24. The Myth of the Perfect Time: Why You Should Start Downsizing Now

Are you waiting for the “perfect time” to start downsizing? The truth is, that day rarely comes—and waiting can cost you more than you realize.

In this episode, we unpack the myth of the perfect time and why so many people delay downsizing until it’s urgent. We share the hidden financial, emotional, and physical costs of waiting too long, along with simple, practical ways to start downsizing now, even if you don’t feel “ready.”

You’ll learn:

• Why “someday” often becomes “too late”
• How to replace “ready” with “willing”
• The real-life costs of waiting, including stats on health, family, and financial impact
• Small, low-pressure ways to start downsizing without overwhelm
• Why your future self—and your family—will thank you for taking action now

Whether you’re thinking about simplifying your home, moving to a smaller place, or getting ahead of life transitions, this episode will empower you to take the first step today.

Resources Mentioned:

• Free Downsizing Planning Guide: www.downsizingroadmap.com
• Book a consult: www.downsizingroadmap.com/contact

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Let’s simplify, declutter, and create space for your next chapter—together!

Transcript

Jodi Rosko 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast with your hosts Jody Roscoe and Heather Fisher. We're talking about all things downsizing, from our own experiences with clients to guest experts. Let's make downsizing easier, one conversation at a time.

Heather Fisher 0:17

Hi, welcome back to another episode of the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. I'm Heather Fisher.

Jodi Rosko 0:22

And I'm Jodie Roscoe.

Heather Fisher 0:24

And we are talking today about the myth of the perfect time.

Jodi Rosko 0:29

The perfect time.

Heather Fisher 0:30

Yes. I will do this after filling the blank.

Jodi Rosko 0:37

We've heard all kinds of great things that people will do it after.

Heather Fisher 0:41

After I retire, after the holidays, after the winter, after the spring, after again. Again and again and again. So we're going to talk about how that's really a myth. There is no perfect time. And that starting is never a bad thing. It gets you ready for when the necessary time comes up.

Jodi Rosko 1:06

Yeah, I think that someday, someday, someday, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, you know, all of those, you know, I'm getting ready to get ready, like all of that stuff is just procrastination. And it's probably because you're feeling overwhelmed. Yeah. Um, and or there's some fear around what that future holds. And so not doing it seems like it's a safe bet. Um, but what we found is that you don't have to even move. You can just get yourself ready so that feels so much better. Yeah. And there's things that are bothering you in your mind that you don't even realize are bothering you, because you know things need to be done and you're not doing them, and that's heavy all on its own.

Heather Fisher 1:48

Yeah. And once you're ready, you may find like, okay, that's what I was waiting for. Now I'm not overwhelmed, and I would love to go much sooner than where I had been saying, oh, it'll be two years, five years. Um, we find that a lot with people that we meet in our classes when we say, Are you thinking about downsizing? Oh, yeah, but it's a few years down the road, and we ask why, and that's ill-defined, you know, just various reasons, but always a just kind of a delay. And then when they get through the class or maybe talk to us or maybe get started, then it's like, okay, this is manageable. And there was a reason I was seeking out downsizing information and something wasn't working, and now I feel good about moving or making something better.

Jodi Rosko 2:41

And really what you're doing is you're just delaying getting to your future, you know, which whatever that looks like, whatever exciting thing you want to do there, whether that's be closer to your kids or you know, have more time because you're not mowing your giant lawn or whatever that looks like, you're just delaying getting to that future that you're going to enjoy once you get there. And I promise you will, we I mean, so many people that we've had have done this are so, so happy once they have reduced the things in their life and the stress in their life.

Heather Fisher 3:11

Um I I think it points out, uh it reiterates the importance of not skipping that step one of being dreamy. Because if you were planning a fantastic vacation, you wouldn't just spend years planning it and never, you know, book a plane ticket and just not, you know, because you're excited about it. You want to go tour whatever and look at whatever and stay wherever, but when you don't make it dreamy at the beginning of your downsizing path, you are delaying that because you're not finding that reward at the end of what's going to be better.

Jodi Rosko 3:50

And that's such a good analogy because I actually think people spend a lot more time planning a vacation than they do planning their whole future.

