Moving into a Senior Living Community: How Meadow Ridge Helps Make Your Move Easier

Many people find moving to be a daunting experience. However, the transition into a senior living community is one that often involves even more stress and emotion. The thought of moving a lifetime of possessions from a large home that holds memories to a residence in a community can be overwhelming. When you’re considering a move into a senior living community, know there are many resources that can make moving easier, quicker and more stress-free than you think.

We can help

Most communities provide services to ease the transition. At Meadow Ridge, we make the process seamless. We employ a full-time move-in coordinator whose only job is to ensure the move for new residents proceeds smoothly. We also partner with local realtors to help prospective residents through the process of staging and selling their home. When the move is in process, we offer a guest room the night before and after the move to ensure a safe, comfortable place to sleep while in transition.

Senior moving assistance

Across the country, the number of senior move managers is growing. These individuals make it their job to help ease the moving process for older adults. The New York Times recently published an article about this trend. According to the article, “Senior move managers specialize in the issues that come with downsizing, including donating and selling items and hiring movers.” It also notes the specialty is so new that no one is sure exactly how many there might be in the United States. Meadow Ridge partners with several of these specialists and can leverage the National Association of Senior Move Managers to help with your move. Meadow Ridge offers $5,000 toward the cost of move management services to make your move less burdensome.

Moving Made Easy®

Moving Made Easy® is a program of senior moving services from Moving Station®, our professional relocation partner. Each client is paired with a personal relocation manager who provides concierge-level, step-by-step assistance throughout the process. The manager offers knowledge, unbiased advice and one-on-one guidance to help future residents navigate the transition to a senior living community.

Moving Station has also partnered with tens of thousands of homeowners to assist in selling of homes. Services include counseling on home valuation, selection of a real estate agent, and help with selling your home. They also provide expert downsizing, organizing and moving guidance tailored to your needs and a unique timeline as you move into a senior community. If you’d like to attend an upcoming Moving Made Easy informational event at Meadow Ridge, please visit this page to register.

Start the process early

So while there’s plenty of assistance to make your move easier, you’ll still have a lot on your plate with any move. It’s been said the best advice for reducing the stress of moving is to start early. This advice is even more crucial when moving into senior living, as it often includes a certain amount of downsizing. Most people are moving out of their larger family homes into a smaller, more manageable living situation. By reducing possessions early, you’re in a much less anxious position when the time for real moving arrives.

Start with a room that’s seldom used, or even just a closet. Go through your belongings and for each item, think about when the last time you used it. If it was a year or more, you may not really miss it. Another helpful way to take inventory of possessions is to consider that if you suddenly lost everything, what would you replace first? Obviously, the items that can’t be replaced, such as family heirlooms, take priority, but beyond that you can divide items into three categories: Things you must have, things you can live without and things you can easily replace. It’s easier to let go of something when you realize you don’t have as much attachment to it as you may think.

Another benefit of starting early is you’re able to control your pace. It can be physically tiring going through your life’s possessions, not to mention emotionally taxing. If you plan ahead, you don’t have to accomplish it all at once so take plenty of breaks. It will be less stressful, and you’ll probably make better decisions about your possessions.

This is also a time you’ll want to reflect on the meaning of certain items. Your possessions come with the stories of your life, so make sure you have the time to laugh and cry as you make plans to move to a new rightsized home.

To learn more about Meadow Ridge’s moving program and how we can make your move seamless, please contact us.