As we age we tend to want to downsize from our larger house with several floors to a smaller, one -level, townhouse where all of the outside work is taken care of.
Today I’m going to talk to you about the 5 steps I took to help a senior couple downsize their entire home to prepare for 2 moves, an estate sale and then unpack all items into their new home.
Some people are fortunate that they have family to call on when they need help to prepare for a move. This couple, who were both in their 70’s, were only children themselves and have only one son. They had had 6 other moves in their past and packed themselves with movers but this time was the first Downsize home which meant a lot of purging. Their other moves were not like this. So they decided to hire an organizer.
They were fortunately able to build their townhouse before selling the house they lived in so that this move could be done in several stages. Since they went from a 3,000 – 2,000 sq ft:
- Had to organize in 4 categories: 1st move, 2nd move, sell & trash I designated areas in the house to place the items to be sold
- Created color coded labels for all items for placement in the new home. All furniture needed to be measured and a floor plan was created so we knew what would fit and what needed to be sold. (older people need to see since it is very hard to let go of stuff they’ve had for so long)
- 1st Move we organized the entire upstairs (bedrooms, bathroom, lv room, dining room kitchen, family room) I directed the movers both days so that they knew where everything would be placed. I also took photos of large items and taped them to the floor for placement.
- Worked with the estate sale company. They needed 1 week to set up and a weekend to sell. They were such an awesome company as they made over $10,000 in the dead of winter with 3’ of snow that day.
- 2nd Move we organized the crawlspace (which had over 100 bins)the basement which was 3 large rooms containing dried flowers, baskets, holiday décor, card shop, an office and their son’s stuff from when he was little and the 3-car garage
Our schedule
- Start date: 11/22/2017
- Closed on Townhouse: 12/18/2018- building complete-remodel basement was reason for 2 moves
- 1st Move: 01/06/2018 – below zero
- Met Ellen –Estate Co 01/22/2018 (Hired painter & realtor)
- Estate Sale: 02/16-17/2018- 2’ snow
- 2nd Move: 03/17/2018 total empty/clean/painted
- Closed on House: 5/2018 sold
I worked with the owners 3 days per week approx. 5-7 hours each day to prepare for each move and then unpacked 2 ½ semi truck loads of items. Because they moved so many times in the past they knew what movers, painters and realtor they wanted to use so I was there to coordinate all parties to help make this a smooth move. After 6 months the entire move was completed.
Pat & Hal have been married for over 50 years and love doing things together. They both get aggravated when they can’t do what they used to do but are so grateful that I am there to fill in what they can’t as I now care for them 2x’s a week.
This month I have been describing different moves I have been hired to organize. Moving is unique to each client and has been interesting to describe the process. I hope you have enjoyed it!
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