Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
GET PROACTIVE WHEN IT COMES TO DOWNSIZING
Shane Bone, owner and founder of Simple Steps Consulting in Eagleville, Montgomery County, is in the middle of a downsizing project with a client and is using her expertise in home organizing to aid them in reducing their possessions.
It’s not unusual for her to help clients ages 60 and over who are in a stage of their lives where they want to move to a smaller home or simply want to reduce the clutter they have amassed over the course of decades.
What she has learned since she established her business in 2016 is that the emotional component to being attached to stuff is one layer of the process that her business is equipped to tackle instead of brush aside.
That is why their initial step is to determine and work through how emotionally attached a client is to what they have. Bone expressed a respect for the fact that she is helping people navigate through chapters of their lives.
“Many struggle with an emotional attachment to a lot of their things,” Bone said. “Some on our team have a therapy and coaching background, and we come in with a really gentle and capable approach in helping them deal with that chaos and clutter that had accumulated around them.”
Next, she begins to start breaking down the barriers based on what are easy decisions to make upfront. These are what she refers to as easy asks that don’t require emotional processing.
“We start with the easy stuff first, like furniture,” Bone said. “We save the other stuff, like physical pictures, for later.”
Because most of Bone’s clients don’t know where to even begin when it comes to tackling their possessions, she said they begin to feel a sense of empowerment that makes the purging easier over time.
“The harder things become less hard the more you do it,” she said.
Bone has also found that it is easier for someone to donate something if there is purpose behind it.
“I had a client who had all of these unopened toys still in boxes, and we found a place to give them to children in need,” Bone said. “As soon as she had a purpose, it was easy for her to make a commitment — it feels doable to clients.”
From a keepsake perspective when it comes to physical memories, Bone has a one-bin philosophy.
“I ask them out of what they have, what would be most important for them to keep,” she said.
Terry Stroble, owner of All About Organized based in Douglassville, Berks County, like Bone, has clients make sure those keepsakes are high-meaning and high-value items. She finds that she has the best success in helping clients make decisions when she keeps them focused on where they are going.
“Before we get to the sentimental items, I say, ‘Let’s take a look at what you have and where you are moving to,’” she said. “When I keep them focused on the space they are moving to, it greatly helps the process of purging and getting rid of belongings.”
In some cases a client might be downsizing from a two- or four-bedroom house to a studio. This reality makes it easier to part with memorabilia, and Stroble coaches and helps guide them through these tougher items to part with.
“There is only so much space you can keep those belongings,” she said. “It’s hard, but we get through it.”
Bone finds that one of the biggest mistakes many people make that has led to the accumulation of so much stuff is having a mindset that it’s something they can’t get rid of because they might need it.
“They might not have touched it in 20 years,” she said, adding it’s better to just head out and buy it if and when the need comes up rather than store items that rarely get used.
For clients in the active aging category, there are specific things Simple Steps addresses that place emphasis on the importance of downsizing when they are still in a position to make decisions.
“You still have the ability to decide where you want things to go, who you want them to go to and determine with them what you don’t want to have to deal with when you no longer can,” Bone said.
Instead, she suggests getting ahead of the game and to start making the choices now instead of waiting for a true emergency when there is immense pressure to get it done.
“As we think about downsizing, do you want your kids to have to do that?,” she said. “No, we don’t want our kids to have to go through all of our crap.”
Bone suggests spending a year going through one room at a time in your home per month, also taking into account the shed, attic, basement and garage.
“I think any time you can be proactive about these spaces in your home the better off you will be,” she said. “People usually wait until there is a life event, and then you are at a place where you have no choice and it’s not a good way to get it done.”
Overall, Simple Steps’ offers a customized client approach for seniors, families or others with a goal that applies to all.
“We are committed to helping our clients find balance and peace in how they live their lives inside their home,” Bone said. “If you embrace a mindset of being proactive with downsizing you are one step ahead.”