Relocating can be physically challenging and emotionally traumatic at any age, but for Boomers and seniors downsizing and moving from the family home, the ordeal is far more complicated and even paralyzing. Stress studies indicate that losing a spouse is the only other event more stressful. Added to the challenges for relocating seniors, is the fact that many do not have family living close by who can easily assist in this stressful transition.

A new breed of service professional, the Senior Move Manager (SMM) has emerged to fill this growing need.  A Senior Move Manager/Professional Organizer is dedicated to providing emotional, organizational and hands-on support to older adults and their families during a stressful relocation process.   I joined NASMM in 2006.

 

In 2002, the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) was formed to establish industry standards, a code of ethics, and to create a network of SMMs throughout the country. There are approximately 300 NASMM members throughout the US, who are required to uphold the NASMM Code of Ethics and maintain liability insurance.

A Senior Move Manager will:
• Guide client through the process of "clutter removal", sorting through a lifetime of possessions, and deciding which belongings to take to the new home
• Provide emotional support, develop a time-line and comprehensive plan for the move
• Connect the family with needed resources, from movers and appraisers and auctioneers to senior-focused real estate agents
• Facilitate space planning and furniture placement for the new home
• Keep the project on schedule, motivating all involved to stay focused
• Pack and unpack household goods
• Organize the new residence to create a safe and comfortable home, from day one.
• Provide an Aging-in-Place safe-home assessment and decluttering

I developed a passion for working with seniors following my own personal experiences with helping her 94-year-old grandmother downsize and relocate from her family home after my grandfather passed, then closing of her home and estate when she passed away in 2006.  I feel blessed that I was just twenty-minute from my grandmother when a move was eminent.   And was here to help my mother during the emotional and physically demanding job of dispursing her estate after she passed away.  Thousands of my peers live cross-country from their parents, often making it impossible for them to provide regular support.  Fortunately, families can now call on the organizational services of a Senior Move Manager/Professional Organizer to help in a time of need.

 

Ginger, one of my clients said it best "Your services are worth their weight in gold … I could not have done this without you."

 

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