Who, or What, do you use for Aging Well?

In one way, I am in awe of my Mother and her Mother, my Grandmother Bertha. They both pared down their belongings so that when it came time to dispose of their estates it was not a huge job. I am trying to follow suit and sluff off all the items I no longer want, or use. Trying only to keep those things which means something, or are used, right now! That includes trips to the used book store to sell some of my books.

Very difficult for me to get rid of things. We are making a BIG move late March and packing is unreal!

My problem is that before I can get rid of anything, I have to check with husband and three kids to see if they want it. "Things'" even things that look like not much to me often have some deep memory for someone else. We have been the repository for their childhood stuff until now. So, I have been telling them, if I come across something you want, take it or out it goes. Still, not easy to do.

As for books, can't get rid of them at all!

But my biggest goal is to organize all important papers and documents. My mother did this and it was a tremendous help when she died.

So my best solution is to try to keep the "stuff" under control by good organization, another thing that is not easy either! Oh, boy, I think this is a life-long process!

Yes, I do think it is a journey. I think I benefit when I set goals. Today I'm doing a "for every one minute spent in the office, sorting, tossing, and filing paper work I get one minute to do computer or read". So far so good, but I'm not getting any reading done! Boo.

Funny to find this thread today, when I've just been going through a box of stuff I've kept since the 1960s. Some of it is going on eBay. I've been making a tidy living the last few months selling CDs and such on eBay.

When my husband passed in 2010, I decided I needed to get rid of almost everything. Between the two of us, we had an incredible amount of clutter. I decided to simplify, simplify, simply, so my kid doesn't have to go through what I'm going through now.

When my mom and dad downsized a decade or so ago, I couldn't understand why they were getting rid of all that good stuff, so of course I took some of it. Now that stuff is going, too.

Most of what's left in the storage locker is, of course, books. Just a couple thousand or so.

#3 That's a good discipline. I just may give it a try!

#4. I hear you and wish I could do likewise. I have stuff from my mother's house and mother-law's house. So much stuff has sentimental value and it is so hard to get rid of things when you have to take into account the wishes of husband, sons, sisters, brothers and bro & sis in-laws too. I guess most of us just do the best we can. My mantra lately is the WWII British slogan "keep calm and carry on." It works most of the time too!

Downsize...wow. I've downsized when I moved from NYC (everything went but books, CD's and a few clothes), I downsized again when I moved from Portugal to Cyprus, I downsized again when I moved back to Portugal....and I still have hundreds and hundreds of books (and I have probably two hundred more not yet in my LibraryThing inventory) and then the CD's......sheesh, boxes and boxes, most in plastic sleeves to get rid of the thicker cases they are sold in.

What I have thrown away is all the family photos and personal memorabilia. I live alone here, and that stuff will be of no interest to any of my friends or acquaintances. As for the books, CD's, furniture, Persian rugs, paintings, etc. that I've picked up since leaving the U.S. - I hope it will be like the scene in Zorba the Greek when the house of the faded old courtesan was stripped bare by the neighbors before the corpse was cold.

And as far as it matters to me they can lay my corpse on the floor to take the bed.

I'm a young elder, and I will pare down my belongings in the next 3 months. My family and I are moving to a sustainable home in Northern California later this year. I hung onto everything for years, because I was raised in a military family (8 moves in my 1st 12 years). Now, however, it finally feels like more of a hassle to maintain than to discard. So here goes. The keepers include 1 box of personal documents and financial paperwork, family photos for my children, all my usable kitchen stuff, 75% of my books, half of my clothes, and all of my gardening gear. Anything I'm not actually ready to get rid of will go into a storage room at my current house in SoCal...if that all burns up in a wildfire, so be it.

Good luck to you in your new digs, and in your moving.... It is an interesting process to let go of stuff that for a while I thought was so important to keep. The more I let go, the easier it becomes.

If I answered this question honestly, I could go to jail.

There is an old rule about Clutter: "If you have not touched it in five years, you can probably live without it."

I have started interviewing Retirement Homes... places with independent living apartments, plus some services, some meals, people around 24/7, opportunity for Assisted Living Services to be added on later, when needed.

Saw a place today that I wanted to move into right away. I think i would love to have someone cook for me; and clean for me; and change my sheets. Sigh.

I think, maybe, if I moved in right away I'd run the risk of feeling depressed at the loss of independence; maybe not. Do not know. Wish I knew.

Yes, you would. Unless you have a physical problem that slows you down, advice from friends who have taken that step is that it can get boring -with only more of the same to look forward to.

Yes, I can see that might be a problem. I plan to keep the car for as long as I'm physically capable of safe driving and on finding a place which is not too remote from friends, family, and places for entertainment and window shopping, as well as trips to parks. Also, Camera will be with me for as long as I can hold her up.

With reference to "aging well" I have studied the macrobiotic (MB) lifestyle with increasing interest over the last 10 years. During that time, several medical doctors who have analyzed MB diet recommendations find it to be not only medically sound but very farsighted. When I started eating MB meals, I noticed that my beginning arthritis symptoms vanished, my sleep patterns have improved out of all recognition, no more cold hands and feet, etc. And once you set up a natural foods kitchen, weekly food costs are quite low. I now shop for food mostly at farmers' markets or at a local food co-op store. I did have to write the first-ever article on elderhood for the magazine Macrobiotics Today, but that elicited letters from previously voiceless elders. Some information on that magazine can be viewed at its publisher website:

http://www.ohsawamacrobiotics.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&...

Exercise and a sensible diet;try to keep my brain active and not think old.

I have moved into an apartment close to public transport and acqired a pair of kittens.

A PAIR of kittens!! Girls, boys or 1 of each? They can keep you active to the point of exhaustion!

~10

"There is an old rule about Clutter: "If you have not touched it in five years, you can probably live without it."

I am not sure that I'm ready to accept that rule. But I could force myself to adopt the aspirational rule that: You should look at it every 5 years and make a decision regarding whether you can live without it. Aspirations are such pretty things.........

#16 A pigeon pair of kittens. They are ten months old now and the boy has developed the habit of eating string. He really keeps me on the hop; three days ago he ate half a metre of soft nylon cord from one of my hoodies and we spent yesterday afternoon having his tummy ultrasounded. He has also eaten the drive band from my spinning wheel.

And, being Orientals, they talk incessantly and expect me to reply so, yes, they are keeping me very active but no time to get lonely.

I love Oriental Shorthair cats; and yes, they do love to talk. My female lived for over 20 years with me and I still feel grief at her being gone. But then, dogs do take up a lot of space.

Any pet that sees a tall tree, wonders to itself if it can climb to the top, takes off like a bat out of hell to accomplish his goal, gets to the top, stops, looks around, and thinks, "Oh, shit! What do I do now" is not a pet for me.

I never did have one of those pets.

I had a neighbor once that must have spent a small fortune having the local fire department get his cats out of trees. It was something of a joke.

I used to have a little Burmese girl who loved to be rescued so she used to go up onto a branch which was just out of reach without a ladder. Eventually I left her to it; I knew that she could get down again when it got near her dinner time.

~20

Strange, for me that is one of the most endearing features of a cat. (Of course, none of our five cats is allowed outside, which may make it somewhat more endearing in the abstract.)

Here is a book that I found at the library; 'THE RETIREMENT MAZE; What You Should Know Before and After Retirement' (2012)