74. 7 Questions to Know If You’re Ready to Downsize

Have thoughts about downsizing started creeping in, but you're not sure if you're ready? Maybe a smaller place sounds easier, and also a little scary. What if you regret it?

This episode gives you 7 questions to ask yourself, covering everything from your finances to your health to what your gut is quietly telling you. Answer them honestly and you'll have a much better sense of whether now's the time to start planning for a downsizing move.

In this episode:

• How much of your home you're using day to day (the number surprises people)
• What your maintenance load is really trying to tell you
• A way to look at your housing costs that has nothing to do with sentiment
• The floor plan detail that quietly decides how long you stay independent
• What's really going on when a house starts to feel heavy
• The two-year test, and why it tends to settle the debate fast
• Four kinds of "ready," and which one sounds like you

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to leave us a review and Follow our show so you never miss a new episode. We’re here for your downsizing questions — on the podcast, in your community, and when you’re ready to move. As Realtors®, we can connect you with the right specialists to make your next chapter smoother. We’d love to hear from you!

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Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Welcome to the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. How do you know if you're ready to downsize? Hmm. Yes. Seven questions today we're gonna give you that you can ask yourself and maybe come to that conclusion, whether now's the time or you know, that time frame. Is it a couple years down the road? Is it an immediate need? Is it I'm I'm good for now, but maybe I should think about getting ready to be ready.

Jodi Rosko 0:46

Yeah, I think the thing we hear the most is that um people feel stuck because they have too much stuff. They just feel kind of overwhelmed by the whole process, they aren't sure where to start, and so they don't.

Heather Fisher 0:59

Yeah, absolutely. So we have a little self-assessment today. I'm Heather Fisher.

Jodi Rosko 1:05

I'm Jodie Roscoe.

Heather Fisher 1:06

And we're just gonna try to help you understand whether your life and your home and your goals are pointing towards that next place and the way they should be to get you where you want to go and where you need to go.

Jodi Rosko 1:19

Yeah, I'm thinking if you're here listening to us, you might be already in this bucket a little bit, but you might be at the very, very early stages or you might be like, let's go, I'm ready right now. So um, so if you're at you know, if you're at those early stages, maybe this can help clarify a little bit for you on what that n next step looks like. So yeah, and where you are at on that road. Yeah. So question number one is my current home supporting the life I want, or is it holding it hostage?

Heather Fisher 1:46

Yeah. That's a tough one. We all love our homes so much, and that tipping point of going from one end of that to the other happens slowly and then quickly. Yeah. And you know, it could be fast approaching, you could already be there where your home isn't working for you, um, or you could be, you know, living light and easy in your head, like, oh, this is all good, but you haven't considered the things that might be obstacles soon, you know, steps or um too much to take care of, and then something comes crashing down the road and it's not working well.

Jodi Rosko 2:27

Yeah, I mean your home should serve you and your lifestyle. I mean, that's what downsizing really is, is choosing a place that works for you and you know, the things that you care about, and that might not it might be less things that you have now. Um but you you we see patterns in this, and so what we see is you know, people aren't using the formal dining room, they aren't using the whole basement, they aren't using the whole upstairs, you know.

Heather Fisher 2:52

They're you know they're using it to store things, Jody.

Jodi Rosko 2:55

Yes. Yes, they're keeping the things in there. Um but you're gonna have spare bedrooms or you know, things like that. And um and so it's unrealistic to think that a home is gonna su serve you for your entire life because you go through different stages in life, you know. Maybe you had kids for you know in that home for a while and maybe you needed all that space, and that space worked fantastically for you then. Um maybe you were great with the two-story house at one point, and now you know the stairs are a little bit more daunting or whatever that is, but um usually it's just we don't need as much space as we did because we have a different it's a different time in life, right?

Heather Fisher 3:34

Yeah, I think in the early phases in life we quickly recognize when a space isn't working for us because it's usually we're busting at the seams for some reason. Um, you know, we just need more space, more people have joined the family, had kids, all of that. Um, it's harder to recognize without really putting thought process to how often do I use all of the spaces in my home.

Jodi Rosko 3:59

Yeah, and you're heating them and you're cleaning them, and all of those things are happening. Um, and so has it become um more of a burden on you and you haven't even realized it because you're used to just doing all those things, um, but you might not have to. And I think that's back to that first step that we have of being dreamy and thinking, what could my life look like, right? And it could look different than this. And I think sometimes we just literally don't think about it. We're just in a space that we just don't think about whether it's serving us or not. We just are living in it.

