How to Survive Moving Your Elderly Parents

Helping your parents or grandparents downsize into a new home has its challenges and stressors. With over 40% of Americans aged 50-64 planning on moving within the next five years, who wouldn’t get a little stressed? Thinking about where to move, when to move, and how you will move is a lot to take on. Not to mention wrapping your head around which items you’ll keep and which you’ll donate or toss. Bonus tip: use one of our storage units for things you want to keep but don’t have the room for now! 

To help make moving your elderly parents a little less scary, we’ve put together a list of tips to ease the transition for both you and your parents or grandparents.

Communicate

Probably the most important tip we could provide is to communicate early and often. Parents and grandparents have lived many years in their home and have cultivated their life story within its walls. Starting a conversation about downsizing and moving early on will help ease any anxiety that may arise.

Helpful Tips for Your Discussion

• Make a list of key points.
• Acknowledge their feelings. It will be a stressful conversation mixed with many emotions and memories.
• Have a game plan and ask for their input on it. 

Plan ahead

Nothing increases stress like the impending feeling of something being last-minute. Create a checklist of things to discuss and do with the assistance of your parents or grandparents. Including them with decisions will go a long way in ensuring it is a smooth transition for everyone! 

Declutter

Let’s face it, we all have extra items that we no longer use but keep around for a rainy day. Feeling overwhelmed and need help with starting? Leave it to the tidying expert, Marie Kondo. She has a Tidy Course that teaches you her ten steps for sparking joy through decluttering.

Sort & Organize

Sorting through your items and putting them in different piles can help you determine what you need and which things you don’t. Plus, you can begin the process of organizing your parents’ or grandparents’ things into boxes and bins while you sort!

In the process of sorting, you will most definitely come across items your parents/grandparents treasure. Creativity is vital when balancing how to keep the memories yet let go of the object(s) that spark those memories. Try using a digital photo album for the many photos stored in bins or photo books.

Donate

For items that are no longer needed, donating them to a local thrift store or school is a fantastic way to rehome your belongings to a place that will treasure them as you did.

Contact Us

Once you are ready to start planning the big move for your parents or grandparents, give us a call at 321-372-1005 or email us at info@callfamilymoving.com. Not only do we offer residential moving, but we also can assist you with packing services. Helping move your family with care and attention to detail is what we do best! Family Moving and Storage offers a FREE moving quote for anyone in need of moving services. Claim yours today!