So many of my clients have such great big hearts, and when it comes to downsizing, they want to know how their possessions can make a difference in the life of others. 

While their children and grandchildren may be happy to make room for a cut crystal vase, a small mahogany table, and vintage Pyrex bowls, they understand that—for the most part—many of their cherished possessions that will not fit in their downsized new homes need to be “disposed of.”

How and where to donate household items

So what is to be done with a houseful of treasures that no one wants? Can they be donated? Who would want them, and how can you get them to these organizations?

My clients often ask me what thrift stores and charities are willing to accept. What makes a good donation?

Let’s break it into categories:

HOME DECOR

For furniture, donate those wicker pieces that would go great in a sunroom or on a porch. Office chairs, mirrors, and night stands get gobbled up. Buyers would love your china and crystal too. People shopping at thrift shops can’t get enough seasonal decor—so pack up those holiday ornaments and decorations carefully, and donate away. 

Think bedding, linens, pillows, draperies, curtains, rugs, comforters, lamps, baby items, art and frames. Hospital gift shops love to get back donations of vases.

All donated items should be clean, and in gently-used condition. 

BOOKS

Lurking beneath the worn jackets of many hardcover books are beautiful covers that would look great displayed on a shelf or coffee table. Even realtors buy up books to make their empty listings look more homey.  

MUSIC COLLECTION

There are lots of die-hard music fans who may be waiting for your Bowie or Beatles collection. Donate your LPs and CDs for that lucky thrift shop scavenger hunter.

IN THE KITCHEN

Gadgets, pots, pans, coffee makers, blenders, and dishes are all great to donate to a thrift store or other charity. Don’t forget glasses, silverware, and small household appliances.

When bringing food to shut-ins or those who have had recent surgery, it’s nice to send dinner not in a throwaway-metal tin, but on a real platter or in a serving bowl. Donate those and they will be sure to go to good use.

CLOTHING

Boy, those closets are stuffed! Tired of finding forgotten items with the tags still on them? It will be great to move into your new place with a closet that has room to see all of your clothing choices. That means it’s time to purge. Just because something is out of style, don’t think it’s unwanted. First off, we know everything comes back. (I just saw an ad for gaucho pants!) Second, vintage items are hugely popular now and can look so trendy with the right accessories. Your white go-go boots can get new life. Think theme parties.

Halloween clothing and costumes can be used for theater performances or dress-up for kids. So can old recital attire. Donate, donate, donate. 

ELECTRONICS

That old boom box? Yup. Playstations and laptops? Yes. DVD players and old monitors? Check. Different organizations will accept most of these items. But those old clunky TVs? Not so much. One client told me a story about being unable to donate her big old 35” television. Even church basements have flat screens these days. (But, some NJ towns offer electronic recycling centers as well as some Best Buys that may just take your clunky old TV!)

TOYS

Remember the Pokemon craze? How about Cabbage Patch? There is always a market for board games, puzzles, dolls, sporting equipment, action figures, and Legos. Check specific organization’s rules about stuffed animals. 

OTHER EQUIPMENT

Step aside Jane Fonda. Donate exercise equipment and gear—weights, step platforms, fishing poles, snowboards, and baseball bats. Around here, lacrosse and soccer equipment is always wanted. Tools, drills, nail guns, lawnmowers, weed eaters, outdoor furniture, spreaders etc. are welcome as well. Bicycles, musical instruments…yes please!

Where to Take Donations

Some great places to donate your items:

• VA Hospitals are always looking for men’s clothing, electronics, and small kitchen items 

• Westfield Service League (thrift and consignment shops)

• Check your local preschool to see if they are collecting children’s board games, toys, and books

• Homeless Solutions

• Green Drop 

• Selective Seconds 

• Furniture Assist 

• MyUnique Thrift

• Yellow Tag Thrift

• Goodwill

• Market Street Mission

• The Vietnam Veterans of America, a national non-profit organization that assists U.S. veterans, will pick up clothing, as well as most household items, through Pickup Please. They accept all types and sizes of clothing, from baby sweaters to junior’s dresses to men’s sportswear, whether they were popular when Nixon was president, or if they were bought last year at the mall. Think shoes, boots, belts, ties, handbags and accessories, in addition to regular clothing items. They sell your donated items to private companies by annual bid, which generates the majority of the funding to support the local, state, and national programs of the Vietnam Veterans of America.

