If you've ever used a downsizing service or one that helps seniors organize for a move, what was your experience?

When my parents moved from a 1500 sq ft house into a large condo in a senior community, my mom arranged for “helpers” from her church. She did pay them, but it was not a huge amount. But they boxed everything up and did so carefully.

They also went through all the stuff my parents did not need to keep and helped my mom separate things out for donation or for giving to children and grandchildren.

My parents were in their early eighties at the time, and could not have done the task by themselves. We children were also not in a position to be of help for more than a few hours.

If you are near a large senior community, call them and ask for recommendations, or call the local churches.

My Mom was moving from her huge house to a mother-in-law unit where my sister lives.
Obviously a lot of stuff had to go. My sisters and I had a huge garage sale, and organizing it was difficult, because my Mom resisted selling anything. My sister did most of the organizing, but it wasn’t pretty.
Afterwards, my Mom moved to my sister’s house. She lived there for 4 days, before being hospitalized. She died in hospital a month later.

I’ve used the National Association of Productivity and Organizing (NAPO) to find people who are professional organizers and they have always been helpful. Here’s the link:

https://www.napo.net/

You can use the search in the website for your zip code and click on downsizing, it’s in the pull down menu.

If you have been given a name of someone already, you can check to see if they belong to the association.

People who specialize in downsizing understand the emotions that many people go through. Different people have different needs regarding downsizing, professionals have experience with the various personalities.

Often just one or two visits helps get you on a roll. I would want someone with previous experience, not someone who is a friend or friend of a friend who happens to be good at organizing, and I do think having a professional is easier than doing it completely on your own.

When I’ve used organizers they usually had a minimum first visit, one time I think it was two hours and another time was four hours. Then after that I could decide whether to set up another appointment. My situation was mostly organizing, but I also was getting rid of quite a bit of stuff too. It’s really hard.

When my friend moved from a large house, (40 years, children and dogs raised there) to a condo in a senior community, she went through the Senior Center in her town. They were able to recommend a number of different services, with reviews and price ranges for different types of services. She interviewed a few businesses and was very pleased with the outcome. She said that the people were kind and sensitive to her needs, and really valuable helping her sort through the detritus of a life.

The takeaway from that is the help of the Senior Center.

Good luck with this.