When you are looking to downsize before a move, you need to understand that the closer you get to your move date, the more demands will be placed upon your time. We might consider all the things we need to sort as we look around our home, but we may fail to calculate all the time it will take to make decisions and remove the unwanted items. We may make a list of all the utilities we will need to update with a change of address, but we may not take into account the time it will take to reach a live person who can handle our services, access our information and make the necessary adjustments. Pre-planning your move on your calendar can help you to iron out all the details you’ll need to handle, make early decisions that can save you money, and reduce the stress of your move. 

Whether or not you know your actual move-in date with a new community or home, you need to start early to line up a senior move management company like Beyond The Fork In The Road. Beyond The Fork In The Road assists clients by subcontracting movers, trash haulers, cleaning companies and helps homeowners to sort through their belongings and distribute their assets. By allowing a senior move management company to handle those needs, the homeowner can focus on all the decisions that need to be made for their new home, furniture, and belongings. 

Make a schedule for yourself and note the goals you’d like to accomplish. Start with your potential move date or month and work backwards to set deadlines. No matter your move date, you’ll want to start sorting your belongings right away to determine what you’ll keep, gift, sell, donate, or trash. Look for ways that your family, friends or professionals can help you reach your goals. Ask for help sorting through your home’s belongings if you have too much to handle on your own. Seek assistance with the distribution of your assets. If you’re running errands, plan to also drop items off at your local donation site or recycling facility to save time and money. 

Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. For example, “Each day of this week I will sort through a cupboard in my kitchen while dinner is in the oven. Saturday, I’ll call my children to see if they need or want any of the items I no longer want. On Sunday, I’ll see if the church kitchen has any need for my donations. Next week, I will drop off my kitchen donations on my way to the grocery store.” 

Design a plan that works for you. You may want to start small to find success and prepare for larger rooms or areas. Many organizers recommend beginning in a bathroom where items are less personal and you can make easier decisions. Perhaps you want to do one bathroom each day, if you’re able to do so, as in the example below.

Week 1: Bathrooms: 

Monday - Powder Room

Tuesday - Guest Bathroom 

Wednesday - His Bathroom 

Thursday - Her Bathroom 

Friday - Drop off Donations 

In rooms that will require a more detailed and thorough sorting process, such as an office with lots of paperwork, you may want to divide up the room, furniture piece, or storage area into smaller tasks of increasing amounts to celebrate and motivate you toward success. Be more specific about what you need to do if it helps you to stay on task as in the example below.   

Week 2: Office

Monday: Top of Desk (Organize bills, Toss old mail)

Tuesday: Desk Drawers (Sort supplies)

Wednesday: 2-Drawer File Cabinet (Remove outdated paperwork)

Thursday: 4-Drawer File Cabinet (Remove unnecessary files and tax folders over 7 years)

Friday: Office Supply Closet (Consolidate / Donate unused supplies, recycle older electronics)

In much the same way as going on a diet, you know yourself and what type of strategy works for you. Perhaps cutting back rather than cutting out a certain food works better for you mentally, so you don’t rebel against the diet altogether. In the same way if the idea of sorting a whole room at one time or over one week seems too daunting because of the amount of stuff you’ve amassed over the years, then create a plan with goals that you can attain and will leave you feeling a sense of accomplishment. Set yourself up for success and keep sorting slow and steady if that works for you. Extend your personal sorting deadlines if need be, but always keep in mind what the bigger goals and constants are in your moving plan. Your moving date is approaching fast and you don’t want to run out of time to tackle the bigger tasks before the movers arrive. If you can’t finish the sorting before moving day, you could be paying to move things that should have been donated or discarded. Make a plan as soon as possible so you can accomplish everything you need to do before the packers come and moving day arrives. 

Planning Your Move:

As you prepare for your move, you’ll need to decide if you will want to list and sell your home before you move. Knowing when you’ll sell the home will determine when you’ll need to have unwanted furniture and smaller items removed from the home. Talk with your realtor and discuss what, if any, furniture they want to keep for showings. If your home is listed before you move out, you may need to have some furniture removed prior to the showings so it doesn’t look overcrowded to potential buyers. If the house is selling after you move, your realtor and a stager can discuss if they want your unwanted furniture to remain for staging or if they will bring in other furniture to show the home. Either way, you’ll need to work out a plan to have your unwanted furniture removed from the home. 

If you won’t be selling your home until after you move, then you may be able to focus on the move first and the removal of unwanted furniture second. If your house has already been sold, you will want to schedule the removal of all furniture and smaller items before moving day.  Next you’ll want to schedule a final cleaning of the home for the day after you move and before the closing and the keys are turned over to new owners. As you can see from the examples below, the removal of unwanted furniture could happen before or after the move depending upon when the home will be sold. If you need to save money, you’ll want to schedule only one pickup date for furniture. 

Example: Moving Schedule when using unwanted furniture to stage home after the move:

Furniture Pick Up - Date: After house sells

List Home - Date: Unknown or July 6  

Cleaning Company - Date: July 5

Trash Removal Company - Date: July 5

Moving - Date: July 4 

Packing - Date: July 2 & 3

Example: Moving Schedule when home has already sold and there needs to be a quick turnover: 

Closing on Current Home - Date: July 6

Cleaning Company - Date: July 5

Trash Removal Company- Date: Morning of July 5 or before

Moving - Date: July 4 

Packing - Date: July 2 & 3

Furniture Pick Up - Date: July 1 or before (Furniture Pick Up can be as late as July 4 if the moving company is the one contracted to remove unwanted furniture for delivery to a store, auction, etc.)

