If your home is too big because children or other family members have left the house or it is too small because you are expecting additional family members or pets, you may be left with the feeling that the home you are stuck with is inadequate.

But before your make any rash decisions you should evaluate a few things currently and prospectively in your life.

The article, ?How to find the right size for the life you live now,? written by Jane Adler and published in the February 25, 2007 edition of the Chicago Tribune provides a few areas to evaluate in order to ?rightsize? your home.

A midlife housing crisis can make you feel like you are living in the wrong place and make your home feel uncomfortable. But then what kind of house and where is really right for you.

?So maybe it's time to rightsize. That's the advice of California-based broadcaster and novelist Ciji Ware. Her just-published book ?Rightsizing Your Life? offers insights into how to create the environment that's right for you at this stage of life.?

Rightsizing is not necessarily downsizing, although can end up being the outcome. Rather, Ware defines rightsizing as ?a conscious, practical and psychological evolution in the way one lives one's life--a process that enables people to create new surroundings.?

Rightsizing is looking at what the right situation is for you depending on your age and current living situation, and begins with examining where you are in life.

?Are you newly retired? Sick of putting up storm windows? Recently lost a spouse? Is your spouse happy about the house, or not??

Rightsizing may not just be about what size house you need in terms of square footage. You also need to calculate various activities or necessary amenities you need such as an office or being close to water for easy accessibility to fishing.

?One couple Ware interviewed moved to their vacation home in Wyoming. When they discovered there was no place for their grandchildren to visit, they built a bunk house for them. That's rightsizing.?

The bulk of the book is based on Ware's personal experiences. The term ?rightsizing? took hold after Ware was living in a 4,000 square foot home and then was forced to move to a 500 square foot sublet in downtown San Francisco. After keeping the majority of their belongings in storage for three years, Ware's employer was no longer willing to pay the $1,200 monthly storage bill. Ware and her husband had to discard many of their belongings.

?They started the winnowing process but found it slow going at first. Ware started to cry when she put the tiny rocker with petit-point feet she had done for her son in the garbage.?

Ware then discovered that you need to only keep the things that you love and need.

?Ask yourself whether the object is beautiful, valuable, sentimental or useful right now. If you can say yes to two of those questions it's probably worth keeping.?

Rightsizing is an emotional process even if you determine you have to move to a bigger house. To curb this, consider an addition to the existing home instead.

Rightsizing is so emotional because you are usually forced to move from your home due to uncontrollable circumstances rather than you deciding to move on your own.