Don’t get overwhelmed by all the items you would like to donate! A Simpler Life Now is here to help. We will pack up and deliver your donations for you at various charities throughout New Jersey, and you will even get a receipt for your taxes. We’ll pick up and deliver your larger items as well, and even pack up and deliver your unexpired cans of foods and pastas to food banks while you are downsizing. Contact us today to see how we can help.

A huge part of downsizing is deciding what to do with massive book collections. 

Back in March 2021, we talked about smart ways to part with the book stacks that have accumulated over time. 

Since then, I’ve noticed that a growing part of that collection is cookbooks. Maybe it was all the eating in we did during the pandemic, with the search for both comfort food and gastronomic specialties. You may have discovered a new favorite recipe or two, but moving all those books into a new space would eat up most of the available shelving space in your new home, meaning you could not bring more meaningful mementos or books of another genre.

With the rise of celebrity chefs, many of these books have been received as gifts, and people find them hard to part with. Perhaps you like the celebrity chef, or you really, really want to get around to cooking like Emeril…or Giada…or Guy.

Guess what, that’s probably not going to happen. And if you do decide to cook Ina Garten's Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken, it is probably easier to look the recipe up online than it is to pack, cart, and unpack her bulky cookbook, and the 20 others sitting on your shelf for accompanying side dishes.

So what can you do with your cookbook collection?

My best suggestion is to download a recipe app. This is a great way to organize your favorite recipes so that they are all in one place, and so easy to store. Best part—the apps are searchable, so you can plug in “shallots” or “vanilla frosting” or “country meatloaf” to find your favorites.

A couple of our favorites: Paprika ($4.99) and Recipe Keeper (free and pro versions) are popular apps that allow you to upload, save, and locate your recipes and add recipes from websites to it. Websites like allrecipes.com allow you to search a database of thousands of recipes that have been tested and rated by others. You can search by ingredient, prep time, and even allergies. 

Don’t want to digitize?

If you like all the handwritten recipes you have collected over the years with little notes you made tweaking the ingredients, or if you have favorites you have torn out of magazines, you can store them in a three-ring binder. You can use old-fashioned tabbed dividers to create categories like “appetizers,” “sweets,” “Sunday brunch,” and “family favorites.” 

Consider protecting them with plastic sheet protectors. These are great even for loose recipe cards. 

Special cookbooks that have been treasured through the years can be kept, but you’ll want to protect them from falling apart before the move. A family heirloom or valuable vintage cookbook that has seen better days can be restored by a professional bookmaker. 

For those books that do make the cut, consider the lighting in your new kitchen. To keep the bright covers from fading make sure that they don’t get direct sunlight, Heat and moisture can also damage them. Keep them away from the stove so they won’t get covered with greasy residue. A cookbook stand with a splatter shield can guard the page while you are using it. 

If your collection is small, don’t worry about organizing them by cuisine. You might consider a system of various colored post-it notes for marking favorites of different nationalities and meals. (Red for favorite spicy dishes, green for vegetables and salads, etc.)

Before the move, donate or sell the books you aren’t keeping. Check with local libraries, used-book stores, and thrift shops to see if they take donations. Some books are collectible and have a market on resale sites like ebay. 

And if you want to test out all the chocolate-chip cookie recipes in your collection, they do make an excellent treat on moving day! 

Bon Appetit!

Marie Kondo made it official.

She now calls herself a “life coach.”

But if you talk to most home organizers, senior move managers, and downsizers, we all have a lot of life coaching in our practices. 

The New York Times says that Kondo suggests we look at the world from an object’s perspective, to understand how it might feel crushed or smothered in an undifferentiated heap of possessions. But that’s old news. In her new book, she shows photos of pristine rooms “Instagram-worthy” photographs that are serene, minimalist, sleek, and crisp.