Heather Fisher 3:57

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 3:57

You know? Like they figure out and they do some research and they figure out where they want to go and what they want to do when they get there and compare costs and look for a value.

Heather Fisher 4:06

Right.

Jodi Rosko 4:06

And so they do all of that. Um, but when you're thinking about what's my future gonna look like, people just are like, ooh, that sounds scary. Let's not figure that out. And then you just end up I mean, that's still a choice. You're making a choice, but you might not like where you end up if you're not trying to plan it.

Heather Fisher 4:23

Yeah, I see that. And I think that like you said at the beginning, fear plays into that, but being dreamy is another way to alleviate those fears. You know, being dreamy and go touring houses or condos or you know, senior living communities, whatever that looks like, when you take the fear of the unknown out, you can then get dreamy and be like, I really would love to live there wherever it was that you went. And then the tasks to get there become clearer as to how and what and when.

Jodi Rosko 5:03

Yeah. Yeah, I think um I think if you don't do that part, it's really hard to get started. If you are if you don't know what that future is gonna look like, it's very, very hard to motivate yourself to change it. Yeah. Um, so spend that time, do that. And and there again, no perfect, you know, we're we're or today is the myth of the perfect time. There's no perfect time to figure that out. Um, just like there wasn't a perfect time to have a baby, you know, or change your job, or any of those things that, you know, have happened in your life possibly. Um, but it's just i you do it and then you reap the benefits of whatever that is.

Heather Fisher 5:43

Yeah, and you're excited about it and s you know, it becomes wonderful things in your life, of course. Yeah, I think that um when you're waiting for the perfect time, it ends up doing it, as we've said many times, in crisis time. Yeah. And so both of those are extremes. Let's just go with the down the middle path and d get ready and then do it when it makes sense.

Jodi Rosko 6:10

Because I think a lot of times people don't understand what they're missing or the or the um or or or they don't understand like when it eventually happens, it's this painful, crazy thing because they are doing it from a from a place of you know crisis and it didn't have to be that, and they don't ext uh understand that it didn't have to be that because they didn't see it a different way, but we see it all kinds of different ways. And so our goal is to try to make sure that it doesn't have to be that, because it really doesn't have to be that. Um and it doesn't have to be that for you, and it doesn't have to be that for your family, you know, any of that.

Heather Fisher 6:46

Yeah, I mean I think that we saw that with with my family and and my parents being in a house that wasn't uh, you know, was a two-story and just difficult for um both my mom uh at various times and my dad for sure with mobility issues. And you know, it just got to a point where it was delayed so much that then it had to be rushed when it just didn't work at all for my dad. And that's so hard on my mom. It's hard on us kids trying to help. And you know, I'm sure hard on my dad to, you know, not have a say in, you know, where where he's going to live because you're just in that crisis moment. And so, you know, the reasons for waiting suddenly become, I just wish I would have already done this, because then it's too, you know, too hard in that moment to do it the right way, the slow way, the you know, the perfect way. Um so I I think if we can encourage people to just make those plans. Yeah. Have a plan A, a plan B. If plan A is I want to stay in my house, you know, forever, that's that's a great plan A if that's what you want to do, but doesn't stop you from having a plan B and a plan C ready in your back pocket.

Jodi Rosko 8:12

And having the house be in a pl in a position that that can work. Like that that, you know, if you had to go to plan B, nobody wants to have to do that. But if you did, because we don't have the crystal ball of what our lives are gonna look like. Um, but if you did, that would be an easy transition. So that's the goal is to make sure that um you can have an easy transition, whether it's like, hey, I'm ready to, you know, trade my larger housing for a smaller house now and we can do the things that we need to do that, or nope, this house still will fit fit for me, but you still have things to do to make it an easy transition in the future.

Heather Fisher 8:50

And I think you start pushing that can down the road um a lot of times while maybe things still are working for you reasonably well. And but you kick the can so far down the road that you look around and nothing is working where you are, but you haven't moved the other things down the road. Just kick to the can.

Jodi Rosko 9:13

So I think our favorite is where we have um clients where the couples decide, you know, proactively, hey, this is what I want to do. And they work together and the family can come in and there's time to spend to do that. And um, and then they move to a smaller place and it was both of their decisions together, like they could make all of those decisions together. And uh I love I love it when we get to see that.

