When a sudden health diagnosis changed everything for one senior couple, Abundance Organizing was there to help them and their family navigate the emotional and logistical complexities of relocating after decades in the same home. This recent senior downsizing project— spanning multiple states, shipping destinations, and stakeholders— highlights the compassionate, detailed, and expert-level support that our team brings to every transition project.
Today, we’re sharing the story of this move and the lessons it offers to families who are preparing for similar life events. Whether you’re facing a sudden relocation, helping aging parents transition to assisted living, or simply overwhelmed by decades of accumulated belongings, we hope this case study offers inspiration, insight, and peace of mind that support is out there.
The Challenge: A Sudden Health Diagnosis and an Urgent Relocation
When one of the senior parents received an unexpected health diagnosis, the family needed to act fast. The decision was made to relocate both parents from their long-time home to an assisted living community in a different state that was closer to one of their adult children and better suited for long-term care needs.
With three busy adult children all living out of state, coordinating this transition was a major challenge. The home held decades of belongings, memories, and history; the family needed help making sense of it all. That’s when they called Abundance Organizing.
Our Approach: Practical Planning Meets Emotional Support
We understand that senior downsizing isn’t just about logistics. There are so many companies who advertise that they specialize in “senior moves” but they still are focused exclusively on the physical move from A to B. We know that these are emotional moves first and foremost. It’s about letting go, honoring the past, and setting the stage for a hopeful future. Here’s how we helped one family manage a complex and emotional move with clarity, compassion, and expert coordination:
1. Planning and Strategy
We began the way we always do: with a whole-house assessment and walk-through with the clients in their space to discuss their goals and priorities. We assured them that they would remain in the driver’s seat; our job is to fill in the gaps and move the project forward. We discussed our full-service move options, including pre-move decluttering, management and distribution of donations/consignment/disposals, floor planning, packing, and overall project management. During our walk-through, we took photos of every spot as it was set in the current house, knowing that those images would be helpful for the unpack team in recreating familiar vignettes and storage placement wherever possible. If Aunt Dot’s framed photo has always sat next to the heart dish on the third shelf of the bookcase, then we are going to try to recreate that arrangement to make the new home feel comfortable and familiar.
2. Sorting Decades of Belongings
When work sessions began, our team started by working closely with the couple to sort through every room, closet, and storage space in the home. They had done some advance sorting before we came on the scene, but the going was slow and they were overwhelmed by the volume that still needed processing. The kids were on-call via text to answer questions about whether they wanted to accept family items their parents were ready to gift. With decades of belongings to evaluate, the process required patience, thoughtful decision-making, and a system that kept everyone informed and involved, even from afar.
3. Envisioning the Next Chapter
During the sorting process, the client designated “items that must move with us” and “items that can be gifted.” There was also usually an in-between category that we called “nice to have if there’s room.” As the list of essential items grew, we used floor planning software to create a digital rendering of the clients’ new apartment, assigning homes to cherished furniture pieces and inserting “nice to have” items where they work. A floor plan is a valuable tool that helps our client envision how the space will function and alerts them (and us!) when they are attempting to move too much for the square footage that they will have on the other end. This is a critical step in the downsizing process, not to be skipped. As a team that frequently finds ourselves on the unpacking side of things, there’s really nothing more stressful than trying to make editing decisions in real time because a space is at risk of being overwhelmed by too much stuff.
4. Coordinating a Multi-step Move
One of the most complex aspects of this project was managing the logistics of distributing the couple’s possessions. We facilitated five different deliveries so that:
- Some items could be delivered to the three adult children, each living in different states
- Essential and sentimental items could be delivered to the new assisted living apartment
- Overflow items could be placed in a nearby storage unit for later retrieval
Every item was clearly labeled, color-coded, and coordinated with the moving crew. We even helped arrange a last minute transport of the couple’s car when their son decided to take off work so he could drive them to their new home personally.
4. Rehoming with Purpose
Not everything could come along, so we helped the family identify donation and resale partners for items that were no longer needed. With a focus on sustainability and service, we ensured that as many belongings as possible found new homes where they could still be of value, giving them new life while keeping them out of the landfill.
5. Leveraging a Powerful Network
We were fortunate to partner with a high-caliber team on the other end of this move! Because we knew the client and they knew the senior community, we were able to ask our move manager partner for details about the new space while offering insights on our client’s preferences. As much as we love full-service moves, there are times like this where our client is relocating to or from a location that is outside our service area. In these instances, we can tap into our worldwide network of qualified and credentialed service professionals with teams just as knowledgeable and fabulous as ours. Having a qualified partner on both sides of a move to provide assistance with move coordination, packing, unpacking, and local resources ensures a seamless transition from start to finish.
6. Packing and Move-Day Supervision
Our team professionally packed every item for secure transport, taking special care with sentimental items and fragile belongings. The couple has an extensive art collection, and weren’t sure before the move what they would be able to hang on the walls of their new apartment. We carefully packed the hanging art grouped in boxes and placed photo stickers on the outside of the boxes to eliminate confusion about contents. We also supervised the loading process to ensure nothing was missed and everything followed the pre-arranged delivery plan.
7. Preparing the Home for Market
After the couple had relocated and the house was empty, we scheduled our hauling partners to pick up final trash and disposal items from our staging area in the garage. We worked with the family’s realtor to turn over the keys to the home so that she could begin her work to get the property ready to be shown. Just one day after listing, the home received an acceptable offer.