Empty Nest?

The children are grown and out on their own. Now what? If you think you are ready to downsize - check out this article. Alot of great points made.
Flying the Empty Nest: Strategies for Downsizing

Are your children living on their own, married, or off to college? Have you
decided to replace your family home with a smaller residence? Whether you want
to focus on other priorities, or build the cottage or beach house you’ve always
dreamed of, or simply no longer wanting to spend energy maintaining a large
home, consider the following strategies for downsizing your home:

Decide Where To Go
Think and map out what you want to do next:

• If schools have always prioritized where you have lived, now think about
other criteria important to you, such as rural living or closer proximity to
recreational pursuits.
• Consider laying the groundwork for a retirement lifestyle. Your new home
could also be the one you retire in.
• With fewer living expenses, you may have more expendable income and
find that you can increase the luxury or convenience of your lifestyle.
• Determine how much space you actually need. Examine your current
home and subtract the square footage of rooms you don’t need anymore.
Add in the measurement of new spaces you might want, such as a
workshop or sunroom.

Sort Through Your Stuff
• Where do you begin if your current home is packed full with a generation’s
worth of accumulation?
• If you have grown children’s belongings in the house, next time they are
home, have them sort their things into four piles: what they’ll take right
now, what they need you to hold for them, what they want to give away,
what can be tossed.
• Go through the rest and determine future needs. Some possession might
be family-sized, such as camping gear. Do you foresee future activities of
a similar nature? Other possessions might be house-oriented. For
example, if you’re moving to a townhouse, you can sell the lawn mower
and weed whacker.
• Keep memorabilia and other sentimental keepsakes in the family while
getting them out of your house. Give your grown children the arts, crafts,
projects, trophies, and holiday decorations they had as kids. They may
appreciate having them as they start creating their own family traditions.

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Now please don't make any rash decisions. Please take your time and think things through.