Heather Fisher 4:31

Yeah, data shows that the average American only uses forty per s forty to fifty percent of their available square footage regularly. Half, half the house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you have to really think about that and decide what spaces you're not using regularly.

Jodi Rosko 4:49

Yeah. Um so you know, take an an inventory in your mind, you know, what rooms are adding you stress instead of joy, or what rooms just you don't even go into anymore, um that are the dusty ones that you you know you have to clean just you know, so they can be there. Um what would an ideal day look like in your next chapter? This is all that dreamy stuff, you know. Does this home support that ideal day? Um, you know, if it if it was a tool, if your home was a tool, is it still the right one for the job, you know, from what you want out of life?

Heather Fisher 5:22

Yeah, question two. Am I spending more time maintaining my home than enjoying it?

Jodi Rosko 5:29

This one we hear a lot too. You know, I the yard's too much for me now. This is, you know, too much, the the space is too big to clean and take care of. We hear that a lot.

Heather Fisher 5:40

Yeah, things that maybe used to not take as long can take longer, so they're harder to manage. You do them less often because they take longer than they once did. Um, maybe some safety or mobility issues that make them uh just not feasible to do at all. And so they just weigh on you knowing they should be done, um, but they're not happening, and that's a mental load to carry.

Jodi Rosko 6:06

I think one that we see them a lot is that the laundry's in the basement, like and the bedrooms are upstairs. Um we live in a you know area that has a lot of basements. Um but even if the laundry is downstairs and your bedrooms upstairs, you know, carrying the laundry down one or two flights of stairs um might have used to be just fine, and now that's not so great anymore.

Heather Fisher 6:27

Yeah, with the laundry for sure, and sometimes even just up and down the stairs throughout the day where you once maybe bounded up and down many times. Now you have to put a lot more thought process um into do I have everything I need from up here because I'm not coming back up until the end of the day.

Jodi Rosko 6:48

Yeah, right. Um and then there's a lot of cost in um maintenance in a house, right? And the bigger the house, the more the more maintenance there's going to be to it. So um deferred maintenance we see a lot when people just that just gets overwhelming and out of hand, and that can um lower the price that you can get for your house when you sell it. So um not only is it it's costing you, you know, in more ways than one when you're when you're not fixing stuff. And and then if you are fixing it, that's a cost too, right? So there's cost both ways. Um but the increased cost of um you know repairs and maybe feeling overwhelmed by what needs to be done to the house just to keep regular maintenance going.

Heather Fisher 7:26

Yeah, and as those costs shift to um hiring someone to do small pieces, um that add up over time becomes quite a a load each month if you have multiple things that you're you're hiring out that you once did yourself.

Jodi Rosko 7:42

Yeah, um the uh AARP says that homeowners 65 and overspend thir $3,800 or more a year um on maintenance and repairs that's not including like major systems like your HVAC system and all of that. Just you know, mate that's the grass and you know whatever else that needs to be be done because it's too much.

Heather Fisher 8:03

Yeah, getting gutters cleaned out and things like that.

Jodi Rosko 8:06

And sometimes um emotionally it it weighs on you as well. You feel guilty, you know those things need to be done and you're not doing them, and that's a mental weight um on you. That that you know you have that checklist in your head, but you're not getting to it. And so those are some red flags of like, hey, it's time to start thinking about moving somewhere else.

Heather Fisher 8:28

Yeah, absolutely. If um time more currency, are you spending it where it matters or are you just constantly working on trying to keep up on the to-do list at the house?

Jodi Rosko 8:38

But yeah, because if you're spending time on that and you don't want to be, what could you be be spending that time on? Right? Could you be with your family, could you be on a trip, could you be doing other things that are more enjoyable to you than you know, taking care of the house that's too big? So Yeah. Okay, question number three. Is my financial picture aligned with staying, or would a move give me breathing room?

Heather Fisher 9:00

Yeah. Downsizing isn't only about saving money, it's about the flexibility that you get with how you're spending your money and what you're doing with the extra. Um all of that adds up.