Heather Fisher 9:40

Yeah. And they when they get to that new place, because they've planned so well and moved it down the road, they're able to enjoy that new place in in a much different yeah, that new lifestyle in a much different way. Um and you will never, even if you're not ready to move yet, if you do all these other steps to get ready, you will not regret it.

Jodi Rosko 10:02

It's true.

Heather Fisher 10:03

Because you won't. If you are in your house and you've done all these things to be ready, like you, your daily workload will be lighter, your distraction from all the clutter will be lighter, you'll be, you know, breezing through because you know your paperwork's in order. I mean, it is a great way to live.

Jodi Rosko 10:24

Yeah, you know you're not gonna leave a mess to your kids or your family, you know, whoever is left. I think I see that the most. Um, the people who get themselves ready um together early often are people whose parents did not, and they had to go deal with their houses and their estates and their whole situation. And the words I hear the very most from those people are I'm not doing this to my kids or my family, I'm not doing this to them. Yeah. And so um so they've learned from their own, you know.

Heather Fisher 10:58

Yeah. Stopping that cycle. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 11:02

And so um, I love this quote that kind of speaks to our topic, uh, the myth of the perfect time today, which is uh from Arthur Ashe, and it's start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

Heather Fisher 11:14

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 11:14

And so it's not you're not gonna be perfect, you're not gonna be in the perfect health, you're not gonna have the perfect time, it's not gonna be the beautiful, perfect sunny day. Just start where you are, uh, you know, use what you have, do what you can. I love that.

Heather Fisher 11:27

Yeah, always moving forward in the right direction always gets you where you want to go. So, yeah, we have a stat here as well um talking about waiting, and uh it says more than one in four older adults, 27% who moved, did so due to a sudden health condition or disability. So I think that that talks to, you know, waiting for that perfect time then becomes crisis time. So sudden illness or a fall or injury or the death of one uh spouse or the need to move closer to your children, um, where all of those things, you know, uh in all honesty, could maybe be the odds of them happening could be diminished if you're finding a place where you're safe and less fall hazards, less you know, more help from your family. So doing it early also prevents those things from happening because you're putting yourself in a safer, less stressful environment environment.

Jodi Rosko 12:38

I agree. I agree. A lot of times we'll we'll end up helping people when there's been, you know, some kind of a you know um illness, some kind of a problem that they're you know, they've they've gotten a oh I can't think of the right word. Um but they've gotten a diagnosis diagnosis from from the doctors of something that might even be a long-term thing. Um, but it still kind of puts them in a different place where they're like, oh, okay. Yeah, now we have to do it. And then nobody does it perfectly. Right. So waiting to do it perfectly isn't ever gonna happen because no matter what, you aren't doing it perfectly, but you can do it with less stress without those, you know, those illness, injury, death, those kind of things also hanging over you.

Heather Fisher 13:32

Yeah, managing too much at once with a health issue and trying to downsize at the same time or needing to move for one or the other. Um, you know, if you have a couple and one has an injury, they're not gonna be able to physically do as much. We we see that too, and that's where, you know, just learning about the resources that can help you can can make that better and make an imperfect time become easier.

Jodi Rosko 14:02

Yeah. So costs of waiting too long, you know, um people are forced sometimes to move at their most vulnerable with little little time to repair, you know, to to prepare for that. Um also, you know, what gets lost when downsizing happens under duress? Um sentimental items get tossed because it's just too much to think about. Stories get lost to the that absolutely happened in my life. Um families are are made to to make rushed rushed decisions, you know. Sometimes the kids are deciding for the parents instead of the parents actually being able to make their own decisions. Um and sometimes those decisions feel so harried and stressful because, hey, you know, we're in the hospital, you have an hour to figure out what rehab place you're going to.

