It's not for everyone, but as more and more older Americans choose to age in place and remain in their homes, issues related to maintaining mobility, promoting home safety and creating an environment to meet care needs are becoming increasingly important to both caregivers and care recipients.

After you have made the decision to relocate to a retirement community, and have determined an ideal location to enjoy your new freedom, you will face one remaining hurdle: packing up, throwing out, and moving. After all, most of us have accumulated decades of belongings: furniture, clothes, books, housewares, and memorabilia of every kind. Where do you begin? Here are a few proven strategies that you can use to make the task less daunting.

Age in place. It sounds so warm and fuzzy that most people entering their retirement years say that's exactly what they would like to do. It seems like an easy choice. But it's really one of life's most difficult decisions — and it faces us just when we've earned the right to live as worry-free as possible.

Senior living residents are overwhelmingly satisfied with their senior care communities, according to a poll of randomly selected residents from 409 different communities across the country released by the Coalition to Protect Choice in Senior Living (CPCSL). According to the findings, 91 percent of all assisted living residents express satisfaction with their community, with 68 percent saying they are "very satisfied." Residents cite the overall quality of care, cleanliness, personal safety and independence as the top reasons for their satisfaction.

Eighty-four percent of Americans over the age of 50 expect an immediate family member to move into a senior living community within the next 10 years, while 24 percent over the age of 65 expect the same for themselves, according to a new national survey of American attitudes on assisted living released by the Coalition to Protect Choice in Senior Living (CPCSL). The poll found just more than half (51 percent) expect their parents to live in a senior living community within 10 years, with 15 percent expecting the same for their spouse and 10 percent for a sibling.

Patience may be a virtue -- but for seniors planning to downsize from a family home to a Continuing Care Retirement Community, there's a fine line between being patient and waiting too long. "We advise seniors to keep their options open by starting two processes as early as possible -- choosing the right community, and getting their homes ready to go on the market," said Lynn Falwell, co-owner, It's Your Move Inc., a Move Management company in Natick, MA. "The earlier they make their decisions and start the process of preparing their homes, the more easily they will be able to sell and move when a space in their new chosen community becomes available."