The book’s editor says that her goal is to help readers determine what style works for them. 

What’s Your Style?

What do you think your style looks like?

There is no right answer.

That’s where the life coaching comes in.

When I work with my clients, the first thing we do is talk. We delve into how you live now, and what your expectations are for your new place. What things are most important to you, and what you are ready to let go of.

We know it can be an extremely difficult process to part with items that have been part of your life for decades. We’ll listen to the importance and history of your things, and will help you create a plan to determine what you need to part with because it just won’t fit, and what you might be able to keep.  

There are so many factors to consider, namely whether or not you want your smaller quarters to replicate your current home as much as possible, or if you want a fresh new look, even mixing up what you currently have and repurposing your things to serve you in new ways. 

For example, that server in your dining room might be beautiful in your entryway if you no longer have a formal dining area.  

How Move Managers Help You

We will help you:

• Sort items to sell, gift, donate, or recycle

• Organize and downsize your kitchen, bathroom, pantry, and closets

• Sort and organize your basement, attic, and garage

• Sort paperwork

• Coordinate the removal or donation of the unwanted contents of your home

Marie Kondo writes that a big obstacle to having a tidy home is the gap between the way we live our lives and our ideal lifestyles.

Downsizing with A Simpler Life Now helps solve that problem, as we envision what you want your home to look like and what purpose each area should serve.

Reach out to us to begin your transformation.

“Are you thinking about selling your home? Maybe you thought you’d be in your home for a long time to come. Perhaps you thought your grandchildren would play on the same swingset your kids played on . . .”

Home sells for $100,000 over the asking price.

Home sells without ever hitting the market.

Home receives 56 offers in 30 seconds.

OK, maybe not 56 in 30 seconds, but it doesn’t stray too far from all we have been hearing: there is a significant dearth of available homes for sale. Any of these headlines could be written about any number of markets in the country, but our market here in North Jersey seems to be one of the hottest of them all.

Are you thinking about selling your home?

It’s a little bit of a scary prospect. Maybe you thought you’d be in your home for a long time to come. Perhaps you thought your grandchildren would play on the same swingset your kids played on, and sleep in their bedrooms when they came for long weekend visits. 

But every day, reading about the shortage of inventory for homes in your area gets you wondering if this is a really smart time to sell. 

Hmmm.

I spoke to a few home-selling experts in BIG (Believe, Inspire, Grow), a networking group for women entrepreneurs I belong to for some of their professional guidance.

Specifically, I wanted to know if my clients are thinking about selling, how much streamlining of their “stuff” and home prep is required to get the house to move, and if they did decide to move what would make them be an attractive buyer to the current owners of their next home. 

Sell Your Home “As Is” or Fix Up: A Real Estate Agent’s Perspective

Lucy Thompson, of Keller Williams Realty in Summit, NJ says that while it is still a seller’s market, the amount of work done to prepare a home for resale directly impacts the selling price.

“It boils down to what is more important to the seller — the maximum price achievable by pulling out all the stops or the average price achievable by leaving buyers to use their imaginations,” she says.

“There is a direct correlation between the prep work done and the rewards,” Thompson said. “Sure, you can leave everything ‘as is’ and look ‘average’ on the market and still find multiple buyers and perhaps achieve over list, or you can go all out and declutter, clean out, touch up painting where needed, spruce up older parts of the house, and fix red flag items before photographs are taken and showings start and, as a result, achieve astounding results, leaving no money on the table at closing.”

Regardless of what you may have heard, it is always a beauty contest and a price war, and you don't want the buyer to start asking for credits or work to be done when they feel they are already paying way more than they expected, Thompson said.

“It is nearly always better to invest time and money up front and get ready for listing rather than leaving things to chance and neglecting, at your peril, things that make buyers wonder what else is going on ‘behind the facade’,” she said.

Getting Mortgage Ready: Tips from a Specialist

What if you are on the flip side of the sale? You have your house all ready to market  and need to find a new place to call home. What can you do to make yourself look the most viable to an active home seller?