Heather Fisher 14:50

We have been there and that's very stressful. Um we didn't have much longer when of a time period to decide where my dad was going to to live, and you know, that decision was made in in like a day, and that that's not the best plan. So I certainly get that. And if you can just have those those plans in place and and have had those conversations with people that can help you, it's so much easier. I think like you were mentioning, with all of those other things going in or going on in a family, everyone's emotions are so frayed in those moments too, where people that might otherwise have had some patience for the stories or wanted to help curate, you know, legacy boxes and all of that, it those things go out the window because everybody is managing so much at once with heavy emotions.

Jodi Rosko 15:48

Yeah, because you know, um, like my grandpa, he had um Alzheimer's and he had brittle diabetes, which means that he, you know, could go really up and really down very easily. And so, I mean, it turned into a whole like that was all that could be managed. Like we couldn't like the family um really didn't think about a whole lot else than the crisis after crisis of health that was happening.

Heather Fisher 16:16

Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 16:17

And so being able to think about him and his stories and his big laugh and the way that he always, you know, sat around and also loved history, which is why, you know, my mom does, and all of that stuff, that was we couldn't even think about that stuff. And um when he finally passed away, um, I pulled away from the hospital and it was like it just this rush of stories that just kind of came into my mind. All of these just kind of like mental pictures of him just one after the other laughing and all of the things that I hadn't thought about in such a long time because we were just in the moment overwhelmed with that crisis. So um and then trying to make other decisions through that about the things in your life and whether to sell the house and all that's too much. Just too much. Yeah.

Heather Fisher 17:05

So don't wait for perfect, let's get right.

Jodi Rosko 17:11

I mean, the home, if you're if you're waiting, you you know, the house might not get rot prepped for sale properly. That could, you know, cost you money, honestly, if that doesn't happen, or if um if you stay too long to where you can't take care of it.

Heather Fisher 17:24

Things n get neglected.

Jodi Rosko 17:25

Yep, yep. So there's definitely other costs of waiting. Um another cost of waiting is emotional, right? Uh sometimes it's resentment, guilt, tension between adult children and aging parents. That's a tough one.

Heather Fisher 17:41

Yeah, I think that's what we were talking about. Everybody's just on the emotional edge in that moment and nobody has the time or patience.

Jodi Rosko 17:51

Yeah, and I think kids sometimes um uh they do they can get frustrated um because they're in that generation where they're taking care of their kids, they're working, they have, you know, husbands or wives, you know, families to take care of, and then parents to take care of, and it's not that they don't want to. Um it just feels like overwhelming stress. And so that comes out sometimes as you know, just wanting to get through it.

Heather Fisher 18:18

And so your kids will be so thankful for your proactive planning and you letting them know what those future plans are so they can help you. I think the hardest part is when, you know, adult kids are willing and want to help you. They're also busy with their life, so it's hard, but there's no actual decisions being made. And so it's kind of a circle of how can we help? Well, we're fine, well, uh you know, this or that, you know, it's it's just a vicious cycle that a lot isn't getting accomplished and builds everyone's frustration.

Jodi Rosko 19:00

Yeah, and that's not what you want is to, you know, have some kind of rift with the family over that kind of stuff. So if you start early and you, you know, can say, Hey, I want to come, you know, look at the pictures, you know, come over, we'll have dinner and let's look at the pictures one night, or let's, you know, look at grandma's, you know, whatever jewelry and talk about that, or let's spend some time just on some things that are the harder things, honestly. Yeah, you know, um they don't need to help you clean out your spatulas unless you want them to, and they you know love doing that. But but some of that harder stuff, if you spend some time, they're happy to do that. Um most kids are happy to do that. They just need to feel like there's a you know, a purpose and a plan and it's going forward, and they're happy to spend time talking about that stuff.

Heather Fisher 19:43

But absolutely, absolutely. So this next sec section, I love um changing your mindset from ready to willing. And I just I love that mindset shift, um, just switching all the I'm not ready to am I willing to do little things? You know, you're not waiting for everything, all the stars to be aligned perfectly to get started. It's just a question, am I willing to do 10 minutes today? Am I willing to go meet with an estate attorney? Am I willing to go to a lunch and learn at a community to take a tour? Just doesn't you're not defining whether you are or aren't ready. Yeah. It's like you're just information gathering. Am I am I willing to dip my toe in the water?