When creating your schedule it’s important to consider all the vehicles that will need access to your home for packing and moving, trash removal, cleaning, consignment and donation pickups. You’ll want to schedule some of these services at different times or on different days to cut down on the cost of crews waiting to access your home or waiting to do their jobs. The examples above are if you would be contracting a professional to clean your home and would need to set aside a day for a cleaning crew. If you are cleaning the home yourself or through other means, you may be able to schedule the cleaning for the evening after the other crews have left for the day. 

Plan out how and when you will be selling your home and discuss with your realtor what you will need to arrange for the home’s showing and closing. By making a moving schedule, you won’t have as many last minute surprises to handle when the stress of moving day arrives. 

Service Providers: 

Planning for a move is a lot like planning for a wedding. You have various venues with multiple businesses coming to support your big day, moving day! When planning for your move, your moving calendar should also take into account the different service providers that will need to be servicing your new home prior to moving in. If you are hiring a closet company to renovate your new closets, you’ll want to add a few days or weeks into the schedule for them to do installations before your move-in. Likewise, you’ll want to have your window treatments put in place and your maintenance team will want to mount your televisions before the cable company arrives. If possible, have your maintenance team install new television mounts where you want them prior to move-in so that the movers can hang your television for you upon arrival. (New mounts will need to be purchased for the new home. Old mounts usually remain in the old home as they are attached to the wall.) Prior to putting your house on the market, you’ll want to hire an electrician to remove any lighting or chandeliers that you will want to move to your new home. You’ll also want to have an electrician install your lighting fixtures at the new home prior to moving day. If you have a piano, you may want to schedule tuners and specialized movers for your instrument. If you have grandfather clocks, you could hire a clock repairman to remove and install the weights and pendulums before and after the move respectively. If you are ordering new furniture, you’ll want to add these delivery dates and times to your schedule. You will want to keep a detailed plan so you can work around each company’s needs and not have too many service providers bumping into each other or blocking access to your home at inopportune times. 

Some services may need to be set up after you move in and after other utilities have finished their work. For example, if you need to have computers hooked up, you may need to have the phone and cable providers scheduled the day before the geek squad arrives to ensure that everything will be operational. Check with your cable tv provider to see if they will be using the old equipment or will be bringing new equipment. You may need to collect all of your old routers, cable boxes, remotes, etc., to return to the provider so that those charges can be removed from your monthly statement. Alert your senior move management company to your needs so they can help you collect these devices from around the home or pack and resettle them for the service provider or technician. 

Example: 

Geek Squad: July 6

Telephone & Cable Company Date: July 5 

Moving Day - Movers hang TVs on new mounts. Date: July 4

Packing Day: July 2 & 3

Electrician installs chandelier in new home. Date: July 3

Community Maintenance Team installs TV mounts @ new home. Date: July 2

Electrician removes the chandelier and installs another fixture in the current home. July 1

Window treatments installed. Date: June 26-27

Closet installation. Date: June 20-25

Pick up keys to the new house. Date: June 15

Purchase new TV mounts & deliver to new community/house. Date: June 5

Don’t schedule service technicians until the day after moving in, so that you can be sure you have all the electronics and cables unpacked and ready for use. Having a technician arrive too early in the middle of the moving process can slow down or halt the progress and cost you more money as the movers must stop what they’re doing to locate, unpack, and set up your electronics and the furniture they require. Your cable and internet technicians will need your undivided attention to explain all of the ins and outs of the equipment they are providing to you and they may need you to set up online accounts or emails for the services. It’s best to have this meeting in a quieter home after all of the stress of moving has been lifted and you are able to focus solely on this new service. 

If you are still employed and plan on having your computer, televisions, and phones serviced the same day as you move in, then you may want to transport these items yourself so they are not tied up on a moving truck or in the middle of a room full of boxes. Alert all moving companies to this appointment and what your needs are going to be. Schedule your technician for the late afternoon or evening after teams have finished moving or unpacking and resettling your home. You may also want to have the desk, entertainment cabinets or other items in place as soon as possible and ready to support this technology, so that the technician can be free to do their job without slowing down your movers. Plan to have another family member or friend on hand to answer questions for the movers, since you will be busy with the service technicians.

Creating a detailed moving plan with extra time allowances for each service provider will keep everything running smoothly and will reduce your stress as moving day arrives. You won’t find yourself pulled in multiple directions by various companies and technicians and you’ll be able to focus on what needs to be done in each moment. Grab yourself a calendar and start planning! 

By scheduling everything from pre-move sorting to post-move service providers, you’ll have a well-thought out timeline that will enable you to quickly make changes when surprises happen. Your master plan will help you master your move with less stress and anxiety and free you to enjoy yourself throughout the process. Beyond The Fork In The Road can help you manage the details of your move and support you throughout the process. Contact us at 717-335-8080 for a free consultation and to learn more about the services we offer.