Cathy Maloney of Guaranteed Rate Mortgage in Chatham, NJ also suggests taking the time to do some “prep work,” although it is a different kind. 

She suggests that buyers not only secure a preapproval letter from a mortgage lender, but an actual mortgage commitment to make them as strong as a cash buyer. 

“All you will need is a sales contract and an appraisal to close because you can show the seller that you have your financing all set and approved and underwritten and you’re as strong as a cash buyer,” she says. “Instead of showing your bank statement that says you have $1 million, you can show a mortgage commitment that says the same, which will help people choose you.” 

So there you have it. It’s always better to do all of your prep work and not allow “chance” to figure into the equation.

Give me a call if I can help you tackle the decluttering process, whether you are getting your home ready to take advantage of this market, or just want to live more comfortably in your home. Either way, I can help you achieve A Simpler Life Now.

Most people have too much stuff, and, honestly, a lot of it is, well, garbage! 

Do you have a complete set of House Beautiful magazines from the 1990s? How about the turmeric that you bought for a curry recipe you never got around to making a few years ago? 

The first step in getting ready to sell your home, or even just to organize it for you to live more comfortably yourself, is to pack up and toss some of the items that have outlived their usefulness.

This list is a great starting place to identify items that are eating up valuable real estate in your closets, kitchen cabinets, garage, attic, and basement. The amount of space you can find by just tossing out excess bags and boxes can be so rewarding. 

20 Items To Toss Now

1. Twist ties

2. Supermarket plastic bags

3. Old magazines

4. Bags of socks that don't match

5. Books of matches

6. Take out plastic containers and mismatched other Tupperware

7. Bags, bags, and more bags 

8. Old trophies 

9. Expired medications, sunscreen, and makeup

10. Old expired spices 

11. Outdated college books 

12. Old paint cans (by the way if the paint is dried up, the paint can go in your trash —  if not dried up, open lid, add cat litter and then toss when dried up)

13. The drawer full of Bed Bath & Beyond (or other expired) coupons

14. Duplicate or fuzzy photos

15. Bank statements and utility bills that you will never need to refer to

16. That yellowed pile of recipes that has been growing but you never look at

17. Everything that has been sitting in the “to-be-fixed” pile: the broken mug, the costume jewelry with the broken clasp, the sunglasses with the missing arm

18. Pens that dried up

19. All the cheap, branded stuff you picked up along the way but won’t really use, particularly because you have better versions of it, like tape measures, frisbees, sewing kits, magnifying glasses

20. Craft projects that you started but will never resume — the half-hooked rugs, pieces of tile for the mosaic project, assorted colored sand — you get the idea!

Why wait until you are ready to move to reclaim all this space? Do it now: pack up all these items and don’t look back when you dispose of them.

It’s hard getting rid of sentimental items and articles of clothing. But some stuff in our closets holds no sentimental value at all. Even still, sometimes it is hard to recognize items that should be trashed. Give me a call if you want some professional help.

Books are memories. Who we are. Who we were. Who we wanted to be. Who we became.

If you visit someone with a well-stocked library, you can “read” their book shelves like you are reading their biography. There are the books on pregnancy; on parenting; on study skills; on choosing a college. A section on travel. The hobby sections — gardening, photography, learning a new language. Shelves and shelves of books that were read by book clubs.

It’s possible to cobble together the stages of someone’s life by looking through the books in their home library. 

Often one of the hardest tasks of my business is helping people edit their massive book collections, most which have taken decades to accumulate. Usually, there are books lurking in places beyond the main collection — books on nightstands, books used decoratively, books on the shelves of the bedrooms, books in the office. Even boxes of once-loved books in the attic that were stored away for the next generation.

The reality is, that when we are thinking about downsizing, saving, moving, and storing books for our children and grandchildren is not the smartest use of valuable shelf real estate. And if you have stored away a book, you are probably not going to read it again yourself. 

More and more books are now read on a kindle-type device, or even on a phone. Penguin Random House reports that 20 percent of Americans have read an ebook, and 60 percent of those ebook readers are under 45. So if you want to share your love for Anne of Green Gables or Little Women with your granddaughter, she will likely want to read it electronically.