Jodi Rosko 9:12

Yeah, I mean, number one, there's lots of equity in in most of the houses that we see that are being people that are downsizing from. So lots of equity that you can use to do other things. Um but then there's also stuff that people, you know, kind of don't think about, like the property taxes on a larger house are bigger. Um, you know, utilities are more, insurance is more. Um if you have a mortgage on it, you know, and you're still paying, but you could buy a house um that's smaller for a little bit less money, you know, that's an opportunity to save some money there. So um, and then the cost of maintaining the space we've just talked about. So there's there's a lot of costs that go around it that people aren't thinking about, you know, they're thinking the house is paid off, it's fine. But you know, there's a lot of costs that are still happening.

Heather Fisher 9:58

Yeah, it's a great thing to evaluate and and take a look at that full picture.

Jodi Rosko 10:03

Yeah, so homeowners that are downsizing um uh you know, a couple th a thousand square feet or so um often reduce their annual housing expenses by twenty to thirty percent. And that's because less to heat, less to, you know, manage in all those different ways. Yeah, taxes, utilities, and all of that.

Heather Fisher 10:21

Yeah, so that's that breathing room that you can gain potentially with a move, and what does that allow you in in your life? Is that money that you can travel uh to see family or to take a vacation? Um, what does that free up that is a little lighter feeling than maintaining a house that you're not using? Right.

Jodi Rosko 10:42

So if you're looking at it as a math problem instead of as an emotional, sentimental, you know, problem, um, what does it look like?

Heather Fisher 10:50

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 10:50

You know, you you have to weigh all the pieces, but if you're just looking at it as a financial math problem, what does that look like?

Heather Fisher 10:56

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, question number four is my health or my spouse's health changing how we live in this home? This we see so often.

Jodi Rosko 11:08

And this is when it gets um sad, actually. You know, it gets it gets to a place where people haven't made the chain the changes that they need to make early enough, um, and then they're in a place that they do feel stuck in um where mobility may be a problem. This happened to my mom and my grandma, um, where all the bedrooms were upstairs, there's not a full bath on the main floor, you know, they can't go up the stairs. It you know, it turns into something that's not not a great place. It's definitely not working for you. And you might not be in that place yet, but if you got to a place, you know, it's not great to think about those things sometimes. Sometimes we kind of have to think about what-ifs, but um, would the house work for you?

Heather Fisher 11:51

Yeah, I w witnessed this with my parents um going through the same with the two-story and the stairs, and um it just m going from you know, small inconveniences to oh, now this is a big problem that we can't overcome. But when you wait till that last minute, the solutions are so much narrower and the ability to to make those changes is so much harder in the midst of a crisis or a change in health, um, a change in the ability to use the house. And so thinking about it early, um, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily ready for um, you know, 24-hour nursing care and all of that, but you're setting yourself up to a place that might be easier to stay in longer and to make that your, you know, home that you can age in place and and um make those decisions early when it's wide open on your choices.

Jodi Rosko 12:54

Yeah, yeah. Again, the the earlier you do it, the more choices you have. And so um we want everybody to do it early so that they have all the choices because um we've seen it many, many times where um that move has been pushed down the road until um there are very few choices left and um not great ones. Um so um 80% of adults over 65 want single-level living, but only 37% of our homes in the United States offer it. So um so there's a there's a shortage of of the ranch style home that we need, you know, the single level home that we need to move into. So um think about that in your future, you know, if you find something you like, maybe it's time to get it and and move through that.

Heather Fisher 13:47

Yeah, number one, you don't want to be fighting against a shortage when you're up against that clock and really need that. Right but we we see a lot of new construction going up um, you know, in our area. I'm sure it's the same everywhere, and people are kind of like, we can't possibly need, you know, more housing. But I think it's just we had such uh a you know few decades where it was the just larger homes and the two stories and all of the building is not making as much sense as our population ages and we need more ranches and just more flexibility for that longer term lifestyle.

Jodi Rosko 14:28

Yeah, I mean, think about it. If you had minor surgery and you had a six-week recovery, could you easily function in your home?

Heather Fisher 14:37

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 14:37

So just you know, and and I think a lot of us are like, oh, but it's only six weeks and it'll be fine. But you know, that just kind of gives you an idea of what if it wasn't, what if it was a little bit of a longer mobility problem, what would that look like? So that kind of gives you a a reference to think about um how how your house might work or not work.

Heather Fisher 14:56

Yeah, absolutely.

Jodi Rosko 14:57

Okay, question number five. Is my home emotionally heavy?

Heather Fisher 15:03

And why? Yeah, what's causing that?

