Part 3: The Big Day
KYW Regional Affairs Council
"Downsizing Your
Senior Life"
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By Lynne Adkins
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Moving is never easy, but if you're 85 it can be overwhelming -- especially if you are transitioning from a five-bedroom house to a one-bedroom apartment in a senior facility.
Margit Novack, president of Moving Solutions, a Wynnewood, Pa. company that relocates seniors, suggests furnishing the rooms in the new living quarters with the familiar. This isn't the time for a major shopping spree, she advises:
"Someone might say, 'Oh, Mom, that chair that you sit in all the time is kind of worn. What if we take instead some furniture from the living room?' But the chair that she sits in all the time, with the remote and her glasses and teacup, may be the one that she can get in and out of and that's comfortable for her."
Novack takes a lot of pictures of the old place and use them to arrange belongings in the new space so it has that "homey" feel from day one.
What should be taken care of?
"The bed is made, the china closet is set up with the things just as they were. We've taken digital photos (so) the kitchen is set up (in similar fashion). Two thirds of our clients have computers, (so) the computer is hooked up, set up, and online. And then, every box is out."
Even with lots of guidance and planning, yes, people still take too much stuff.
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"I moved a lot of stuff," says Joyanna Horn (above). "My daughter said, 'Take this' and 'take that.' It's not fitting in, so I have to give it away."
But she says she'll live with the clutter for a while so she doesn't toss out something she really wants to keep.
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