Downsizing Your Book Collection

So, how do you pare down that collection to get ready for your move?

The straightforward answer is to keep only your absolute favorites and donate the ones that don't serve you any longer for someone else to enjoy. 

• Start by taking all of the books in your home and putting them in one central place. 

• Just like with your clothing and treasured keepsakes, create piles — keep, donate/give away, and toss. Use a sharp paring knife! 

• When downsizing, paperbacks really should not make the cut. 

• Neither should books that may have been stored in a basement and might be mildewed or damaged. 

• Any books that might have actual value — like first editions — that you aren't sentimentally attached to can be taken to a book dealer or auctioned off on eBay.

• Cookbooks are a whole topic in itself. If you use them, great, but if you find yourself looking online more and more for recipes, donate these as well. 

• College textbooks belong in the same category. They are most likely outdated, and more and more courses use online textbooks. Put these in the donation pile.

If you're anything like me, you will probably uncover a large number of books that you never got around to reading. Do you really think you will? If not, put them in the donate or giveaway pile. 

Contact me for some help with minimizing your book collection. I can make it less of a daunting task.

Try approaching one room at a time. Or take a page out of the Marie Kondo journal and address all your books one day, housewares another.

Remember the beginning of the pandemic when organizing was de rigueur? We were all on such a roll! Then summer came around, and things got somewhat congested again. Piles grew back like weeds. To-do lists increased in length. The organization fire that was lit earlier on somehow burned out.

Now, it is overwhelming to look around the house and see the mountain of holiday decorations that need to be rehomed and the Amazon boxes that need to be refilled with purchases that just didn’t work.

While the new year is still new, recommit to streamlining and downsizing, particularly if you have made a resolution to prepare for a move later this year and want to get a jump on it.

Here are a few things to consider as you get your home ready for a downsize:

1. Don’t rush things. Going through decades of accumulation takes time. Create a calendar with a detailed timeline for your move so that you give yourself ample time for each task. Try approaching one room at a time. Or take a page out of the Marie Kondo journal and address all your books one day, housewares another.

2. Think about the space you will be moving to. Will you have a guest room? Will it double as an office or sewing/craft/exercise space? Will some of your furniture be just too large? The logistics of your new home determine which possessions make the cut.  

3. Think about things that you are saving just because they were expensive, and family items that don’t serve you. These are the hardest items to part with, but keeping them will not allow you to maximize the efficiency of your new space. Check with your kids and family members about what they might like, then take lots of photos of the rest.

4. Edit, edit, edit. This is where the services of a professional organizer really help (wink, wink). You need to figure out exactly what will work in your new space, and that means doing calculations down to place servings and sheet sets. 

5. Technology is your friend. A wall-mounted television can replace your old media console. Think wireless keyboard, laptop computers, and Alexa with a Spotify account for music. Similarly, downsize your books. 

6. Wall space and closets in your new home can be configured for maximum storage potential. 

It looks like it will be many months more until we will be out and about. Use this time to recommit to getting things in order. There is no better time than the beginning of the new year!

I can help you go through all of your treasures with a practiced, compassionate eye to determine what will work best in your new place so that it will feel like home right from day one.

Lot of mirrors photographed and cataloged, ready for an online auction.

It’s daunting to think about what is involved in getting a home ready for a move. You could be sitting on decades of accumulation — everything from unused wedding gifts, Lladros, an attic full of old holiday decorations, closets loaded with the discarded wardrobes of multiple family members, to a basement filled with neglected tools and home improvement projects.

What are you supposed to do with all that stuff?

Luckily, online auctions have increased in popularity and have the process of possession paring down to a science. 

Getting Ready for an Online Auction

We have already talked about how A Simpler Life Now can help you go through your possessions and determine what you should bring to your new home based specifically on factors like size and location. We will have determined what you should pass along to family members. And we separated out items to donate and items to discard.

Now we get to items you can sell.

We partner with MaxSold, an estate-sale company dedicated to helping homeowners sell their possessions.

