What I Wish I Knew BEFORE Moving Into Canterfield
Written by Carolyn Porter, a resident at The Villas at Canterfield, with help from Vonnie Fritze, Betty Carr and Gene Armstrong
You are about to experience a major change in lifestyle.
Happy Hour on Fridays at 3pm, dining room opens for dinner at 4pm, scheduled outings to take you shopping, to restaurants, movies, wineries, etc. It is a dramatic change, but shortly you will love it. You will find that aging has its benefits.
Remember you are trying to downsize.
Grandmother’s dining room suite has so many memories. The memories are yours and go with you, but give the furniture away to family or someone in need. It will take up space you can better use another way. You will not use a large dining room table in your apartment because you will entertain friends and family downstairs in our common space areas or in the common space area on your floor.
If possible, do a scale diagram and get measurements of all the walls. Take measurements of your furniture pieces to decide if they will fit in your new place and where you would like them to go. Remember you are trying to downsize so if it doesn’t fit don’t bring it.
What I said about grandmother’s furniture applies as well to your china, silver, and crystal. If you don’t have the dining room furniture you won’t have much use for china, silver, and crystal. I brought mine and have since donated it. I brought 6 place settings of everyday use, and four would have been enough. I am a single person.
You won’t do much cooking.
You won’t do much of once you realize meals and a lot of snacks are provided at Canterfield. Honest.
Limit the amount of pantry items, especially canned goods, you bring with you. You won’t use them.
Ditto the above for tablecloths, placemats, and napkins and towels.
Ditto again for pots and pans and baking items. Severely limit how many you bring with you. Unless you still enjoy cooking large meals you will find you enjoy having someone else prepare your meals for you.
Store seasonal decorations elsewhere.
Christmas décor and other seasonal decorations will have to be stored somewhere, and your downsizing will eliminate the need for a lot of them. Consider where in your new home here you will put the 12ft tree and where you will keep it the other 11 months. Smaller is better.
No more having to manage a large house or yard work or maintenance.
We have great housekeepers that clean each apartment once a week. Thus, you won’t use a vacuum cleaner or many cleaning supplies. A small hand-held vacuum is all you will ever need. If you have a balcony go ahead and bring a broom.
Isn’t it fabulous that you are relieved the burden of all this stuff?!
Special thank you to residents Carolyn Porter, Vonnie Fritze, Betty Carr and Gene Armstrong for their work in writing this!