Hiring a Senior Move Manager can bring numerous benefits, especially when it comes to assisting older adults with the often complex process of downsizing and relocating. Here are five key benefits of hiring a Senior Move Manager:

1. Expertise and Experience

Senior Move Managers possess extensive knowledge and experience in helping seniors transition to new living arrangements. They understand the unique challenges and emotional aspects involved and can provide expert guidance throughout the process.

2. Stress Reduction

Moving can be an incredibly stressful experience, particularly for older adults who may have lived in their current homes for many years. Senior Move Managers can alleviate much of this stress by taking care of the logistics, planning, and organization, allowing seniors to focus on adjusting to their new environment.

3. Customized Support

Senior Move Managers offer personalized services tailored to the specific needs and preferences of their clients. They can provide assistance with sorting and downsizing belongings, arranging for packing and unpacking, coordinating with movers, and even setting up the new living space to ensure a smooth and efficient transition. A Simpler Life Now can create personalized floor plans to make sure what you take fits as you expect it to.

4. Access to Resources

Senior Move Managers often have a network of resources and contacts within the senior living industry, including real estate agents, moving companies, donation venues, cleaning services, auctioneers, and other relevant professionals. This network can be invaluable in ensuring that the entire moving process is well-coordinated and streamlined.

5. Emotional Support

Moving from a long-time residence can evoke strong emotions and sentimental attachments. Senior Move Managers are trained to provide compassionate support and guidance, helping seniors and their families navigate the emotional aspects of this major life transition. Their empathetic approach can make the process more manageable and less emotionally taxing for the seniors involved.

Our team at A Simpler Life Now is ready to help you navigate the downsizing and moving process. Give us a call today, (732) 887-0095, — or use our contact form — to sign up for a free consultation to see how we can help take the hassle and stress out of your move.

10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Alleviate Some of the Stress of Moving

“It seems such a waste of time
If that’s what it’s all about
Mama if that’s movin’ up
Then I’m movin’ out
I’m movin’ out”

When I started this blog on moving, I decided to begin with a song. Billy Joel’s anthem immediately came to mind. I wanted to offer a selection of tunes to get you humming, and my Google search led me to so many songs about leaving home. 

Country songs about breakups and moving on; songs about kids growing up and leaving home; and songs about the bittersweet feeling you get looking back on a life well lived, they were all there. 

Moving is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life, even for the most organized among us. No wonder there are so many songs about it!

Finding a home; packing everything up; deciding what to keep, give away and discard; the actual move itself, and wondering how you will fit into your new place (physically and emotionally) are all factors that elevate our stress levels through the roof.

Lots of people are rushing to put their home on the market to take advantage of the dearth in residential real estate inventory. Once the decision is made, they panic, because they look around and can’t believe how much stuff they have accumulated over the years.

Where do I begin? — They ask themselves. 

They call me with great urgency as they need to figure out fast what they should take with them. 

With some forethought, there are ways that you can manage some of that stress and anxiety.

The first step is to figure out what fits into your new space. This is the expertise of A Simpler Life Now, down to determining the correct number of place settings from your dining sets that you should take. 

If you follow these 10 tips, you will be singing a happy tune throughout your move.

1. Contact family members to see what they might like to have.

2. Get to know your garbagemen and recycling providers. Once you make the decision to move, you should spend time each week tossing out the stuff that is unwanted. 

3. Decide if an estate sale or online auction is for you. Perhaps you have valuable sterling silver, artwork, or gold items that you can sell.

4. Think about repairs you should make to your home that will help it sell such as a new coat of paint, removing old carpeting, and some attractive landscaping. 

5. Declutter, declutter, declutter. And then declutter some more.

6. Call me to help you organize and stage your home for realtor photos.

7. Sort through junk drawers, closets, attics. Figure out what you have and start to clear it out.

8. Remove photos from their frames and keep just the photos. Our framed photos take up so much space!

9. Check your spices and cans to make sure they are not expired. Is your make-up old too?

10. Be on the lookout for days in your town when you can drop off old chemicals and cleaning products. Did you know that you can use cat litter to help dry up the paint in old paint cans? Once the can is empty, you can throw the can in your regular trash basin. 

    
    A Simpler Life Now can help you with any and all of the above, and get you singing with happiness again!

“2020 is the perfect year,” said no one ever.

But perhaps 2020 actually was once on your horizon as “the perfect year” — the perfect year for you to make things Simpler and get to that downsized new home. 

Although this year has not been described as anybody’s perfect ANYTHING, if that move was on your to-do list, I’m here to tell you not to let the pandemic get in the way of that particular dream.

Throughout the pandemic, I have worked with many people who are finally realizing their dream and moving to a smaller, more manageable place.

Keeping Your Move Safe and Stress Free

You do have options, and putting off your move may feel right to you now. But if you are ready to move ahead, or if you have limited flexibility in being able to postpone your move, we have protocols in place that will ensure the safety of you and your family during your move and will keep it as stress free as possible. 

• All our employees and vendors will wear a mask and gloves when in your home and when handling your possessions. Coronavirus can be spread by people who are asymptomatic, so we take this very seriously.

• Safe social distancing will be adhered to at all times.