In a seller-managed auction, we will operate as the seller. We are your representative; it is our responsibility to go through your items, divide them into lots that make sense, and then catalog and photograph every item.

We do this as we work. So if, for example, you have a china set that is divided up in your dining room, your kitchen, with extra pieces in storage in the garage or attic, we will make sure that the pieces of the set are reunited to be sold as a complete lot.

The process of separating out items as we are sorting through the house will save you time and money, as each item will have to be “touched” only once.

The Online Auction Sale

Most of the clients we have worked with sell more than 90 percent of their items in the online auctions. This way, the house gets emptied out more quickly and is able to go on the market sooner. 

MaxSold does all of the advertising for your items, provides bidder support and communication, and handles tech support and payment collection. Their auction platform is engineered to drive maximum sale value for your items. 

At the end of the auction, a contactless pickup will be conducted, and voila! Your house is empty in a four-hour period.

Your small collectibles and vintage treasures will add up. You will earn more than you would have made at a garage sale, without the hassle and stress of having to orchestrate that garage sale. No price haggling and no strangers walking through your home as they look over your possessions! 

Do you feel like you have spent years and years tucking away items in your basement and attic? Lots of things you saved “just in case”? While I bet some of it is pretty obscure, probably nothing you have lurking there is odder than some of the items that MaxSold has auctioned. Can you say used dentures and creepy rabbit puppets? We have sold everything from caskets to life-size mechanical clowns. An old rusted chicken plucker that was found in a barn and a collection of CPR dummies? Going, going, gone.

A Simpler Life Now will supervise the removal of all the items in your home that were sold during the auction in just a four-hour window. Sounds crazy, but it won't take long for your home to be emptied. Your treasured family possessions will have new life breathed into them as they go to happy new owners who know just what to do with them — and you walk away with your stress minimized and some money in your pocket, maybe to buy some new treasures?

For the past three plus months, we have all “sheltered in place,” but have you heard of “aging in place”?

Aging in place — or growing older at home as opposed to aging in a retirement community — is increasing in popularity. Aging in place allows you to maintain your independence and your social connections, but it has to be done safely.

Many seniors want to stay in the home they have built over the years, and if stairs to negotiate — either to second story bedrooms or to basement laundry facilities — are not an issue, then aging in place might be a viable option for you.

Of course, with fairly simple renovations, most homes could be converted to make one-floor living accessible. A bed can be placed in a family room or den, and laundry can be put in the kitchen or garage. Grab bars in the shower, a ramp at the entrances, and easy-to-turn doorknobs are a few simple changes you can make in your home to make it easier for you to live in. 

If you think you might want to age in place, you need to plan now for help you might need down the road. Do you live alone? Is there a family member who would move in with you to help you? Is there a place for a caregiver to live?

Following are a few things for you to think about as you decide if aging in place is a better choice for you then moving to a retirement community. Either way, A Simpler Life Now can help you prepare for whichever option is right for you.

How will you address simple self-care tasks like bathing, washing your hair, and getting dressed? Caregivers are available to come into your home and assist with a range of tasks. Some might even be covered by your insurance plan.

Medical

There are special apps and pill boxes that can remind you when you have to take your medicines. You should always bring someone you trust to your doctor appointments, especially if you will be getting a lot of information on that visit like test results. That person should not be afraid to question the doctor; they are your advocate so they should speak up. Ask the doctor to put instructions in writing so you can be clear about them and refer back to them.

In case of emergency, make sure you have health proxy advanced directives and a living will signed so that your loved ones can make health decisions for you if you are unable to act on your own behalf. 

Chores

Grocery shopping and picking up prescriptions are something to consider. With everyone sheltering in place the past few months because of COVID-19, we have learned that it is actually quite doable to not go to the store. Groceries, drugs, dry cleaning, and just about everything else can be ordered online and delivered to your home. Check with your medicare plan to see if you are eligible for a walker, scooter, or wheelchair if needed.

Taking care of the home

You need to think about a housekeeper, a gardener, a handyman, and other service providers as simpler tasks grow more difficult to accomplish.

