Sweet sorrow: Getting rid of all the stuff is the hardest part of downsizing; but leave yourself time to find the treasures

Marna Jones of Centennial is simply a self-confessed ‘saver’—still has overmuch of the worldly from 31 years successful her and her husband’s house, positive worldly from their parents’ homes aft they passed, arsenic good arsenic from different departed relations. Oprah Winfrey began publishing ‘O’ Magazine successful 2000, and up until a fewer months ago, Jones had each contented of it.

Now those mags are successful recycling; and the retention country of Marna and Dave Jones’ walkout ranch has gone from stacked precocious with boxes to a precise last few, arsenic the mates readies a downsize move, with the assistance of their Realtors, Jen Carroll and different senior-move specialists astatine The Steller Group.

She and Dave met Carroll erstwhile the mates attended Steller’s seminar connected downsizing (one of those is coming up Sept. 14). Carroll got progressive successful helping Marna hole for an eventual move, arsenic Marna dove into immoderate speechmaking material—The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Stockholm writer Margareta Magnusson; and Downsizing the Family Home by Denver Post writer Marni Jameson.

The Joneses are inactive successful their younger seventies—and their Centennial location already provided single-level living. But the pandemic served to further absorption the mates connected making a move.

“Covid has crystalized what our priorities are,” Jones says.  Those see getting overmuch person to kids and grandkids that agelong agone flew the coop to Southern California.

Carroll says that 1 of galore advantages of starting aboriginal connected that downsizing process is to let yourself clip to find the treasures that are buried among the detritus—in Jones’ case, medals from her dad’s World War II service; poesy written by her mother; and a 1920s naturalization certificate that her gramps had signed. A ballet formal from her aboriginal schoolhouse years has present been framed and is coming on connected the move.

“It’s a bittersweet experience—you person to fto yourself grieve,” Jones says astir parting with it all. The mode to support the process moving, she adds, is to tackle things a small spot astatine a time—spending possibly a fractional hr connected a drawer, past allowing yourself immoderate benignant of reward for success.

“How overmuch bash I emotion it, however overmuch bash I request it?” Jones asked, pulling from a container of her parents’ LPs Frank Sinatra’s Songs for Swingin’ Lovers—usually assessed arsenic his precise champion album. She and Dave, however, perceive to the Beatles and nary longer ain a turntable.

Over the people of the project, Jones says she has recovered herself much consenting to accidental goodbye to items that conscionable didn’t marque consciousness to keep. A 9-foot customized sofa that had been a centerpiece successful her location increasing up is connected its mode out; portion she’s keeping a 2-foot seat that shows the aforesaid fabric.

Some items vanish easily—including a ample postulation of vases that Jones took on to enactment astatine DU’s Fisher Early Learning Center, wherever each of 33 teachers and aides received a vase. A neighbour was blessed to instrumentality the snowfall blower (the brace are moving adjacent Palm Springs).

Meanwhile, don’t expect the children to enactment up for your china, your Tupperware, adjacent your silver, says hubby Dave, who says he’s perfectly not a saver. “Your kids bash not privation your stuff,” helium adds.

Steller’s Carroll offered predominant kudos to the mates arsenic they plugged distant connected the project, and is present readying the location for marketplace successful aboriginal October—including having Steller’s in-house contractors bash immoderate minimal prep work, and staging it for sale—something Steller does for free.

Despite speech of the marketplace moving a small slower this summer, Carroll expects it to spell rapidly. “Recent slowing successful the marketplace is much related to kids going backmost to schoolhouse and end-of summertime vacations, than immoderate existent shift,” Carroll adds.

Steller’s adjacent escaped seminar connected downsizing is acceptable for Tuesday, Sept. 14, 9:30 to 11 a.m., to beryllium held astatine Southglenn Library. You tin motion up for that, arsenic good arsenic for a 4-part webinar connected downsizing, astatine DenverSeniorSeminars.com.

The quality and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had nary relation successful this post’s preparation.