By Sheryl Hunter, J.D., CEO, LifelinesAcademy.com
How many hours a week do you spend buying, looking for, fixing or cleaning things? While many things are essential or give us pleasure, others are dispensable. In fact, your things may be getting in the way of living your best life. How about the life of the person you care for? It’s still early in the New Year, so this may be just the time to consider de-cluttering your life!
Perhaps you wish you had a smaller home to maintain, but the thought of moving is overwhelming. Or you know it would be a gift to your children to downsize now so they had less to deal with later, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe the personal belongings of a deceased loved one have been in storage for years, but you can’t face the emotions associated with letting go. In all of these situations, there are things that have become a burden rather than a benefit.
At first glance you might think that Robin Blinder’s work is all about things. Robin Blinder owns Consider It Organized, LLC (www.consideritorganized.com), a company providing senior move management, professional organizing and estate liquidation services in Pasco, Hernando, North Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, Florida. Robin organizes things in her clients’ homes. She coordinates all aspects of moving her clients’ things from their existing home to a new home and helps her clients decide which things to donate, gift or sell when they are ready to downsize. And when there is a death, she manages the process of liquidating property of a well-lived life. Yet, for Robin, her business is all about serving people. “My job is to understand the role that my client’s things play in their life. What we should keep are the things that are useful or bring joy to us today. Part of the joy can come by seeing that things that no longer fill a purpose are gifted, donated, or sold in a way that values my client and the life they’re living. What the client retains are those things that truly add value to his or her life today. That is truly when downsizing becomes rightsizing.”
While needing to de-clutter can be a lifelong pursuit, it is more common for older adults to struggle with the accumulation of things just because they have had more years to gather and store. Older adults also face the emotions associated with the idea of “winding down” rather than “winding up.” Add in the physically demanding aspects of organizing and moving and you can see the need for Transition Specialists who assist you in organization, downsizing, relocation and estate liquidation. Like Robin Blinder, they have specialized training in meeting the needs of older adults and belong to professional associations or networks such as Lifelines Network for professionals serving seniors (www.lifelinesnetwork.com) or the National Association of Senior Move Managers (www.nasmm.org).
If you want to take control of the things in your life, contact a senior move manager or professional organizer and get started today!
Sheryl has combined her love for elders and entrepreneurs throughout her 17-year professional life. In 2009, she co-founded Lifelines Academy & Network, an online community dedicated to educating, connecting and promoting professionals serving seniors and family caregivers. Her legal experience includes estate planning, guardianship, elder abuse litigation, and business law.