Jodi Rosko 15:06

I think emotional readiness is just as important as logistics, right? Because I think um if you're a sentimental type kind of person, um, then that is it's a very painful like thing to try to make all these decisions. And we just um we just did a one uh episode on how your brain works. So go listen to that one if you're you know having trouble with it because the science around it is really interesting. Um but um if there your house can be heavy if it's tied to difficult memories. Um sometimes that's comforting, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it feels, you know, heavy on you having memories of people who may not be there anymore or um feeling stuck in old roles or years of unfinished projects, right? You had um an identity that you were creating in that house and you might have moved past it, but you are stuck in it because you're still in the house living in it.

Heather Fisher 15:59

Yeah, you haven't um been able to stretch past that and look at your choices and and make that, you know, just get started down that path so that you can make a choice for something different and you just kind of get in that rut of living with the things that are unfinished, or um, you know, living with m way too many items from someone else uh that you're surrounded by, um, or just living with the memory and having fear of um, you know, that you'll feel like you're letting that person go if you move from a space when you've lost someone where that's not the case at all, you can you can take that legacy with you and find ways um for it to be wonderful at the next spot.

Jodi Rosko 16:47

Yeah, sometimes the weight is guilt around the stuff and you feel like guilty for letting it go. Maybe it was somebody else's stuff that you've acquired and now you don't know what to do with it and you can't take it with you, or maybe it's your own stuff and you have trouble letting go of that. But guilt can make things feel heavy. Um, and maybe just it's you have outgrown the house um and you're not thinking about it like that. You know, you're just living in it, but you um actually have outgrown it and and um you're ready to grow beyond it, and so you need to take those steps to make that happen.

Heather Fisher 17:22

Yeah, you don't honor your past by storing it, you honor it by acknowledging it and you know, displaying some parts of it and and just enjoying those memories.

Jodi Rosko 17:33

Yeah. So does your house make you have energy and feel great, or it does it drain you, you know, when you're walking from room to room? Is it like, ugh, there's all this stuff in this room and there's all this stuff in this room, or is it like, ugh, I love sitting in this room and you know, drinking my coffee and reading my book here. It feels so great. Um, so you can change that in your house that you have now if the house itself works and the stuff isn't working, or maybe it's uh needs to be a whole new, you know, a whole new place. Yeah, finding that new refreshed energy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, question number six. If I fast forward two years, would I regret staying or moving? So we find most of the time, every I I mean, I would say very, very few people say, I wish I hadn't done this. Everybody says, I wish I had done it sooner.

Heather Fisher 18:24

Yeah, we uh everyone that comes to our class and then they come back to our class to visit with us and and talk with us, and that's constantly the message we get. They're so much happier that they made the move, their life is a little lighter. Um but I love this question because you you're kind of forcing yourself uh from a different direction into that dream it um part of it at the at the beginning of our plan. Um you're looking in that fast forward and looking through the lens of okay, what if I did nothing? How am I gonna feel about that? Um and that can really give you some clues as to whether it's time to do something or whether you're okay for a little bit.

Jodi Rosko 19:08

Well, and two years out gives you far enough to think. Like it's not like next month or next, you know, six months from now or whatever. It gives you kind of a good little future of like what's what might that look like. And if the stairs are a problem now, uh what are they gonna be like in two years? Or if you're tired of mowing the lawn now, how are you gonna feel about it in two years? Yeah you know, or whatever that looks like. Um, so um, yeah, think about think back to that dreaming, think about what that is, and then imagine yourself both staying and going. What's harder if you stay? Um, what's better, you know, what's harder, you know, what what becomes possible if you move, you know, what's easier.

Heather Fisher 19:48

Yeah. Oh, you know, those two years are gonna go by whether you do anything or not. So it's just deciding with that forward-thinking lens what you want to accomplish and then breaking that down into, you know, those chunks that can get you to where you want to be two years from now. Um, we're always encouraging, even if you're not quite ready for a move, everybody's ready to get started, or we hope they will get started, even if they don't feel quite ready, so that you're just ready for the opportunities that come your way, or ready if, you know, unfortunately something harder, a crisis, a health change comes, you're ready and you have that piece of of just being ready to be ready.

Jodi Rosko 20:32

Yeah, people tend to regret inaction more than action. Like, so if you're thinking over your life, you know, you you would regret things that you didn't do versus things that you did do. So think about think about that. And when you think about those two years from now, are you feeling um which which possibility do you feel relieved from? Do you feel like, oh gosh, it would be so great to be in a different place. I just can't see how to get there. Um, then that means you need to go. You need to start working on figuring out how to get there, and we can help you with all of those pieces. Um, but if if you're like, no, I love this place and it works great, great, you know.

