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► Reclaiming “You” Time ⁽²⁾

If you spend just four hours a week on general upkeep around the house, that totals 208 hours per year, which, over the course of 10 years, becomes 2,080 hours, or 87 days. Time is a precious commodity, and people across a range of demographic groups are beginning to realize that spending it with family, enjoying time with friends, being active, and learning new things is a far more rewarding way to approach life than filling it up with routine maintenance tasks.

► De-Cluttering & Simplifying ⁽²⁾

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There’s a third factor driving the downsizing trend: a shifting mindset that says that less might actually be more. In fact, the “declutter and simplify” movement has gained considerable momentum of late. The website The Minimalists is dedicated to “clearing clutter from life’s path” and has become so popular that the founders have spun their philosophy into films, books, and a podcast. Organizing consultant Marie Kondo has penned a series of New York Times bestsellers lauding the physical and psychological benefits of leading a clutter-free life, equating tidiness with “life-changing magic.”

The low-maintenance aspect is particularly appealing to seniors and retirees. For active seniors who are on the go all the time, they just want to have a place to lay their heads while they’re in town; they want to put their money into travel and other things more important to them at this time of their lives. And after spending much of their lives accumulating, it can be a goal to which to aspire. ⁽³⁾ “For empty-nesters, the kid’s may have left but their things tend to stick around,” says Schiestel. I’ve found that storage is and always will be key.”

Though downsizing is increasingly popular with the boomer-and-beyond set, younger homeowners are also jumping on the bandwagon – although their take on the trend is a bit different than their predecessors’. For millennials, “living simply” is a platform from which to launch. This generation doesn’t want a lot of clutter; they like technology, which has gotten smaller and smaller. Their aesthetic for furnishings and spaces is simple. ⁽³⁾

Image courtesy of FreshHome.com

► Organizing

The key to any successful downsizing project is incorporating the appropriate amount of storage. Organization is huge in any room. It’s a matter of thinking about what’s happening in that room, what needs to be stored, and coming up with creative ways to store what people need and determine what they don’t need. ⁽³⁾

With less space, organization become key. Despite a healthy amount of tidying and de-cluttering, we still seem to accumulate a lot of “stuff.” Custom-designed closets for bedrooms, bathrooms, pantries, mudrooms, hall closets and even garages are a great solution for organizing and storing our valued possessions, especially in more limited spaces. With the right design, custom closet organizers maximize your usable space and while making it more functional.

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