Moving has been said to be one of the most stressful experiences that a person can go through. Moving during a difficult life transition can make the process just that much harder.
This can happen when a family is faced with moving a parent into a care facility. These transitions are often coupled by a necessary need such as a health issue or an inability to take care of themselves, which can be hard to deal with for the family as well as the parent involved.
Unless there is a plan in place, the process can be hard to coordinate. Many children of elderly parents already have their own families to take care of, which forces them into a tough situation of performing double duty. On top of that, most parents will be moving to a smaller place, which usually requires some downsizing.
We have packed and moved many seniors during our years of business and the most important thing we can recommend to anyone going through this process is to stay organized, be patient and be respectful with your parent. Below are some of our tips to help you through this transition.
Moving Your Parents
Plan the Move Ahead of Time
Before you begin to organize any of the items in your parent’s home, go to their new place and measure how much space there will be. This will give you insight as to what pieces of furniture will be able to fit. If this move is a downsize, you’ll need to be realistic about what can fit and what cannot. Bring a sheet of paper and map out the room. It’ll allow you to visually see what space is available and will allow you to easily place items in the appropriate place on moving day.
Recruit Friends and Family to Help With Downsizing
Downsizing can be a hard process for your parent. Moving from a home that you’ve lived in for years, to a smaller place can feel as though their life is out of their hands. Recruit friends and family to help with the process as the familiar faces of loved ones can remind them that there are people there to look after them. It will also help with the downsizing process, as they may be able to take items that can’t be moved but are still valuable heirlooms.
Stay Organized
If your parent is moving from a large home to a smaller one, there will undoubtedly be many items to move. Form a plan of attack and organize all of the items before the move. Go through the home as a group and decide how an item will be categorized. Will it stay, will it go with family, or should it be given away? Once you’re done that, label boxes and put similar moving items together. Putting things of a similar nature together will allow you to stay more organized.
Cleaning and Repairing
After you have completed organizing for the move, it’s time to look over what needs to be cleaned and repaired. Go through all of the rooms and assign people to clean rooms in the home. This shouldn’t take a long time if you have a team of people helping. Once this is done, spend time looking to see if anything needs to be repaired. Often, there will be small items that need to be touched up and will require little effort to fix.
If you’re in need of a mover to help with your parent’s transition into their new home, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® is always there to help. We work with the GRANDMA RULE® in mind during all of our moves.