Decades of living yield a mountain of possessions. While some are priceless heirlooms, most are everyday items that have long outlived their usefulness.
As you approach your 70s, holding onto this excess baggage becomes a physical and mental liability. Evaluating and downsizing your belongings now ensures your home remains safe, manageable, and tailored to your current lifestyle.
“By the time you reach your 70s, you are most likely considering downsizing if you haven’t already,” says organizing expert Laura Wittmann, author of Clutter Rehab: 101 Tips and Tricks to Declutter Your Home and Organize Your Space. “You need to do this messy work before you are physically unable to. It’s your stuff and you need to take responsibility for it sooner rather than later.”
A cleanly organized and well-lit living room area free of excess clutter.
Eliminate Household Tripping Hazards
Safety is the ultimate priority as you age. Slippery rugs, stray cords, and bulky, low-profile furniture easily morph into dangerous obstacles.
Clear your walkways immediately. Removing these hazards makes your home drastically safer and easier to navigate on a daily basis.
Retire Outdated Clothes and Formalwear
Your closet does not need professional suits from a past career or ballgowns from the 1990s. If an outfit hasn’t fit in years and isn’t worth a tailor’s time, get rid of it.
Box up and properly preserve only the truly irreplaceable items, such as a wedding dress.
Downsize the Kitchen Arsenal
Extra casserole dishes, duplicate spatulas, and single-use specialty gadgets steal valuable cabinet space. If you no longer cook for massive crowds, you don’t need a massive collection of serveware.
Keep the pieces that actually make daily meal prep easier and donate the rest.
Confront Overwhelming Collections
Albums of coins and boxes of baseball cards can easily consume entire rooms. If you’ve stored these collections in boxes for years, it’s time to face them head-on.
A tidy, minimalist seating area showcasing the aesthetic appeal of a pared-down home.
Wittmann recommends having a direct conversation with your children before assuming they want your stuff. “Talk to your kids and ask them what they may want,” she says. “But please don’t be offended if they don’t want much. Younger generations are not of a collecting mindset; they like to move around and don’t want to be weighed down by stuff.”
Wittmann advises sending pictures to relatives and letting them decide without pressure. “Our kids are not responsible for relieving us of the stuff we collected for them, no matter how good your intentions were. If they don’t want it, they don’t want it—and that’s OK.”
For items rich in family history, Wittmann suggests creating a digital album. Document the item’s backstory, who gifted it, and its generational lineage to preserve the memory without hoarding the physical object.
Ditch High-Maintenance Furniture
Heavy, uncomfortable, or tough-to-clean furniture becomes a serious burden over time. Assess whether your current seating actually supports your comfort.
If an antique piece requires constant upkeep or is painful to sit on, pass it down to family members or sell it.
Purge Dead Technology
Drawers full of obsolete cell phones, bulky desktop computers, and mystery cables serve zero purpose. Responsibly recycle or donate outdated electronics.
If a charging cord doesn’t have a matching device in your house, throw it in the trash.
Slash Digital Clutter and Subscriptions
Physical items aren’t the only things weighing you down. Audit your monthly credit card statements for unused streaming services, apps, and memberships.
If you are paying for platforms you rarely use, cancel them. Ask a younger relative for help navigating the cancellations if needed.
Shred the Paper Trail
Paperwork piles up fast. Shred outdated financial documents and digitize whatever you can.
However, ensure that your will, life insurance policies, medical directives, and property records are fully updated, secure, and easily accessible to a trusted proxy.
Toss Unsupportive Pillows
Daily comfort matters. Pillows that have flattened out or lost their structural support are destroying your sleep posture.
Replace them immediately to improve your rest and instantly freshen up your home’s aesthetic.
Trash Appliance Manuals
If the appliance is gone, the manual should be too. Even for appliances you still own, thick paper manuals are a waste of drawer space.
Almost every instruction booklet is available as a free PDF online. If you haven’t looked at it in years, you don’t need it.
Scale Back Holiday Decor
Festive decorations are highly nostalgic, but they routinely hijack entire basements and attics. If you haven’t set up that massive outdoor lighting display in years, let it go.
Keep only the pieces that bring you genuine joy and comfortably fit your current storage limits.
