6 Tips to Move an Elderly Parent

 

Has the time come to move a loved one across the country to a new home or moving your parents into a senior community? The process no matter how far can be a challenging one. There are many scenarios that are required to move your parents from their own home and as an adult child, you want to make sure that the transition can go smoothly especially when it comes to logistics, their health and finances. 

1. Have The Big Talk  - It’s a big moment to talk about your parents leaving their home and moving somewhere else that might be better equipped for them. In fact, it’s more emotional than ever which is expected. While this may be an extremely tough conversation to have with your aging parents, begin by letting them talk about it themselves, discuss why it’s important and how you’ll be there to assist and help them make this transition smoother as a family. Give them the choice to help plan when they want to make this move and let them know they have support from yourself and other members of the family so they don’t feel alone in the process. 

2. Support - This is a huge undertaking to do by yourself, so try to enlist help from other family members if they live nearby. Encourage your siblings or close family members to take a few days off of work and assist you in this task.  Even younger children can help participate put things away if needed. The point is that surrounding your parents with loved ones who are supportive, encouraging and helpful can help ease the emotional stress that moving endures for everyone. It might even help them look over old items and share stories they once forgot about while getting ready to put them in their new location. 

3. Organize - Speaking of stories, they will need help going through everything to organize and bring what they want to their new place. You can categorize these objects to make the process run smoother. Have items placed in certain locations. You can start by putting items in different categories such as donate or sell, thrown out or keeping with. While going through this process, allow the parents to reminisce over everything and help sort out their possessions. These are important memories to them and be open about listening to them go through these cherished things. This might be a sensitive issue on your own emotions as well, especially if this was a home that you lived in when you were smaller. 

4. Block Off Time - While organizing and sorting can seem like an impossible task, start and stop your preparations at a certain time. Try not to get sidetracked and you’ll be surprised at how much you can get accomplished. Break down your rooms into smaller tasks on one part of a room at a time and move onto the next. 

5. Clean - Once you’ve organized and packed everything, you want to make sure that everything looks cleaned and ready to sell. If you are passing this down to another relative you still want the home to be looking its best. It's better to take care of maintenance issues all at once rather than kneeling with them later while the house is for sale or if you have renters move in. 

Image: New Jersey Transport Inc Moving Company

6. The Big Day - Of course these are some strategies to help your loving parent move into their new home. Another way to go about planning for the big day and you being there for your support is hiring a moving company to help you. While it may be an added cost, you want to make sure everything your parents cherish is moved safely thanks to a quality moving company. If you live in New Jersey, call New Jersey Transport Inc Moving Company. This long distance moving company in New Jersey  is can offer you assistance when moving your loved one either to another state or just down the road. Their team of professionals are trained moving with the proper moving equipment and will ensure that your time with them is as stress free, seamless and as comforting as possible. They also can help you pack up your belongings as well. While you might want to do it yourself, they are experts at safely and efficiently packing your delicate items for maximum protection and you might even benefit from letting them handle that part of the process for you so you can be with your parents.

When it comes down to it, each family’s circumstances are unique so this is just a general idea on how to make the transition from their home to a senior citizen location as easy as possible. Do your best, listen and be patient as they make this transition together as a family. While it may seem impossible or a struggle right now, in a few months once they feel that their new place is home, this will be a moment to look back on and enjoy together.