Senior Moves helps seniors downsize 

Relinquishing long-held treasures can be difficult, but many seniors face that daunting task as they prepare to downsize their lives. Now, a new offshoot of an existing business is available to help. “We work with the emotional side of letting things go,” said Lori Davies, director of Senior Moves.

Senior Moves, which opened in January, is part of a Boise business called Perfect Order, a home organizing firm started in 2001 by Rochelle Lierz DeLong. Another segment of the company is called Consilio, and it is a business organizing service.

Davies said she saw the need for Senior Moves during her work at Perfect Order. She recognized, she said, that seniors are vulnerable to deception. “We saw how easily older people can be duped.”

Davies said a strong current trend is baby boomers working longer than they planned as 401(k)s take a drubbing from the stock market. At the same time, the boomers are dealing with aging parents and kids still living at home. Davies used the phrase “sandwich generation” to describe the caught-in-the-middle boomers.

Senior Moves is contacted by adult children of geriatrics to help their aged parents downsize and prepare to move into an assisted living facility or nursing home. “Downsizing is not just about going from a larger space to a smaller one. It’s also going from lots of objects to fewer objects,” Davies said.

Oftentimes there is dissension among family members as the children want to discard everything, while the oldsters want to save it all. “It’s a lot of their memories, their past lives,” Davies said. “We work as a buffer between (adult) kids and parents. … People are more willing to let a third party intervene. We care. We know what they’re going through.”

Senior Moves helps older people categorize items into things that can be donated, things that can be sold, and things that can be passed down as heirlooms. So far, the company has helped with some small-scale moves and one larger one involving a 92-year-old woman who hadn’t moved in 30 years.

Of the fees charged by Senior Moves, Davies said, “We’re a business, not a nonprofit, but we charge what is fair and reasonable.”

Though there are currently only three full-time people on staff at Perfect Moves – including Davies, DeLong and Consilio director Kara Rasmussen – the company works with referrals and affiliates, such as moving companies. “But we will work with a client’s preferences,” Davies said.

Senior Moves is a member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers. They also work with certified Aging in Place specialists, who help older people stay in their homes by making houses safer and more convenient for persons with age-related disabilities.

Davies herself has a background in geriatric care. She worked at the Elks Rehabiliation Hospital for nine years as an athletic trainer. Perfect Order’s Web site describes Davies as someone who helps her clients work through their challenges “with much empathy.”

She understands the seniors’ side of things. “The older generation, they don’t want to be a burden,” she said. “They don’t want to trouble the kids.”

That’s where Senior Moves can help.

Contact info:

Phone: (208) 861-6012

E-mail: lori@perfectorder.biz

Web site: www.perfecttransitions.com

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