How Senior Move Managers Help Seniors Move

I have been working very hard for the past several months getting ready for the launching of Ashby Village. It will be open for business in less than a month although we will not have the official opening celebration until the fall. My job, along with Judy Boe and Taree Klausner,  is to put together the Ashby Village Provider Network which will consist of tradespeople and others who have been recommended by Ashby Village members and volunteers.

Over the past few years, a new work category has been developing–that of Senior Move Manager.  A couple of weeks ago, Judy and I had lunch with Sondra Jensen and Caryl Wells of Smooth Moves. They have been helping seniors move for over seven years. Sondra is also a charter member of Ashby Village.  We had such a nice conversation about their business that I asked them to write an article for East Bay Smart Senior. If you want to get in touch with Sondra or Caryl, the number for Smooth Moves is 510-527-8752.

Many senior citizens decide (or perhaps the decisions are made by others) that they must leave their homes of many years and move into a retirement, assisted living, skilled nursing, or Alzheimers community.  Whether due to illness, disability, or simply a desire to stop cooking and gardening, this move is always filled with stress.

Senior move coordinators and packers therefore tread gently when helping clients prepare for this life transition.  In addition to being supportive and understanding of the huge changes that lie ahead, move managers are also ready to step in and help with the first major task: downsizing.  In Smooth Moves’ seven years of helping senior citizens with their moves we have not yet seen an instance where our clients were moving into larger quarters.  Instead they are usually leaving large homes where they have lived and raised their families for many years and moving into small one- or two-bedroom apartments in a residential care community.  To ensure that the desired items will indeed fit into the new apartment we are often asked to make scale drawings of the rooms, measure the furniture that will be moving and “place” it on the drawing.

We approach the task of downsizing carefully and first assess the client’s own ability to make decisions on which of their belongings can be donated, sold, or discarded.  We provide a variety of colored stickers which they can affix to items going in different directions; we work with whatever other sorting system they may have devised; or we work side by side with the client discussing each item and using gentle persuasion along the way.  How often is this used?  Does it have special meaning for you?  Will it fit into the new residence?  Could you live without it?  Who would you like to have it?  The next step is to appropriately bundle the items and arrange for their pickup by charities, consignment vendors, and trash haulers.

Then we’re ready to start packing everything that will move to the new residence.  Boxes are carefully filled, labeled with their contents, then stacked in out-of-the-way areas until move day when we arrive bright and early to strip the beds, unplug telephones, pack any remaining lamps/food/kitchen ware, and oversee the movers as they load the truck.  We generally follow the movers to the new location, ensure that furniture is placed as planned, and begin unpacking boxes as soon as the movers finish their job.

The final stage for us is making sure the apartment looks cozy, comfortable, and most importantly, familiar.  We make the beds, set up the kitchen, place knick knacks, plug in lamps, TVs, computers, and sometimes even hang pictures.  A bouquet of welcoming flowers is placed on a table and off we go.