#downsizing

#downsizing

When I arrived at Liberty Tiny Village on a warmer than usual day in November, I thought I knew exactly what to expect. The resort-style, 55-and-older tiny home community in Aubrey, Texas, markets itself as an upscale community for retirees or soon-to-be retirees ready to shed decades of belongings in exchange for a smaller, freer way of living. But that's only part of the story. That afternoon, I sat with two neighbors, widows Debbie Giamalva a retired intensive care nurse, and Sherry Miller, a retired English teacher.

When it comes to clutter, my parents were a case of opposites attract. My dad had a shorthand saying: "ABC." It meant "always be clearing." My mother, on the other hand, loved beautiful things and collected them without much rhyme, reason, or organization. I always followed my dad's footsteps more closely. Although I hold a doctorate and have a career in academia, I started a professional organizing company 17 years ago. Today, A Clear Path has 17 employees.

My husband and I were happily renting in New York thanks to a pandemic rent deal (four months over two years free!). Real estate prices in New York felt completely out of reach and frankly, the three-bedroom, well-lit, high-ceiling place we found was perfect. Then, a series of events happened that made me itchy to buy a home. The first is that the home I shared with my grandparents during my formative high school years was sold.

We lived in an older house, so we had to do a lot of updating to get it ready for the market, sell it, and get it under contract. We moved from a six-bedroom home to a three-bedroom apartment, so we really had to downsize - everything from furniture and lawn tools to our two cars had to go. I decreased all of our clothing to a quarter of what we had.

Downsizing has become a dirty word. It conjures up stereotypes of older people "rambling around" sprawling suburban homes being "forced" into a bungalow or apartment far from everyone they know, or relegated into a timber cabin at the end of a garden they tended to for decades so their adult kids can take over the family home.

End of an era? Maybe. Hilton & Hyland's sign has come off the Standard Oil building in Beverly Hills, with the high-end brokerage beginning a move to smaller offices within the city. The relocation comes after the company's soon-to-be former landlord, Standard Oil Investment Group, took the brokerage to court over more than $650,000 in back rent and over $65,000 in late fees before asking a judge to toss the complaint last month.

When Barbara White decided it was time to sell her four-bedroom house and downsize, it helped that she had 40 years of experience as a real estate agent to inform her search. Still, it wasn't easy to find her next home. After selling her property on Amelia Island in North Florida in July 2024 for nearly $500,000, she moved into a rental for six months while continuing to look for a smaller place closer to her two sons.

It was kind of cute when Aaron Terrazas' retired parents first started gifting him and his siblings various items and trinkets they'd accumulated from their travels over the years. But the little handoffs pretty quickly crossed into very annoying territory. "It just became more stuff that filled up our homes that we didn't need or have space for," Terrazas, a 40-year-old economist in Seattle, says.

I kept just a few precious memories, like undeveloped disposable cameras, and my clothes in boxes tucked away at my parents' house. I had quit my job, and in just a few short hours I would be taking the biggest leap of my life: heading to an RV dealership with a $75,000 cashier's check to purchase a converted cargo van so that I could live in it full-time.

Larger pieces, like a China cabinet top, were reimagined to maximize floor space and maintain function - proof that creative solutions can carry sentimental value into new settings,

When we finally paused to ask ourselves why we were living that way, the answer was simple: money. We needed to earn enough to sustain our expensive lifestyle, which meant working jobs that left us depleted, sacrificing our mental health, and rarely having quality time as a family. So we made a bold decision: My wife quit her job, I stayed on in a remote position, and we left the city behind to lower our cost of living .

Dreaming of trading your brick-and-mortar home for four wheels and the open road? Full-time RVing across the U.S. isn't just a vacation- it's a lifestyle. From waking up in national parks to dealing with black tanks and Wi-Fi woes, RV life is equal parts freedom and funky. Whether you're a remote worker, retiree, or digital nomad, here's what it's really like to live that rolling life, day in and day out.

After 30 years, the emotional ties to this 1970s home outweigh the logistics and financial reasons many peers discuss about downsizing.

Because in February, after working for the federal government for 17 years, Gibson learned that she would lose her job as a contract specialist at the Office of Personnel Management, through no fault of her own.