms and prioritize the ones you use most first. For example, you might start with the living room and then end with the basement, attic, garage, and laundry room.

4. Plan for large problem areas.

Larger rooms in the house may need some additional strategizing when rightsizing. Family and friends or professional organizers can be beneficial when tackling rooms such as the living room, where there may be a lot of large furniture to move around.

5. Discard unnecessary duplicates.

Eliminating duplicate items is an easy way to rightsize belongings and can help reduce the stress that clutter can cause. 

6. Decide which items are most important to you.

Determine which items are most important, which are somewhat important, and which are the least important. There’s nothing wrong with keeping things for sentimental reasons, but if you or your parent want to keep everything because of sentiment, you won’t get very far. A ranking system will help determine what to keep.

7. Use the “one-year” rule.

If you can’t decide whether to keep or discard an item, consider if it’s been used within the last year. If it hasn’t been used in a year, in most cases, it won’t be used within the next year either.

8. Digitize where possible.

Documents and photos can take up a lot of space in the home. Consider digitizing hard copies of documents, photos, videos, and other items. This will enable you to keep the memories and information while eliminating some clutter.

9. Get help from professional organizers.

Senior rightsizing is a common specialty for many professional organizers. They can help you develop a plan for rightsizing or even do the heavy lifting on your behalf.

10. Decide what to do with items.

Gifting cherished items to family members can be a meaningful way to preserve memories and pass down a loved one’s legacy. Consider asking relatives if there are specific items, such as heirlooms, furniture, or sentimental pieces, they would like to keep. This process can bring joy while ensuring that meaningful belongings remain within the family. Labeling items with the intended recipient’s name can help simplify distribution.

Benefits of Rightsizing

Rightsizing offers a range of benefits that can significantly improve daily life. Adjusting the living space and belongings can create a safer environment that better suits current needs. Some ways that senior rightsizing is beneficial include:

You gain flexibility to spend time how you want to.

Choosing to rightsize a home, possessions, or both can offer you or your parent more flexibility for you to be spontaneous with your time. For example, instead of mowing the lawn, you can use this time to take a trip to the local farmers market, spend time with friends and family, or pursue hobbies.

You reduce fall risk.

Senior rightsizing can ensure the living space matches current and future accessibility needs. Large or spacious homes with multiple flooring surfaces, stairs, and poorly lit areas can increase fall risk. Having extra clutter around the home can also contribute to falls if there are items in common walkways, cords, and other hazards.

You lower expenses.

Maintaining a smaller, rightsized space requires fewer expenses for utilities, furnishings, and clutter. Similarly, the cost of housekeeping or maintenance services, such as landscaping, is lower because these services typically charge less for smaller spaces.

Rightsizing to Senior Living

Some older adults may rightsize their belongings to prepare for senior living. Many communities offer a variety of floor plans to ensure the apartment meets the resident’s style and needs.

Enjoy low-maintenance living.

Team members in senior living communities take care of housekeeping and maintenance tasks so that residents can do what they want to do—not what they have to do. Communities offer a variety of amenities and services for residents, such as art classes, outings in the local community, or movie or game nights with friends and neighbors. 

Maximize social and personal time.

Rightsizing to a senior living community automatically expands social circles. This added benefit is important to long-term physical and emotional health after retirement. Senior living communities offer a wide range of activities, events, and amenities personalized to residents’ interests. 

Whether it’s spending a quiet moment with a good book in the living room or catching up with friends over coffee in the dining room, residents can live life their way. Rightsizing the living space can mean boosting energy and getting back time so you or your parent can enjoy every opportunity available.

Discover financial predictability.

Rightsizing to a senior living community results in a more predictable budget. Most senior living communities bill a monthly fee, which means every resident knows how much money they owe each month. 

In contrast, living at home can be full of unexpected financial surprises—a new roof, a water leak repair, or a lawn mower that needs to be replaced—that can leave a budget feeling chaotic. A senior living community simplifies budgeting and eliminates paying multiple bills each month by offering transparent, all-inclusive pricing models. 

Ready to Rightsize Your Space?

Rightsizing your living space can provide significant improvements to daily life, whether it's by reducing clutter or making the home safer. By adjusting the space and belongings to better suit current needs, you can prepare for future transitions, including moving to a senior living community, ensuring a smoother, more comfortable way of living.

For additional guidance on transitioning to senior living, we recommend our guide, Moving to Senior Living: Everything You Need to Know for a Successful Move.

This post was originally published in November 2023 and updated in April 2025.