Safe and Stress-Free Moving for Senior Citizens

Helping an elderly relative move can be a challenge. Often times an elderly person will accumulate an enormous amount of furniture, clothing and personal effects. When it comes time to move into a senior living facility or nursing home there just isn’t room for all that stuff. But it creates an enormous amount of emotional pain for senior citizen to give up personal possessions in order to move.

The first step in helping the senior citizen move is prioritizing what is coming along for the move and what is not. As the saying goes “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure” and while you may not think there’s much value in moving a beat-up plaid recliner, but it might be one of your grandparents greatest treasures. Arguing doesn’t help. You need to help your parent see the value in scaling down and simplifying.

When I was helping my uncle move from his home of 35 years into a one-bedroom apartment, he was hell-bent on keeping every one of his possessions. It angered him when his well-meaning  daughter suggested that he hold the garage sale and “get rid of all that junk”. I realized it was going to take a little bit more finesse to get him to simplify and scale down the amount of things we were going to move.

Understand it may take some individuals longer to let go of unneeded possessions. I’m not talking about hoarders, I’m talking about your typical elderly man or woman who has a lot of memories invested in their possessions. To help my uncle, I started conversation about what was going to happen to all his stuff after he was gone. I casually brought up the story about what happened to grandma’s stuff after she died and how the people that never visited her were so fast to swoop down and take her furniture. He got mad just thinking about it, and he started talking about what he would have wanted.

When he thought about it, he realized that in much of the things that he loved and treasured would probably end up in a Goodwill store or a junk heap. So I suggested that he think about giving some of his prized possessions away to people that he cared about now. Wouldn’t he be happy to see a needy person gladly accepting that dinette set? What in his grandniece be thrilled if he gave her that grandfather clock?

After my uncle started to believe that this was his own idea he was quite enthusiastic about getting me to call a list of people and help him give away things that he really treasured. After the first family friend thanked him profusely for giving away a living room set to their newlywed son, he was hooked on the idea of giving everything away.

Moving day was a lot easier after he discarded the mountain full of items that he had no use for anymore. We gave away scores of old winter coats to the church. We donated couches and tables to the Salvation Army. He was delighted to gift his deceased wife’s jewelry to his daughters. He had peace of mind knowing that the things he had worked for and cherished were now in the hands of the people that he cared about.

To make moving simpler we made sure that all his boxes were kept to a manageable size and clearly labeled. We found out that the best way to box is possessions for moving was to think about where they would go in the new house apartment. The movers helped us get all the heavy furniture out, and we save a lot of money because there was so much less to move. Once my uncle got to his new apartment the movers put each box in the rooms where they belonged. Setting my uncle up in his new place was a snap.

Moving an elderly parent or grandparent isn’t easy but with the right attitude and approach it can be done. For more information on how you can keep your elderly loved ones safe and happy in their own homes, a senior safety advice visit ElderKind.com.