Jodi Rosko 20:35

Yeah. And maybe it's something like you, you know, sit and write all the questions you might have about what it um, you know, like if you're really feeling overwhelmed, what are all your questions that you might have? And then just picking one and figuring out how to answer that, you know, in in a baby step or, you know, like one little piece of learning that could go towards answering that question.

Heather Fisher 20:54

Yeah. Yeah. So you don't have to set that definite time frame or commit to anything. Just am I willing to get started a little bit on my things at the house? Am I willing to gather some information to plan that next step? Am I willing to be dreamy and choose my next stage of life?

Jodi Rosko 21:22

Yeah. That that's that the emotional arc of starting is number one, resistance, where you're like, oh gosh, I don't know, I'm not ready for that. Resistance, then discomfort, like you're you're step you're stepping out and putting your toe in the water. Are you willing to go do one or two things and it might not feel great? Yeah. So then discomfort, um, and then clarity, because as you do those things, you learn things. We've learned so much since we've been in this process of helping people. Um so then you'll get some clarity, and then that clarity will give you confidence to move forward. And so um if you pass through that resistance to discomfort. Um, you will end up with confidence at the end. So discomfort goes to clarity, goes to confidence.

Heather Fisher 22:05

I think I mean we see that arc repeat itself so many times through our our life. I mean, think about like the first day of school or the first day at a new job, all of those things, you're going through that. Like, no, I don't I don't want to go try that. No, I don't want to try this new sport, and then it's uncomfortable because you don't know what you're doing, you don't know the other people's names, you don't know any of that, but then you're like, okay, this is cool, and then you have confidence in that and you look forward to doing it. So just like with anything else, don't stop before trying because at the end is that clarity and confidence.

Jodi Rosko 22:50

Yeah. So action creates clarity. So so getting through that for that discomfort really that's actions. So actions exactly like what you were talking about, Heather. You know, go check out, go check out a couple of places, like go look at houses, uh smaller ranches, you know, condos. Go um have somebody come and talk to you about your house and what you might need to do with it. You know, if you need some some or great realtor, let us know. We can help you with that. But um all kinds of little things that you can do. Clean out a drawer.

Heather Fisher 23:23

Set up a donation pickup.

Jodi Rosko 23:24

Yep.

Heather Fisher 23:25

Yeah. All of the things.

Jodi Rosko 23:26

All of those little steps forward towards it.

Heather Fisher 23:28

Yeah. There I have this little quote, it just says, it's okay if it feels hard, do it anyway. Right. So I think that's what we're saying. Yes. It definitely will feel hard to get started, but do it anyway.

Jodi Rosko 23:41

Yeah. Progress over pers perfection, right? 80% done is better, you know, done is better than not done.

Heather Fisher 23:49

Yes, done is better than perfect.

Jodi Rosko 23:51

Yeah.

Heather Fisher 23:52

And it it's never about all or nothing. I mean, doing these little steps are not suddenly like it's done, it's over, decision made.

Jodi Rosko 24:02

Well, and you don't need to have the full plan. Like you don't need to have the full plan. You you make an appointment with the, you know, an estate planner. Then that's fine. There's gonna be more things that you have to do to get down that road, but just making the appointment, you don't have to have the full plan.

Heather Fisher 24:14

Yeah. Yeah. One little thing each day, for sure. So normalize that in your life, building small habits and whether that is, you know, one I I think I love that you said that, making the appointment, because a lot of times we're talking about the stuff and we're like 10 minutes a day on decluttering type things, but that 10 minutes sometimes can be a list of appointments you need to make or someone you need to talk to. Um doesn't always have to be just the stuff. There's a lot of pieces to just move down that list.

Jodi Rosko 24:50

Yeah. So um you'll hear us say this over and over again. Just start with, you know, 10 minutes or 15 minutes, do something tiny and manageable, you know, sort one drawer, walk through the house with a trash bag and just pick up quick one hundred. Yep, do the quick one hundred, yeah, get a maybe bin and you know, things that you're not sure, just have a maybe bin and so if you and have a have a donate bin, you know, just have that somewhere in your house so that you can as you're using things or you pick up something and you go, I don't ever use this, then it goes right over there. If I put on clothes in my closet that I know I'm they just don't make me feel good and I'm not gonna wear them again, they go right in the donate bin. You know, like you just you can you don't have to spend an entire day cleaning out, you know, your closet. You can also do that in in ways that are that are faster. Part of your day, part of your day. Exactly.

