Moving an Aging America Forward

Mary Kay Buysse | Executive Director | NASMM

 

This excellent article provides more details about the Association and services of Senior Move Managers.>>Download

Moving Mom or Dad

 

This very good guide can be purchased from Ultimate Moves >>Look

 

Senior Downsizing

Jessica Welch | A Place for Mom's Family

 

Today's Seniors: Surviving Downsizing

The reasons for moving are all too clear: your home has become too big for you, it’s too much to maintain, and you’d like to spend more time with children and grandchildren. But you remain rooted in place, daunted by the seeming immensity of breaking free. >>More

 

 

Moving Mom: Helping Older Parents Move

Gretchen Heuring | ElderThink | 03.24.09

 

Life brings us major moments; the birth of a child, the marriage of a sister, and helping older parents downsize and move. Moving our older folks is hard for everyone and the experience can be filled with many difficult events.

 

There is help at hand from professionals that specialize in moving seniors. According to Mary Kay Buysse, Executive Director of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), "Senior move professionals guide clients through a journey that's often as much about sorting through a lifetime's worth of memories as it is about possessions."

 

Many Senior Move Managers have backgrounds in social work or health care. Some are expert project managers. They have come into this new field because they love their work and they care. They keep up to date with new ideas and techniques through continuing education sponsored by the NASMM.

 

Worried about a move?

 

Here are some of the ways Senior Move Managers can help:

 

# Developing an overall move or "age in place" plan

# Help with deciding what to take and what to leave, give away, or sell

# Organizing, sorting and downsizing

# Arranging for auction, estate sale, consignment or donation

# Interviewing, scheduling and overseeing movers

# Professional packing

# Arranging shipments and storage

# Customizing floor plans

# Unpacking and setting up a new home

# Managing the details such as cleaning and preparing a home to be sold.

 

Senior Move Managers can arrange moves locally or across miles.

 

Organizing to stay in place?

 

More often these days, older parents can stay put but need to organize for easier living. Senior Move Managers can help declutter, arrange for shipment of gifted items, and manage sale or donation of unneeded things.

 

Credentials

 

The National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) requires members to provide two letters of recommendation and proof of liability insurance to achieve General Member status in the organization. Members can be found on the NASMM website >>Here