Meal preparation 

The groceries can be delivered, but what about cooking? Many of my clients cook full dinners well into their 90s and entertain too. But if you don’t want to cook every night, there are plenty of food-delivery options, as well as meal kits that get sent to the home with heat-and-serve options. Perhaps a friend or neighbor will “co-op” with you and you can share meal-preparation responsibilities. It’s also nice and social to go to a senior center, church, or synagogue to share meals with friends new and old. Many towns have organized “meals-on-wheels” food delivery services for their seniors. Your local community or senior center should have information.

Paying the bills

If you don’t have a child or other relative that can help you out, there are plenty of small businesses that specialize in helping seniors with their paperwork. Other small firms will help you negotiate the maze of healthcare and medicare forms. Start by searching for a geriatric care manager. If you don’t have it already set up, they can help you pay your bills online automatically each month.

Avoid scammers

As much as we hate to think about it, there are plenty of people out there who prey on seniors and try to scam them out of their savings. Don’t ever click on a link in an email. Be suspicious! If you receive a message from your bank or credit card company that you think you should act on, type that company name into your browser and enter their website that way as opposed to clicking on a link in an email. Never give out your passwords or social security number to anyone over the phone. Go through your bill statements to make sure that you recognize all of the charges. Watch out for any “free introductory offer” you may have signed up for that is now charging you monthly or annually. It is very easy for these charges to slip through!

Growing older at home is an option, but you just have to plan for it so that you are not caught off guard by anything that arises. There is nothing nicer than living where you are comfortable, with all of your well-loved possessions, in the place you call home. 

Give us a call at A Simpler Life Now and we can create your aging-in-place plan, and make some fixes in your home — like reducing your clutter to make your space more livable, efficient, and safe. Let’s talk about what will make aging in place a good choice for you.

Who knew that Great Aunt Bessie’s vase would garner thousands of dollars at auction while the rug you cherished all those years, conversely, brought in nothing at all. Either way, it’s done. You got it done! The boxes are packed and sorted. The most cherished items you wanted to pass along to family members have been distributed. You sold a number of items, donated so much, and filled a dumpster. You officially have downsized!

Now what?

Unpacking and Setting Up

Last time on the blog we talked about the process we use at A Simpler Life Now to get you to this point — packing everything up to make a move, perhaps after decades and decades in your old home, filled with memories, valuables, and way too much furniture. Today, in part two, we explore getting you unpacked and set up in your new home.

Once again, you will have no headache or stress when it comes to getting your new space organized just the way you like it.

I will open all the boxes, and set up everything.

I’ll probably tell you to go order the house special at your new local restaurant and to come back in a few hours to your new home. Then, like “the big reveal” on an episode of an HGTV show, you will walk in to find:

• Your spices have been organized.

• Your pantry is sorted.

• Your dishes are placed in the cabinets.

• Your clothes closets are set up by season.

• Your coffee/tea stations are waiting for the first brew.

• Your books are arranged.

• Your china cabinet looks beautiful.

• Your beds are made.

• Your bathrooms are organized.

• Your medicines are sorted.

• Your pesky clocks have all been reset.

• Your linen closet will be set up.

• Your artwork will be hung.

• Your display photos will be put out.

• All the boxes have been broken down and removed.

Do you know that it takes the average homeowner 182 days to unpack after a move! Yup . . . 182. Don’t believe me, then google it for yourself. And that’s just the average, many take much longer. The good news is that A Simpler Life Now can make sure that your project is completed in a matter of hours. 

Your new home will be ready for you in every way possible — ready to cook your first meal, have guests over for a games night, and lay your head down on your fluffed pillows for your first night in your new home.

Imagine how great it will feel to enter a place that feels like home the minute you walk in the door. 

Our experienced move management team gives you all the productivity without any of the headaches. We have taken lots of photos of your old place, so we can set it up to look like a smaller version of what you already know, or perhaps you want us to surprise you and set it up using our own trained eyes. The choice is completely yours. 

Since you have already let go of the things you don’t need in your new home, there will be much less clutter. It will be a new home filled with all of the things you love best. And you will be all set to enjoy a simpler life, now.