Downsizing versus Rightsizing
Kids all grown? Sick of your stuff? Or your spouse? With Sydney property prices booming you might be tempted to cash in your family home nest egg early.
Think again. It’s a trap.
Downsizing is not all it’s cracked up to be. What to do with the oversized furniture, the family album collection and all the gear in the shed? (THE SHED!!!) And are you that person who has a backup kettle, in case the first one breaks? Who’s going to sort through the kitchen draw full of Allen keys, screws and plastic plugs left over from your build-at-home furniture you’ve saved ‘just in case’?
If you’re a family of sentimentalists like we are, there’s literally years of clobber to decide on. My past clean-outs have just seen the stuff ricochet straight back indoors. The only way to do it is to sneak everything into the car boot under cover of darkness and skulk off to Vinnies when the coast’s clear, not easy to pull off in lockdown.
A smaller place means less space for big functions, so if you love hosting a neighbourhood barby or the extended family Christmas lunch, this won’t work. It also throws up conundrums like whether to keep the Duplo, when any grandchildren are years away.
And where will the Boomerang generation live to pay cheap board and save for that elusive spot on the property ladder?
You won’t be able to take up new lifestyle hobbies if you don’t have space to store your stuff. Take my 53-year-old husband. He grew up in Bondi but decided that now was the right time to take up surfing. The surfboard is wedged at the side of the house near the ocean-going kayaks and the mountain bike collection. A wetsuit’s new permanent home seems to be atop the outside storage box. Several boxes labelled Mr. Zoggs and Mrs. Palmer compete strategically for wax grip honours.
It could be worse. There’ll be no downsizing any time soon for friends who’ve recently picked up gigantic boys’ toys, a two-door sports car and two-wheel chopper-style motorcycle. (Yes, you could leave them out on the street, but would you?)
The new working from home era has also highlighted our increased need for personal space. Gone are the days when we all took turns with the family computer squeezed into the nook between the linen cupboard and the phone table, connecting slowly to dial-up broadband. Our family of four is lucky to share a big house but somehow there’s no room to swing a cat. I can’t remember the last time I saw the colour of my dining table, bedecked in lockdown sewing and art projects which never end and increasingly edge outwards.
You and your partner might love the idea of downsizing to an easy maintenance modern unit – there’s still a spare room, right. But it won’t be long before conflict arises over who gets to use the second bedroom (who gets priority, the one watching a movie or the one working? And getting into semantics, what constitutes work? If there’s no income being generated then it’s game on, surely?) Meanwhile your poor pooch is missing his backyard and demonstrates displeasure by barking fiercely when the common gate clangs and leaving brown gifts for you to find.
Reader, worry not. I’ve got the perfect solution. Pool your resources with Grandma, the kids et al and upsize. Plenty of scope for personal space and you can keep a common area without forking out costly strata fees. Think of the money you’ll save on bills and your carbon footprint. And when the time comes to move on, there’ll be plenty of hands-on deck to help sort through your stuff.