Sensitively counsels readers on how to downsize a family home filled with a lifetime of memories, sharing practical recommendations for strategies based on the expertise of antiques appraisers, garage-sale gurus, professional organizers and psychologists.

As life unfolds, things tend to accumulate. When older adults undergo health, residential, and marital changes, they will face a reckoning with their lifelong store of possessions—special, ordinary, and forgotten. Such a predicament now confronts tens of millions of Americans as the Baby Boom cohort passes into retirement and beyond. Despite what a thriving industry of clutter manuals tells us, for most older adults, downsizing is no simple task. Drawing on in-depth interviews with recent movers in over a hundred diverse U.S. households, David Ekerdt analyzes the downsizing process and what it says about the meaning and management of possessions. He details how households approach and accomplish downsizing, exploring the decision-making process and the effectiveness of different strategies. From an expert gerontological perspective, he considers the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social tasks that the process entails and the role of factors such as gender and class on the divestment of things. Ekerdt finds that despite the fatigue and emotional challenges people encounter, afterward they report satisfaction in having completed a downsizing and feel empowerment on the other side of the task. Offering an empathetic and practical look at one of life’s major transitions, Downsizing brings forward the voices of elders so that older adults, their families and friends, and practitioners working with older clients can understand and benefit from their experience.

Say goodbye to clutter, reduce stress, and live simply with this easy-to-use guide to downsizing! Whether you are selling your family home, blending households into a new home, or cleaning out your aging parents' home, sorting through a lifetime's worth of accumulated possessions can be a daunting and stressful experience. Decluttering guru Peter Walsh recently went through the process of downsizing his childhood home and dividing his late parents' family possessions. He realized that making these decisions about mementos and heirlooms creates strong emotions and can be an overwhelming chore. In Let It Go, Peter will help you turn downsizing into a rejuvenating life change with his useful tips and practical takeaways, including how to: • Understand the emotional challenges that accompany downsizing • Establish a hierarchy of mementos and collectibles • Calculate the amount of stuff you can bring into your new life • Create strategies for dividing heirlooms among family members without drama This new phase brings unexpected freedoms and opportunities, and Peter walks you through every step of the process. You’ll feel freer and happier than you ever thought possible once you Let It Go.

America’s top cleaning expert and star of the hit series Legacy List with Matt Paxton distills his fail-proof approach to decluttering and downsizing. Your boxes of photos, family’s china, and even the kids' height charts aren’t just stuff; they’re attached to a lifetime of memories--and letting them go can be scary. With empathy, expertise, and humor, Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff, written in collaboration with AARP, helps you sift through years of clutter, let go of what no longer serves you, and identify the items worth keeping so that you can focus on living in the present. For over 20 years, Matt Paxton has helped people from all walks of life who want to live more simply declutter and downsize. As a featured cleaner on Hoarders and host of the Emmy-nominated Legacy List with Matt Paxton on PBS, he has identified the psychological roadblocks that most organizational experts routinely miss but that prevent so many of us from lightening our material load. Using poignant stories from the thousands of individuals and families he has worked with, Paxton brings his signature insight to a necessary task. Whether you’re tired of living with clutter, making space for a loved one, or moving to a smaller home or retirement community, this book is for you. Paxton’s unique, step-by-step process gives you the tools you need to get the job done.

In this trenchant analysis of American society, Thomas Naylor and William Willimon take an unabashed stance against the belief that "bigger is better" and contend that there is a price to be paid for our uncritical affirmation of bigness.

*The basis for the wonderfully funny and moving TV series developed by Amy Poehler and Scout Productions* A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life. In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming. Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.

A life filled with possessions may not be a life filled with happiness. Rita's book inspires you to: Downsize your physical and emotional clutter - Make room for what matters most - Redesign how you live, work and play to have more time, money and freedom - Let go of invisible barriers that prevent you from living a life you love...by design

Moving in the Right Direction shares Bruce's experience and expertise on the many issues involved when seniors consider moving from their long-term home. Now seniors all across the country -- as well as the friends and family who care for them -- can turn to this simple, direct, and comprehensive guide as they make this important transition.

Michael Moore has established himself as someone who just won't shut up, go away, or otherwise do what political and corporate fat cats would like him to do. He lifts the veil on the people who set themselves up as role models and exposes their vulnerable underbellies.

"Somewhere in the middle of my seventies, I realised that I liked being old." So begins this set of engaging stories and thoughts on growing older by someone with a vast range of life experience to share. Part memoir and part reflection on the joys and challenges of modern life, this book explores the nature of old age and how it compares to what came before. The author argues that being older does not have to be feared. Even better, it can be fun. This kaleidoscopic book offers a refreshing - and often funny - look at a wide range of issues, Including the personal awkwardness of a loss of memory, a new take on the nature of ambition, and sex at the age of 90. It challenges head on many of the prevalent myths and taboos surrounding old age. You may never look at old age in the same way again.