How to Reduce the Stress of Moving
By Mary Holmes At Integrated Move Management, we love to help our clients reduce their stress. Downsizing, moving and cleaning out a home can be a trying time for our clients and their families. Our team is dedicated to working with each client to meet their individual needs. We also truly understand that when we are working with a client – it is their move, not ours. We don’t dictate how things should be done; we only suggest what may work well and help them meet their goals
A Little Help When You Need It
By Mary Holmes Whether a senior decides to stay in their home as long as possible (age in place) or move to a smaller home or retirement community (downsize), there may come a time when they need some help with activities that have become more difficult for them. The senior may realize themselves that they need some assistance or a family member may make that assessment. The deficiency may be a physical issue or a cognitive impairment. Fortunately, there are many companie
The Storage Unit – Blessing and Curse
By Mary Holmes As I have discussed on a number of occasions, downsizing is never easy. There are typically many decisions to be made at a very stressful time in a person’s life. For example, when a senior is transitioning from their life long home to a retirement community – they must decide the right time to move, the right place to move to, what to take with them, how to disperse of their remaining possessions, how to get packed up, and how to accomplish all of the above
The Right Time to Downsize – 5 Tips That May Help
By Mary Holmes How do you know if it is the right time to start the process of downsizing? This is a complicated question with no simple answer. First of all, it depends on why you are downsizing. For example, some people decide they want to simplify with a goal of having less “stuff” at a young age. They think they will feel lighter, happier, and a sense of freedom. Some people never downsize. When this happens, typically the adult children of the senior(s) are left to
Downsizing – Six Reasons Why You’ll Be Happy You Did
By Mary Holmes One of our primarily services at Integrated Move Management is to help seniors downsize from their life-long home in order to move to a smaller retirement living situation. This involves determining what possessions should be brought to their new home, creating a floor plan to ensure it will fit, finding good homes for the items they can’t bring, helping them to pack what they are taking and helping them unpack and settle in to their new home. We enjoy every
Four Ideas to Reduce the Stress of a Senior Transition
By Mary Holmes Moving is stressful! The majority of lists ranking life’s biggest stressors, place moving in the top five – right up there with the death of a loved one and going through a divorce. Additionally, quite often, the next home a senior moves to will be much smaller than their long-time family home, e.g. they may move from 4,000 s.f. to 1,000 s.f. or less. This equates to potentially having to “downsize” 75% of their possessions. This is not an easy task for any
Senior Transitions – An Emotional Time (Part Two)
By Mary Holmes In our last post, Senior Transitions – An Emotional Time (Part One), we explained the reasons why a downsizing and move can be an emotion-filled time for a senior. A senior will commonly feel some level of fear, confusion, sadness, anxiety, loss, and relief throughout the process. There is now a name for these feelings: Relocation Stress Syndrome. Following are several ways to reduce the negative emotions associated with a senior transition: Start the Proc
Senior Transitions – An Emotional Time (Part One)
By Mary Holmes When it comes time for a senior to transition from their life long home into the next stage of life, the range of emotions they may experience is vast, e.g. fear, sadness, confusion, anxiety, loss, relief. Most likely, each of these emotions will come and go throughout the process of transitioning. There are many reasons why a later-life transition can cause such turmoil. For example: Overwhelmed by the Process – Most times a transition for a senior not onl
Retirement Living – What’s Best for Me?
By Mary Holmes In my last blog, “Retirement Living – So Many Options”, I discussed the various options for retirement living, including 55+ communities, independent living, assisted living and nursing homes. Although having options is typically a good thing, it can also be overwhelming and breed indecision. So where do you start narrowing in on what’s best for you? Please keep reading to see five steps to make this decision a little easier. Location, Location, Location Det