Heather Fisher 21:05

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 21:06

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 21:06

Yeah. So question seven goes hand in hand with that. Uh we started to talk about it, but do I feel ready to begin even if I'm not ready to finish? Yeah. So this is that, you know, it's okay to get started. I know this is in my future at some point. Am I ready to let my walls down and start with easy? Start going through some junk drawers, start going through the pantry, and and start building a little momentum so you're testing the waters and just seeing, you know, back to all that science we talked about last episode. Are you getting some dopamine hits from having a few cleaner spaces and um you know gathering information if you haven't been out to tour any senior communities anytime uh recently? They're beautiful, they're wonderful. Um, you know, if that's Something that's potentially on the horizon for the next five or ten years down the road. Just go get yours you know, start getting yourself used to that comfort level of how wonderful they are and and make that a long-term plan.

Jodi Rosko 22:19

So if you if that's what you think your plan might be, um go see them sooner rather than later and find out what the logistics of that could be because um you might think, oh, in in your head, you might think, I know that I'm gonna go to this great community where my friends, you know, we've all talked about it. We think it's you know a great place or whatever, but you haven't gone to talk to them and and so when you're ready, you're like, okay, I'm ready, and they're like, Well that's great, you can get one in three years. Um and so honestly, we have uh places here, and I'm I'm assuming that's the similar around the country, um that you would want to get on a waiting list just in case. And it's okay. Um, you know, it's okay to get yourself ready um and make those choices and d and be able to visualize where you're going next and unburden yourself. Just start to unburden yourself of your stuff um and just see how that feels. And you can stay where you are, you can always stay where you are, right? Yeah. But letting yourself move forward by unburdening yourself of some of that stuff. And something else we hear a lot um is I'm just gonna let my kids deal with all this stuff. And um as that as the kid that had to do that, don't do that. Don't do that because you know, it's your it's your stuff that you have been, you know, shepherding through life. So it's your choice to make you to know what happens with it. And you know, uh your kids aren't gonna know what all exactly is important um to you, what you want to keep as your legacy. Um they won't know all those things. And so um it's such a gift, it's such a gift to help them by g by going through it. And it's cathartic for you too.

Heather Fisher 24:01

Yeah, and I think when we hear people say that, they're skipping over those years where um even if they're leaving it for their kids to deal with in the end, um, those later years of their life, they're still living under that burden of it. So the opportunity to just have so much uh more freedom and um you know less weight uh of life and stuff on you to um you know enjoy whatever time each of us has left, you're you're just keeping that burden on yourself and passing it to your kids. Yeah. Um so if you can get past that and get started, um that's definitely the path to take.

Jodi Rosko 24:42

Yeah. So being ready, again, it doesn't mean you have everything, all the answers, but being ready, it looks like you're curious, you know, you're curious instead of avoiding it. Um you're willing to have conversations about it or learn about it or go out and look at places. You want less stress in your life, and you know that that, you know, path m will get you there. Um and you recognize that life, you know, can flow more easily if you have less obligations.

Heather Fisher 25:09

Yeah, and getting started can be small. It could be sorting one drawer, having a conversation with your adult children, taking one tour or going for a lunch and learn somewhere, um, you know, calling us or you know, an organizing company, anything like that to just uh begin looking at your strategy.

Jodi Rosko 25:30

Yeah, the only way you can get clear on what you think you want is to act and do things, um, whether that's cleaning out, whether that's finding where the next place might be, whether that's going and looking at ranches, you know, whatever that looks like, um acting is what's gonna get clarity. Think just, you know, we think about what you think you want to have and then act on what that is, right? So spend some time. Uh the action there of the dreamy part is writing down what you think you want it to be. So like if, you know, physically, physically thinking and spending some time um writing that down and then act on those thoughts.

Heather Fisher 26:06

Yeah, so if you have been listening along and we've gone through seven questions and you answered yes to some of them, but not all of them, what do you do now?