• Anti-bacterial wipes and sprays are our friend! All moving vehicles and equipment are sanitized regularly. We hire subcontractors that also maintain the highest level of cleanliness.

• We will follow all federal and local guidelines for your area, and keep up to date on information from the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

• A lot of our conversations can be had virtually, cutting down our face-to-face contact.

• We make sure that we have abundant packing and unpacking supplies on hand to reduce the number of times we have to enter and leave your new home.

• We will sanitize as we pack, making sure to wipe down suspect areas so that when we unpack in your new home your items are already clean.

• All high-touch areas in your new home will be cleaned and sanitized.

Do let us know if you or anyone you have been with lately is ill, or has been exposed to anyone exhibiting Coronavirus symptoms or who has tested positive so that everyone involved in your move can remain symptom free and healthy.

Moving at any time is stressful. Moving during a world pandemic is even more so. But following these important procedures and protocols will allow for maximum satisfaction with minimum risk, allowing you to have A Simpler Life Now.

I’ll do the little things so you don’t have to

Perhaps you are busy homeschooling. Or Zoom meetings are weighing you down. You’re pregnant? You’re tired? You just don’t want to be bothered.

Enter, Cecilia!

The reason that you don’t want to deal with the not-really-difficult-but-oh-so-bothersome tasks of moving, doesn’t matter. The important thing is you can be assured that I will take care of all the details for you, making your move as smooth and trouble free as possible.

• I’ll buy new sippy cups and stock your new kitchen cabinets.

• I’ll measure your floor space and let you know what furniture will work in your new space.

• I’ll bring you boxes for the move, pack them up, then unpack them in your new home. Packing supplies, bubble wrap, tape, wardrobe and dish boxes. It’s all in a day’s work. 

• Pots and pans? Check.

• Closet organizers? Uh huh.

• Coffee center set up? Done.

• HomeGoods. Target. Bed Bath and Beyond. These are my playgrounds. I can navigate them quickly and efficiently, and buy you exactly what you need.

Bustle magazine reports that moving is more stressful than divorce. They say, “While you probably fully intend to prepare for your big move, the stress and anxiety that comes with finding a new home, putting things in boxes, deciding what to keep or toss, and organizing the actual move is enough to make even the most organized person want to take a nap.”

“Studies,” Bustle says, “Have consistently reported that moving is one of the most stressful life events because the amount of tiny details involved in moving to a new home makes a lot of people feel ‘hella bajiggity’.”

Well, I’m not sure that “hella bajiggity” is the technical term. 

I call it Move Management. You can call it stress-busting.

Whatever wording is used, the fact is that I know how to address every detail required to make the move to your new home seamless.  

Let’s chat, and design the plan you need to make your move easy. So you can concentrate on your kids’ algebra, your virtual Zoom background, or eating for two — anything that takes away that bajiggity feeling!

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.

A client, whose son played trombone when he was in elementary school, only allowed him to practice when she was out of the house picking up his sisters from their various afternoon activities because, during his earlier lessons, his screeches were so dreadful.

She told me this story as we were cleaning out some of her closets and we found her son’s old trombone practice books.

In her case, when he was done playing after a few years (and much improvement!), they just returned the instrument to the school. But it’s not always that easy.

What if your child played the piano? You spent countless quality hours with your child sitting in your lap, having him model what your hands were doing. Hours listening to your child practice from the other room while you were making family dinners. And the nerves you both had before each recital! Great memories.

But after that…well, that piano has looked beautiful in your living room or den for decades, and it has been a great showcase for all those precious family photos, but, face it, no one has played it in years, and now that it’s time to move you really need to think about what to do with it. 

Your new space is short on room, your kids probably don’t want it, and if the grandkids are learning to play they probably are using an electric keyboard. Plus, moving a piano can be quite costly. 

Once you have made the difficult decision to part with it, now what?

Lots of clients ask me what they can do with their pianos. The sad reality is that even though you may have paid a fair amount for that upright, which was once even considered a status symbol, it is worth next to nothing right now. 

We can try donating it to a church, school, or community group, but someone probably beat you to it. Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, and veterans groups in your area might accept pianos. Pianos for Education accepts pianos for donation if they meet certain criteria.

One solution is to join a Facebook town group and offer it for free. Whoever wants it will pay for a mover to take it off your hands. A scan today of free pianos on Craig’s List in North Jersey showed offers for plenty of free pianos, ranging from uprights to Baby Grands to antique ones. “Freecycle” type websites are another great option, where old possessions get new homes.

It is wise to look for “piano wanted” listings on postings for a few months before you need it gone.

Parts of pianos can be recycled. Many of its parts--the wood, steel wires, cast iron, screws, etc, can be reused. This is usually done locally because of the prohibitive transport costs.  

If no one claims it even after you have offered it up for free, you will have to pay to have it hauled away. If this happens, we can shop around for movers. Often they charge a set price, plus additional fees for having to move it up or down stairs. 1-800-Got-Junk removes pianos, and charges based on how much room it takes up in their truck.

It’s not easy to part with an item you have loved for so many years, but once it is gone--either being enjoyed by a new generation of music lovers, or, sadly, destined for a landfill, you will feel lighter and freer and will have one less item to worry about.

Frederick Chopin once said, "Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”

Together, we will help you achieve A Simpler Life Now.