Since April, this column has been written from a senior (over 55) independent living apartment complex (Verena at the Reserve) rather than from our former single-family home. That home had about 4,000 square feet of finished space and over 800 square feet of storage space. Our new apartment has about 1,260 square feet of living space and no storage space at all, other than a few standard closets and one walk-in closet.

The first adjustment involved getting rid of a lot of our furniture and most of the “stuff” that we had been accumulating over a lifetime. Much of that was either given away to family and friends, donated or simply hauled away and discarded. Quite a few items were sold on consignment. The loss of certain items carried some emotional weight, but the alternative would have be

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