Five Fun Downsizing Tools
I am in the midst of creating a workshop on downsizing that I will put together with other professionals that we will present at community centers. There will be topics related to financial planning, legal matters and the reality of the current housing market. My contribution is of course the establishment of the downsizing decision and then creation of a plan to downsize.
It is important to have tools that can be used when deciding to make that transition, and set oneself up for success throughout the process. I thought I would provide you with a list of tools that you would use in this course. I will also have them on available my website for you to download and use. Moving from the decision making process to the successful move, here are the tools I plan to provide:
Values inventory: it's a quick sheet to complete, but using this form you explore what is important to you in your life. Are you driven by material gain or possessions? Is beauty or nature the main driving force in your life or is it friends and relationships? While it is true we are complex creatures with many differing values, most people tend toward a particular driving force. With that perspective in mind, we can then make choices based on what we know is important to us. There is no point buying a condo in a busy urban area if one of our main values is peace, quiet and nature.
Quality of Life Checklist: I have discussed this in a previous blog, but I created this form as a measure of how our current reality contribute or detracts from our happiness. Intended to be completed multiple times over months or years, we can see if our quality of life is improving or deteriorating in our current living situation. It also provides perspective once we have highlighted our personal values. If you value friendships for example, and currently go out rarely, then you know you are at dissonance and maybe need to make a change.
Pros and Cons list: This tool is an oldie but a goody. Draw a line down the middle of a page and write pros of a decision (to move to a condo, say) on one side and the cons on the other. Putting thoughts down visually like this can be a catalyst for evaluating your feelings on the subject. If you loved writing the pros down and was put out by writing cons, you know you want this thing to happen.
Goal Setting Sheet:: When we know our values, have made the decision and are ready to move into a transition, we will then use a goal setting tool to set some broad goals for ourselves. It is the basic plan moving forward, that we will continue to refine and review through the transition process.
Work Plan: Using the previous document, we will then make a spreadsheet of tasks broken down with dates and action items. This is the worksheet of a transition. It can be as detailed or as loose as you like, but it will help you to establish what to do in the correct order, and will ensure that the tasks are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and set to a timeline.
If you are interested in these tools or know someone who you think might benefit from the workshop, feel free to give me a call or email me at differentpath17@gmail.com. I will also be posting the tools shortly, so stay tuned for that. I am super excited about this!