Abstract
Moving residence calls the question on the entirety of one’s possessions, putting up for evaluation the status and placement of every object from the all of the home’s recesses. Because elders typically move to smaller quarters, the material convoy will need pruning, setting in motion the physical, cognitive, social and emotional tasks of divestment. Interviews with 100+ American households within a year of relocation indicate that moving and downsizing play out in three basic ways. First, de-accumulation prudently spans months or years in advance of a move (not the likely course). Second, downsizing occurs proximate to a move; for good reasons this is the usual course, but stressful. Third, one moves and then empties the household afterward, a solution only if elders can bear the expense of two homes. In practice downsizing and moving are temporally intertwined, one preceding the other, precipitating the other, awaiting the other, interrupting the other.