Jodi Rosko 26:17

Yeah, I think um you I think there's some places you could be, right? You could be in I'm absolutely ready. You could be in, I'm I think I'm pretty ready. Uh, you could be in I'm mentally getting ready for that. Like I'm I'm thing, I'm preparing to be ready, and then you're not ready. So um if you're absolutely ready, you can reach out to us at um downsizingroadmap.com backslash help, um, and we will help you, you know, ri speed through that process. Um if you um are nearly ready, you could also reach out to us. That's probably still a good time to do that. Yeah. Um if you're mentally preparing, um, just a few logistical signs, but you're not you need more information to reduce that anxiety, I would I would start 15 minutes a day, you know, going through your things, go see, you know, some houses. Yeah. If it if you're moving to a, if you think, hey, I want to move to a new location, go visit it, maybe get an Airbnb there for a little bit and see what it looks like to be there. Just kind of start getting yourself ready. And if you're not ready, keep listening to our podcast.

Heather Fisher 27:22

Yeah. If you're starting to feel ready, our downsizing guide is a great uh next step. It's uh, you know, a lot of information that we talk about on the podcast and just some some more questions to ask yourself and some more exercises to get started and um some challenges and things to do to get started. So that's on our website as well, downsizingroadmap.com backslash guide is a great place to get started.

Jodi Rosko 27:50

That has the whole dreamy thing and all of that stuff in there that you can just start using.

Heather Fisher 27:54

Walk through that path um until you're ready to give us a call. Um, I do feel like if you're feeling just like not ready at all, something brought you to our podcast, our class, something is you know, just tugging on your mind. So that might be just some more questions as to what was the triggers that that brought you there, and are there maybe more yeses that you're just not quite willing to admit to yet?

Jodi Rosko 28:25

Probably because you can't see the path. So um again, our brain stops us and tries to protect us from things it doesn't know. And so if you're here and you're thinking, well, I'm not ready, but I just want to hear about it, it's you are you probably are more ready than you think you're just um you just are blocked by the the unknown. Yeah. Or you're here to help your parents, and that's a whole nother thing. And uh, you know, we we can help you with that as well.

Heather Fisher 28:52

Go to all the same places, and we are those people that have helped our parents and helped many clients with their parents. Gone speed, right? Yes, yes. Walk you through that path. Yes. Yep. I was gonna say easily.

Jodi Rosko 29:06

It's not always easy, but we will get you through it. We've done this. So not always easy, but it is um, you know, necessary.

Heather Fisher 29:13

So this is a great place um to take your answers, your own answers to these questions and start a conversation with someone that's gonna help you uh, you know, through this next phase. Is that your partner, your spouse to have a further conversation with them? Is it a time to have a conversation with your adult kids and see what pieces they might be able to give you some insight on or some help or physical help to get started? Um, or starting that conversation with us and helping bring some clarity to that strategy and that timeline. And even if it's a long way out, um it's always good to just lay out that plan.

Jodi Rosko 29:57

Yep, for sure. Um you could start a downsizing journal or checklist. Um you can start with that guide and then create a little notebook of where you, you know, listing of places that you might want to go or things like things that you want your future to look like. Um you can tour a small house or community and just for the experience and see what what you think um you might like for that next step. Um you can start cleaning things out in the area that's irritating you the most. That's where I would probably start. Whatever feels the heaviest and feels like, ugh, I need to get that off of my back, that's probably the thing that you've been um avoiding. And um that's the one that will make you feel the lightest once you get started and help you with moment momentum.

Heather Fisher 30:42

Yeah, and if any of these steps feel overwhelming to just get started in them, there are so many resources, um, you know, some common sense and some that we when we started working in this arena years ago, we didn't even know some of them existed, but great um, you know, organizing resources, physical resources to help move things or organize at your current home, um, placement resources that can help you just ask those important questions when you go on tours and know all of the communities in your area. Um, of course, real estate agents like us that can talk to you about that equity in your current home and how that might be best transferred to the next phase phase. So if there's any step that you're like, okay, I I am feeling ready. I had a lot of yeses, but I don't know how to get started, we can definitely help you connect you with those resources. Yep.

Jodi Rosko 31:42

So um ask yourself the questions, listen to yourself, um, see where you're at in it. If if you're not ready uh now, you know, ask yourself the questions again in six months and see, you know, see where you are. But um I think everybody, no matter whether you're gonna downsize or not, everybody could stand to um lighten their load a little bit of their stuff and just to start that process to feel like you're moving towards something.

Heather Fisher 32:09

Yeah, you don't have to be all in to take that first step. You just have to care about the version of you that's waiting on the other side. Yep. So awesome. Well, we will be back next week, and if you need any resources or want to reach out to us, our website, downsizingroadmap.com. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes? Reach out to us on our website, www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.