I’m Planning to Downsize in Retirement. You May Want to Do the Same.

My house has evolved quite a lot over the past 16 years or so since I moved in. The room off to the side of my living room used to be a playroom for my kids, which meant their toys not only filled every inch, but also had a magical way of migrating all the way to the other side of the house.

Now, that room is a quiet reading area with a piano, bookcase, and couch. My kids are at an age where they don’t really have toys so much as stuff. And while electronics don’t tend to take up as much space as blocks, dolls, and building sets, I’m grateful that I have enough room at home to spread out.

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But while it’s nice having enough square footage for a gaggle of children and two large dogs, the reality is that I’m forcing myself not to get too attached to it. See, my husband and I have discussed our retirement plans at length and have come to the conclusion that downsizing makes the most sense for us.

There are a few driving forces behind the decision. And they may apply to you, too.

We want to use our savings in a meaningful way

Our first reason for downsizing is a common one. We don’t want to pay to maintain a larger home, and we don’t want to deal with higher utility bills. And don’t even get me started on our property taxes, which are brutal.

Downsizing doesn’t always translate to a lower tax property tax bill or insurance costs. If we move to a place like Florida, for example, our homeowners coverage might increase sharply.

But all told, we’ve done the research and expect that downsizing could allow us to stretch our retirement savings further. And I’d rather have more money to spend on hobbies and travel than repeatedly tap my IRA to cover a large property tax and electric bill.

We don’t know how much appetite for maintenance we have

There are a lot of things to like about our current living space — our spacious deck right off our kitchen, our fenced-in backyard with ample room for our dogs to run around, and our finished basement that offers extra hangout and storage place.

But maintaining our home is a lot of work. That deck of ours needs to be stained, sanded, and sealed frequently. Our backyard grass needs to be mowed. And our basement needs to be dusted and vacuumed.

My husband and I are realistic about the fact that there may come a point when we don’t have the energy to keep up with all that work. If we downsize, we might have fewer floors to sweep, fewer bathrooms to clean, and fewer annoying household tasks overall. And we don’t want to retire from our jobs only to spend hours each week dealing with upkeep at home.

Is downsizing right for you?

Downsizing isn’t automatically the right choice for everyone. It could mean abandoning the neighborhood you know and love and having a harder time hosting your grown kids once they start families of their own.

If you have a generous retirement income between savings and Social Security that makes a larger home affordable, then by all means, stay put if you want to. But if don’t want to allocate too large a portion of your budget to housing and you don’t want the burden of maintaining a larger space, then it could pay to consider shedding square footage.

And while it may not be easy to leave the house you raised your family in, remember that you may end up creating a host of new memories in a home that’s easier on your schedule and budget.

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