Heather Fisher 25:44

Yeah. So uh this other stat we have says sixty percent of adults over sixty say they have too much stuff. So everyone knows they have too much stuff. It's 60% of them are willing to say it. Say it out loud. It's just finding a way to start. So I don't think the argument is no, I don't have too much. And we find that when we meet people, you say, what brought you to our downsizing class? Have too much stuff. You know, everybody that has too much knows they do. It's how do I start and not, you know, procrastinate and wait for the perfect time to do that.

Jodi Rosko 26:24

Yep, yep. So um so just find your way that feels doable to you, whatever that looks like, whether it's five things a day, five minutes, you know, like ten minutes, whatever that is, find what's doable to you. Um give your self permission to, you know, pause and and take a break if you're feeling like you've got you've done too much a little bit, you've got a little bit of uh decision fatigue around that. Um that that's that's a thing for real. And so if you're feeling like, ugh, I can't make more decisions, then go celebrate the wins that you have done. Like whatever you have done, how many decisions you've made, you know, you cleaned out that drawer, you made an appointment, you know, go celebrate that, get yourself an ice cream or something.

Heather Fisher 27:08

Yeah. And if you did start, as we, you know, recommend highly with that dream, that's your future you, that's your future life. So when you're when you're tr waiting for that perfect moment, you know, the question you can ask is, you know, will will future me thank me for just getting started? You know, am I willing to start down this path for this, you know, future dream? Really delaying and just sitting in the same spot doesn't serve your future self or the future generations, you know, after you either. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 27:51

Show up for yourself, really. Show up for yourself.

Heather Fisher 27:53

Yeah. We spend so much of our lives showing up for other people, you know, employers or teachers or our kids or our parents when they needed help, you know, our neighbors, our church. We we show up so, you know, people our nature is to show up and be there for other people, but showing up for yourself is the most important part, and it's usually the one we all put on the back burner. Yeah. So move that to the forefront and just look at what can I do today for future me. Um, and that's likely not waiting for a perfect time. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 28:36

No. Yeah. So, you know yeah. So reframe what your future's gonna look like. You know, you're gonna have less things to manage, you're gonna have more freedom to say yes to opportunities, you know, whatever's, hey, somebody wants to travel or whatever, and you're good, you can go. You you've done the things that you needed to do.

Heather Fisher 28:55

Go visiting family and staying with them for, you know, trips and time to catch up, all of those things.

Jodi Rosko 29:02

And life will feel ca less chaotic, it'll feel more peaceful, more in control. There, you know, there's so many things that we can't control and things that happen um that we wished hadn't happened. Yeah. Um, there's so much that we can't control, but we can control some of this stuff. And so um do the stuff that you can control and it makes you feel better.

Heather Fisher 29:24

Yeah, and if you're seeking out information, that means that you're living with that thought of what you should do. And if you do it, like you release that mind energy of of thinking. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 29:38

It can weigh on you when you know you should be doing something and you aren't doing it.

Heather Fisher 29:42

Yeah, yeah. Then you become the person like, yep, I already did that early this morning, done for the day. Yeah. You become that person quicker than you think, and then you're ready.

Jodi Rosko 29:53

Eighty-eight percent of adult children say their parents delayed planning made things harder. I am one of those 88%.

Heather Fisher 30:01

As am I.

Jodi Rosko 30:02

Yeah, it it you know. Um and I don't think that that was on purpose at all. At all. Absolutely not. But it doesn't change the fact that it made things so much more difficult. And so um so we're saying, even I mean us now too, all of us need to get ready. So it's not just, you know, wait until you're, you know, in a place where you're older or whatever. All of us these things that we're saying that you need to do, we all need to do them. We all need to have our paperwork in order. We all need to have our stuff organized and not be keeping things that we don't need. And so we all of us need to do that.

