Help Mom to Downsize

I have recently helped my mother downsize, from her townhouse to a condo. She is 58 years old, single, and living on her own. She works constantly and has no time for a social life. She is pretty tight on money these days; with the type of economy we are having I’m sure most people are.

She was complaining a lot that she never had money. I told her, “well take a look around, you have this big home and you are hardly in it. Nor do you have time to have people in it.” She agreed what I said is true but still reluctant to move. It took me about three months to convince her to downsize. It wasn’t until a certain vacation plan that was coming up within 2 years.

Our whole family has planned a cruise ship vacation for the past two years. Time has flown by and soon as enough about this time in 2013, we will be on a cruise ship having fun. I reminded my mother about this trip and sat her down and ask if she was already to go, she told me she didn’t have enough funds for the trip. That night we both got serious about her downsizing and I wrote out plan to keep both of us on track in finding her lovely condo.

We spent about 1 month searching for a place, she found a cute little condo in her price range, which would allow her to pay off the trip along with some extra money on the side. The time came to get her to sign the papers for condo, the night before she had doubts and didn’t want to leave; I spent the night and helped her work through it. Told her anxiety is normal and she will have what she wants in the end, a new place, extra money, and even a bit more time for socializing. She knew the end result sounded great and that’s what she wanted. The next day she signed the papers. In about 1 month she was all moved in, and excited about the extra earnings.

All in all, I think my mom just needed my support, guidance, and a little nudge in the right direction. I knew it would be difficult for her, she couldn’t stand change and would try to avoid it at all costs, but I won’t let that happen. She seems much happier now, and thankful that I helped her out.

Do you have any stories like this? Is downsizing for good or for bad? Share your thoughts!