Baby Boomer (Metro)
Everybody knows moving and downsizing is a big under taking. If you happen to be a Baby Boomer (BB) downsizing, you have got my sympathy. I have helped many Baby Boomers transition to the next stage and I do know how difficult it can be.
There are enormous challenges when managing such a project for BB’s. Especially when health, finances and emotional issues play such a prevalent role.
Baby Boomers have much to contend with when it comes to home de-cluttering and organizing. Many are plagued with the enormous task of deciphering a lifetime’s accumulation of contents. That alone is overwhelming however many Baby Boomer’s have inherited family member possessions and memorabilia that has to be dealt with as well. This unavoidable process of sorting contents are paring down is necessary for the ultimate goal of downsizing to a comfortable uncluttered smaller home.
Here is Mary’s story…
Mary 54 years old, left her house years back with all her contents and moved to her 80 year old ailing mother’s home to care for her. She had been struggling for a long while trying desperately to get organized. The family’s two-story home of 45 years had much memorabilia as anyone could imagine. The whole house was storage; it’s been a magnet for clutter. Between the Elephant collection, 12 extra dressers, mountains of clothes and anything and everything one might find useful or not was kept in this small home. As much as Mary tied to minimize contents she was stopped in her tracks. Let me preface the following by saying Mary’s mother lived through the depression and it is very common for people from that era to keep everything. So you guessed it Mary was unable to convince her mother to part with anything. Another issue for Mary was her own health, suffering with bad knees made the physical work very difficult and the use of the stairs was extremely painful.
Thankfully they heard us on CRFB radio one Sunday afternoon spreading the word about Home Organizing and she reached out for help. They were both very excited about having their home more functional for living. We even discussed giving away unused items and Mary’s mother was warming up to idea. Sadly Mary’s mother passed away and the organizing requirements had changed. She now needed (a) the home organized and staged for selling and (b) the remaining contents to be packed and labeled ready for moving. We were happy to help her. The home was ready in one week, 85% of the contents we sold, shredded, given away or thrown out. Mary kept some special keepsake items from her mother and she is now ready to move on and we wish her the best of luck.
We welcome our Metro readers to join us live at Booth 818 International Home Show, October 5- 8th, 2007 at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Road. Take advantage of one of our three free seminars on Organizing and Downsizing your home, get your seat early. Go to www.internationalhomeshow.ca for details. Also please tune in to the Christina Cherneskey Show CFRB 1010 radio and join us as we discuss home and life organizing issues Sunday October 14, 2007 at 1PM.
Brenda Borenstein is your Professional Organizing Guru. Look out for her column every second Tuesday in the Metro in the homes section.  For more tips and ideas please visit her website www.organizedzone.com or email her metro@organizedzone.com .