Moving is a stressful event, especially when you are downsizing and moving into an assisted living community. There are a few things you can do to help deal with the stress of moving and make sure that it doesn't overwhelm you.
#1 Use High-Quality Supplies
If you are worried about your belongings getting damaged during the move, make sure that you use high-quality supplies for your move. Don't use second-hand boxes; pick up new boxes for your move. Invest in specialist boxes for items such as bowls, plates, cups, and mirrors. These types of boxes are specially designed to protect these items.
Make sure that you also invest in plenty of bubble wrap and moving blankets. Buy more boxes than you think you need, and return the ones you don't use. Packing your belongings in high-quality boxes will help keep your belongings safe and secure.
#2 Decide What to Keep & What to Sell
When you are moving into an assisted living facility, you will be moving into a smaller apartment. If you are coming from a bigger home, that means that you are going to need to downsize.
Walk through each room and put a sticker on each item that you don't want to keep. This can be a big process, especially if your home is large, so take your time. Once you put a sticker and label the items you don't want to keep, get help from friends or family members with either donating, selling, or throwing away these items.
#2 Keep Things Organized
Keeping things organized can help reduce your stress during moving. Set up a moving station in your home where you store all of your moving supplies, such as your scissors, tape, markers, boxes, and packing supplies.
Take time to go through the items in each room in your home. Get rid of items you don't need and make sure that all the items in your home are in the right room for the packing process.
If you are packing yourself, go crazy with the labels. On each box, put the name of the room where the box should be left, as well as a detailed list of what is inside of the box. You can even write where exactly all the items should go. For example, a box labeled bedroom full of t-shirts, could also be labeled that they go in the middle right hand dresser drawer.
These specific instructions will make it easier to unpack, especially if you will be having your family members help you unpack when you get to the assisted living community. You will not have to think about where things go, and if you have help unpacking, you will not have to answer a question about where each item should go.
#3 Get Help Packing
Keep in mind that you don't have to do all the packing yourself. Moving into an assisted living community is a big enough transition on its own. You can hire the movers to pack up your entire home, or you can hire them to pack up specific parts of your home.
For example, you can pay to have the movers pack up and secure your heavy furniture with moving blankets, or you can pay to have them pack up your kitchen and living room spaces, leaving the bedrooms to pack on your own. Hire movers to help you pack-up part or all of your home can help alleviate a lot of the stress of moving.
Get over the stress of your items breaking by using high-quality packing supplies. Take your time going through each room as you decide what will come with you to the assisted living facility and what you'll get rid of. Get over the stress of disorganization by keeping things as organized as possible. Finally, get some help packing up all or part of your home so you don't have to take up the entire burden of packing up your home
Contact local assisted living movers for professional help.
