The Downside of Downsizing Your Own Parents
It’s unlikely that your parents are going to be excited about the idea of downsizing. Most of the GI generation have already made up their minds to age-in-place and few have a contingency plan for the “what ifs”. The process of assisting your parents in downsizing from the family home into a smaller, more manageable residence can often be overwhelming, even under the best of circumstances.
If your parent has become ill or sustained an injury, your feelings of uncertainty for their care and safety can result in hasty decisions and produce less than desirable outcomes.
The simple act of bringing in an experience Move Manager can eliminate the anxiety of the transition for both you and your parent.
Why assisting your own parent to downsize can have unexpected downsides!
- Most adult children are attached to their parent’s belongings since many of these objects represent your childhoods. You don’t actually want the objects – You’d just like to know they are at Mom and Dad’s house. Unfortunately, this results in you getting in your own way as well as in your parents’ way.
- You experience the agony of letting go, by witnessing the object-by-object decision making and the heartbreak of watching your parents go through this often painful process.
- You end up with garages, cupboards and sometimes storage lockers filled with items that you don’t need but are emotionally unable to let go of.
- Expensive mistake are often made in the distribution of the downsized items. The most costly mistakes are often in excessive appraisal costs for what is believed to be the “family antiques” or the donation of a valuable resale item.
- If there are multiple siblings, disagreements regarding distribution are possible. This conflict is not only stressful for you and your parent but can sometimes have lasting effects on the family relationships.
- The magnitude of tasks involved; beginning with downsizing and ending with the setup and settle in at the new home, is detail oriented and time consuming. For those who work and/or have a growing family of their own, this process can become overwhelming .
What can our Move Managers do to help?
- Sort, Organize and Downsize
- Provide referral and information to local senior community residences and support programs.
- Customize floor plans so your parents can visualize where and how much of their belongings will fit into their new home.
- Arrange for the profitable disposal of unwanted items through auction, estate sale, buy-out, consignment, donation, gift or a combination of the above.
- When there are multiple siblings, we can perform a closed family auction (for credits, not cash) for the distribution of family keepsakes. (This can be done online to include out of town families members)
- Refer vetted contractors such as Real Estate Agents, Handymen, Housecleaners, Painters, Gardeners, etc.
- Arrange for shipments and storage.
- Provide professional packing services.
- Interview, schedule and oversee the moving company on move day.
- Unpack and setup the new home exactly as laid out in the Floor Plan. This includes making up the bed & hooking up the electronics.
- Additional services available can include:
- Assistance with utility transfers.
- Photographing and inventory of all distributed items.
- Creation of estate/insurance inventory logs.
Why hire Next Chapter Senior Services?
Next Chapter Senior Services was created to assist older adults and their families through the emotional as well as the physical challenges of home transition and/or relocation.
The caring and compassionate team at Next Chapter Senior Services:
- Believe that the process provides an opportunity for a fresh start into the NEXT CHAPTER of your parents’ lives, not an end to their independence…
- Will be the patient partner, happy to listen to the stories and memories attached to each precious possession. The tender-hearted third parties, providing gentle encouragement, as we help to dilute the emotional decisions required to assist with letting go of unneeded items.
- Unlike your local moving company, we understand the emotional aspects of these transitional moves. We specialize in helping older adults and their families’ transition seamlessly through the move process.
- We have surrounded ourselves with trustworthy, vetted contractors to assist with the multitude of varied tasks and repairs required to prepare the current home for sale or aging-in-place preparations.
- At Next Chapter Senior Services we are passionate about providing un-paralleled service and unwavering support throughout the entire process.