Heather Fisher 30:42

Yeah, my husband and I were just talking over the weekend about, you know, some things we need to to do to just have things more prepared and done. And you know, we I felt in the conversation we both felt like we were just kind of kicking that can and you know, so we ended with setting a time frame of we're having, you know, this done by this date, and it just felt like, okay, we're on the same page. We gave uh the the time it needed to get it done, and it you know, it will be, and that's just so much better than floating through not having that expectation between each other or for ourselves, like, okay, now I know when my deadline is.

Jodi Rosko 31:28

Yeah, calendar block that. Put put it on the calendar. Put it on the calendar to, you know, clean out the garage, or put it on the calendar to have the kids come over and you know, look through some things or whatever that looks like. Yeah. Um yeah, so um it when we have talked to our clients who have done this earlier, um they just they feel like they aren't rushed, that they just were able to tell the stories, spend the time. They just feel more um uh really peaceful about what that process looked like versus when we have clients who are um doing this out of crisis, it isn't peaceful at all for anybody. It just isn't very peaceful.

Heather Fisher 32:10

I think the ones who have done it in that intentional way too, back to that emotional arc, when they land in their new place, they're at the end of that emotional arc, so they feel confident in that, and they those are the ones that we see immediately living like a vibrant life and settled and loving their new place and getting involved, whatever that looks like, or you know, doing whatever that dream was for them. But when you wait, then you're doing it at the beginning of that emotional arc when you're scared and it's uncomfortable and it, you know none of it's not the good part of it. You never get through to the complex. So you kind of land there with that feeling of uncomfortable and you know, doubting the process. And we do see sometimes that that takes a while to come out of that and feel like this was an amazing choice. And so if we can help more people get through it to that confident in their decision and ready to do it, that is what I would hope for.

Jodi Rosko 33:23

Yeah, I I agree. That's such that's such a great point because um the other thing is if if uh if you have a future that you're looking towards and you really spend some time figuring out what that looks like, um if you wait too long, you use that up, you use up that time. And so you might land in a place uh uh you know, a ranch or a you know, if you wanted to go to independent living or something, you might land there, but you aren't having time to enjoy it because you've spent so much time getting ready or trying to find the perfect time that you don't get to live it in it and enjoy it.

Heather Fisher 34:01

Right, right. We see that and I uh I don't love it. I don't love it either. Yeah.

Jodi Rosko 34:06

Yeah. Because we know it can be different, because we've seen the other side of it. And so um and we've lived the part where it wasn't great. So so we really, really want that for you. That's I think that's what our goal is in all of these conversations that we have is for you to spend just the best time that you can um making these changes, the best time with your family, enjoying what you've just you know created once you get to the next place, being able to enjoy that. I think if we can help people do that, then then our you know that our hearts will be full from that.

Heather Fisher 34:41

Absolutely. And I think the one question, if if you're listening and thinking, okay, I'm thinking about downsizing, but I'm going to do it after whatever that fill in the blank is for you, I think the one thing you could take away is just to really be honest with yourself whether that is a valid reason that you know needs to be that, or if it's just a kicking the can down the road. And either way, what can you do between now and that time frame that you set to be ready for that to happen?

Jodi Rosko 35:22

And what other little pieces could you be to be I mean, you should just be moving forward in your life every day to something. Like there should be some, you know, something that you're moving forward just a little bit.

Heather Fisher 35:34

One percent better.

Jodi Rosko 35:35

Yeah, right. One percent. There's no perfect time, but you know, maybe the perfect time was starting a year ago. And now, you know, now it's just start now. Um so there's no perfect time to start. Yeah um change your mind from I'm not ready to I'm willing.

Heather Fisher 35:51

Yeah, I love that so much.

Jodi Rosko 35:53

Thank you.

Heather Fisher 35:54

Yeah. So if you are moving into I'm willing to listen more, we would love it if you followed our show and kept listening to more episodes. And if you're willing to get started and you need some resources, you can always find those on our website, downsizingroadmap.com, and we will look forward to talking to you again next episode. Yep. Awesome. Thanks. Thanks, bye. Thanks for joining us on the Downsizing Roadmap Podcast. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who might need a little downsizing inspiration. Have questions or ideas for future episodes? www.downsizingroadmap.com. Until next time, let's keep simplifying and moving forward.