As we grow older, our needs and capabilities change, and not all homes are designed to support this change along with us. It’s common to upsize your home when your household is growing – whether to accommodate children, pets, or simply because you need an extra room for a home office. But what once was the perfect home, may now be too hard to manage and maintain in your golden years. 

There are countless benefits of downsizing your home, and it’s a wonderful way to open the door to the next stage of your life. But, making the decision to downsize can be hard, and leaving a home filled with cherished memories can bring heartache. So, when is the right time to downsize? If owning your home in Seattle, WA or renting a house in Portland, OR has brought more stress and worry than it has joy and comfort in recent years, the time may be now to downsize into something smaller – or maybe even renting a space like an apartment in Beaverton, OR. Here are 14 signs it’s time to put your house on the market and downsize, one of which was contributed by Artifcts' very own co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

Read the full article here: When Is the Right Time to Downsize? 14 Signs It’s Now | Redfin

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When the editor of Kovels AntiqueTrader magazine knocked on our door, we were delighted to answer. Earlier this year, Artifcts published an original story in ARTIcles by Artifcts that the magazine was eager to republish in its print magazine: Home Organizing and Decluttering Tips to Steal from Movers and Downsizers.

"It's full of wonderful tips and insights," shared then editor Paul Kennedy. The editor found our co-founder Ellen Goodwin's style informative and authoritative, yet with a casual vibe that welcomes readers to try something that can be intimidating.

And he's right, because where to start when we do decide to pull on our big boy and girl pants and tackle that clutter that invades our daily lives is often the most challenging.

"We're all doing the best we can. And we have conflicting priorities when it comes to 'stuff' in our homes," said Artifcts Co-founder Ellen Goodwin. "Even if we want to declutter, some items may be sentimental, others valuable, and for both we want to find good homes. Other items we choose to recycle or dispose of and that can take more thought and time. So, yes, it's daunting when you layer in all of that into the decluttering process."

Artifcts has become a trusted leader in supporting healthy habits for decluttering, preserving stories and memories, collection management, and preparing to move and downsize. How? By offering a tool that with the ease of social media but a privacy-first approach anyone can quickly create a record of items that they own, with photos and video, and answer all the most important questions, too:

• • • What is it?
    • Why does it matter (to you or to others)?
    • What do you want to do with it next?

In addition to its ever-expanding blog collection over on ARTIcles by Artifcts, Artifcts offers a robust resources to help people of all ages and tech comfort to get started with Artifcts, including downloadable FAQs, tips videos on YouTube, and a Quick Start Guide. 

"All are welcome. It's in our name. We took out that second 'a' in Artifcts knowing that while some people will Artifct items of significant financial and historic value, others will tend toward items with greater sentimental value - the photos, recipes, children's artwork, and travel mementos that take you back in time and tell your stories," said Artifcts Co-founder Heather Nickerson. 

New to Artifcts? There's no time like the present. Grab an item near you and sign up to create your first Artifct free --> 

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© 2025 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Angela Haupt, journalist with TIME magazine, featured Artifcts this week in an online article that united experts in mental health and decluttering to share tools and tactics to "kickstart a realistic decluttering routine." We especially loved this insight from our own strategic advisory board member and popular TV host Matt Paxton:

Many people struggle to declutter because they don’t want to part with items that remind them of someone or something they love, Paxton says. A simple mindset shift can make a big difference: Think of getting rid of stuff as a way of unearthing your family’s history. 

A history you can then easily capture, preserve, and share here at Artifcts. 

The full article is now available online at TIME as part of the health + mental health coverage.

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TheGerontechnologist™ is an online media platform that covers the global age tech ecosystem and offers online courses and education. It was created by Keren Etkin, gerontologist, entrepreneur and author of The AgeTech Revolution.

Etkin's background and ongoing research, entrepreneurship, and advising of startups in the AgeTech space means she has a unqiue vantage point from which to view the shifting landscape of AgeTech and the sister concept of LongeviTech. TheGerontechnologist™ map focuses on:

• • • Startups that develop technology to tackle the challenges of aging and serve older adults and/ or family caregivers and/or elder care organizations
    • Startups that are venture-capital backed or have a commercially available product

This year Artifcts was featured in the TheGerontechnologist™ AgeTech Market Map within the category of Legacy.

"When the latest TheGerontechnologist™ map came out and everyone dug into the trends, it was painful to realize on the one hand the amazing innovation emerging and on the other how damning current market conditions are for the survival of AgeTech companies. Some call it the 'Great Extinction,'" said Artifcts co-founder and CEO Heather Nickerson. "We've persevered and made amazing in-roads in 2023 to provide key services and benefits to Artifcts members across legacy, planning, insurance, and even brain health. We're grateful to be featured."

Download your own copy of the map and explore the companies featured. We all need support, whether as caregivers or direct beneficiaries of the featured products and services. You might discover the solution meant for you and your lifestyle, life milestone, and life changes!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When "friends" come calling, you show up! In this case, when the National Aging in Place Council (NAIPC) decided to publish a follow-on to its original book, "Aging In Place Conversations," focusing this time on "difficult" conversations, the co-founders of Artifcts got in line to contribute.

"Almost every conversation we have with a member of the community is difficult in one way or another. We at Artifcts are sitting at the intersection of all of life's transitions, into adulthood, parenthood, phases of careers, the exciting "golden years," and of course end of life and loss. Channeling our learnings to help others, that's another reward to the work we do," said Heather Nickerson, Co-founder and CEO of Artifcts.

The book includes contributions from nearly 30 authors with expertise and credentials spanning senior living, universal design and engineering, gerontology, real estate, finance, orthopedics, and beyond. The book launched at #1 on Amazon this weekend in four categories: Geriatrics, Nursing Home Care, Aging, Medical Conditions & Diseases, and Family Health. You can purchase your copy through Amazon.com by clicking either of the images below.

"Single-stop resources from trusted experts to point you in the right direction and make you feel less alone in emotionally and financially taxing scenarios are what we all want on our bookshelves. We're grateful to NAIPC, all the authors, and the other collaborators who brought this important work to life," said Ellen Goodwin, Co-founder of Artifcts.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

"Always always answer the mail." When a subtle, easy to miss email titled, "Media Inquiry," popped up in the media inbox at Artifcts back in May, it nearly got skipped over. Junk email is pervasive and startup life is uniquely chaotic. But what was clear from a glance were the credentials of the journalist behind the email, veteran reporter Faiza Elmasry, and that of course of Voice of America (VOA), providing news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 326 million people.

As it turns out, after months of research into approaches to preserving family legacy, stories, and memories, Elmasry found that Artifcts emerged as a unique and powerful solution accessible to people worldwide to capture their histories and heritage. She wanted to learn more about the founding philosophy of the company, the founders themselves, and the means by which Artifcts helped its community members to unite the stories with the 'stuff.'

We're pleased to share with you today the Connects series video produced by VOA to celebrate the lives and legacies now so easily captured through Artifcts. Enjoy it now on VOA News.

We are grateful to Faiza Elmasry, and her colleague June Soh, Camera, Producer, and Editor, for this opportunity to bring the story of Artifcts to the VOA audience.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.