4 Good Reasons to Declutter After 50
Perhaps aging in your home is in your future. Or then again, you may decide to downsize. Regardless, there are good reasons to declutter after 50. Over the years, things pile up and, if you haven’t regularly gone through them and decluttered, the pile will continue to grow.
Hear me out on this. Paring down your items is paramount for your health and safety and having some say over what to do with your stuff. Also, it will provide you with the freedom to enjoy your retirement years. Furthermore, if you suddenly decide to move to a smaller home, you’ll likely have less of a difficult time selling, if it’s clutter-free.
Let’s take a deeper look at 4 good reasons to declutter after 50.
1. Protect Your Safety
Are you aware that every 15 seconds someone aged 65 or older is treated in emergency for a fall (source: AARP)?
Suffice it to say, clutter piled on the floor is a fall risk. You could trip over something or slip on an item and fall. Any of which could result in an injury.
Additionally, in cluttered spaces, there are other potential dangers. For instance, items could fall on you while you’re retrieving something from an overcrowded shelf. Not to mention the other injuries that could take place when moving heavy items out of the way that could either be blocking your pathway or blocking an item you are trying to get.
It bears repeating that having less clutter is one step towards increasing the safety in your home. Getting rid of the surplus will provide you with more space to move around your home freely and reduce the chances of falling.
Consequently, you want to avoid experiencing a potential safety hazard. Ensure that your floors are clear to reduce your fall risk and that your shelves are not overloaded. As well, give yourself easy access to the items you use frequently to limit having to burrow through to find what you’re looking for.
2. Get a Head Start
Another one of the reasons to declutter after 50 is that going through your items now will give you a head start on paring down. As we get older, our energy levels typically begin declining. And it becomes more daunting to go through our possessions and make decisions.
Remember to start with what’s easy AKA the items with which you don’t have any emotional attachment. This will give you the opportunity to build some muscle in the decluttering arena and move on to the more difficult decisions.
Now is the time to take control and make decisions about the excess clutter in your home. Along those same lines, this creates an opening to have conversations with adult children and/or other family members about the unwanted items, including the things that have sentimental value.
As hard as it may be to digest, it is possible that what holds sentimental value for you may not necessarily have the same emotional attachment for your adult children. If this is the case, there are donation options to museums, local historical societies, etc. So, you know that what you do not intend to keep will go to a worthy cause.
Here’s a delicate arena that we don’t like to discuss. If anyone has had to go through a loved one’s possessions who’s passed on, you know that processing your grief while going through your loved one’s things, is devastating. If you have a lot of clutter, one of the best things you can do for your loved ones is to pare down the unnecessary items and things that you no longer want or need.
So, while you have your faculties and health, take the time now to sort through your belongings and make decisions about what to do with them.
3. Prepare for Retirement
Ideally, when you’re on the cusp of retirement, you’re gearing up for some new adventures. You’ve worked hard, and now it’s time to explore other interests, enjoy some leisure time, take up hobbies, etc.
Having to contend with a lot of clutter can impact your enjoyment. Remember, your brain is busy processing the surrounding stimuli. So, you may not experience the relaxed feeling you aspire to have, particularly in your retirement years.
The last thing you want is to feel burdened by clutter when you’re in the process of winding down.
So, there’s no time like the present to pick up a trash bag and start going through your entire house.
4. Keep your Home in Sellable Condition
While you certainly may have plans to age in place, you could change your mind, or your circumstances could change. Perhaps an altered health situation plays a role. Or a desire to move to a retirement community. Or maybe you just want a smaller place, if you decide that keeping up with the demands of a larger home is no longer for you.
Getting rid of excess clutter is one of the first things you can do to move towards having and keeping your home in sellable condition. It’s no secret that homes that are clean and clutter-free sell faster.
Do your best to avoid being in a situation where you need to move quickly, however, have a lot of stuff to pare down. It is important to stay ready!
Recap
At the end of the day, there are good reasons to declutter after 50. Ideally, you want to start beforehand, however, if you haven’t, it’s time to get on board.
Remember, protecting your safety as you age is not just for when you are a senior but will benefit you now. It will also be easier to incorporate these activities into your routines.
Decluttering will not be an overnight process. So, take some time to plan out what you need to do. You can create a home that is ready for whatever you wish to do down the road.
To help you achieve your decluttering goals, get our Declutter Workbook. It will provide you with simple, practical, and easy to follow steps.
“Decluttering is infinitely easier when you think of it as deciding what to keep, rather than deciding what to throw away.”
Francine Jay
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Thank you for your helpful ideas!
You’re welcome, Linda!
Take care,
Sonia