Saving Money?

Senior moves are an important part of our business at RosieMoves. Many of our Senior clients are moving into retirement communities, and in order to keep things simple and stress-free we offer specially priced ‘packages’ for these moves. These packages include everything from start to finish–an initial consultation, help with decisions on what to take to the new place and what to do with the rest of the items, a customized floor-plan, packing, unpacking, new home setup, and all packing supplies.  We even hang the pictures in the new place!  It’s a great deal monetarily, and also takes a lot of the pressure off of the client. Last week we had a client who decided to save some money by doing her own packing.  She called us to unpack and set up her new place, and although we do this sort of thing I want to point out why it may not have saved her any money at all in the long run: *First of all, she had to do all of the packing herself, with some help from a couple of family members.  I have learned from experience that this situation often leads to tension and family arguments. *Second, she was moving into a large apartment so she had to buy a LOT of packing supplies, which can be expensive! *Third–and this is a very important point–nothing that she or the other family members packed was insured for damages during the move, unless by insurance that she personally had on the items. People often do not realize that when they pack things themselves, NOTHING is covered by either the mover’s insurance or in this case, RosieMoves’ insurance.  Our insurance ONLY covers items that we pack, in each case.  If a box had fallen in the truck during the move, or if the contents were not packed well and then moved around in the box during the move, any damage that ensued would have been the client’s loss, or it would be up to her insurance to cover it.  This is the case for any mover that we have ever worked with–after all, how can they insure the contents of a box, not knowing with is in it or how well it was packed? *Fourth, the packing job was pretty good, but of course was not packed using our ‘system’.  Several boxes had assorted items in them (some for the bedroom, some for another room, etc.), which led to extra time unpacking and putting things away.  When we pack a move, we use a color coded system that not only makes unpacking faster, but also saves the movers time because they can easily tell where everything goes–no having to ask or try to read someone’s writing!  And although we are under package pricing on these moves, the moving crew is paid by the hour so saved time means saved money! If you know someone who is moving, or if you are moving yourself and planning to do your own packing, keep these basic pointers in mind.  A move is stressful enough, without any additional surprises!

 

A lot has happened…

…since my last post, practically none of it relating to work, although I did fill the two slots that I had posted here last.

The rest of the activity looks like this:

Jessica, Nick, and Paul!

And this:

Charlie and Nykki!

Maybe now things will calm down a bit–just in time for the holidays!

Help Wanted:

I need to hire a couple of great, organized people for RosieMoves.  The hours are random (no set # of hours/week), but the pay is good.  There is physical labor involved, but it is not strenuous.  Comment or contact me at: pamela@rosiemoves.com if you are interested or know of someone who might be.  Thanks!

Flip Side:

Unlike the previously referenced “toxic move”, we had one today that went just about as smoothly as it possibly could, despite a torrential downpour.

The client was wonderful, her family was easy to get along with, and they were all on board with taking a good but ‘reasonable’ amount of furniture and ‘stuff’ to the new place.

Her apartment looked great when we left, and she was very pleased.  This is how it’s supposed to work, and when it does the client is presented with a well-decorated, comfortable new place with everything organized and put away.  In this case, the client can relax, have dinner with her children, and concentrate on meeting her new neighbors instead of stressing over the move.

 

Avoiding the Toxic Move

I had a move a couple of weeks ago that I have begun to refer to (mentally) as the ” Toxic Move”.  There were no hazardous chemicals involved, no parts for making bombs, no leaking batteries, mold, or fatal airborne particles (that I know of).

I think of it as the “Toxic Move” because the situation devolved from what looked like a good-sized-but-normal move into a sticky mess, all the way around.  The reason it did is that there was a shortage of preparedness and cooperation on the client’s part, and an overabundance of leeway and hope on mine.

The majority of my moves go like this:  Someone calls me, and I go out to look at their current space, its furnishings, and their possessions.  Then I go and look at their new space and get an idea of what will fit, and where.  I look at the closet space, the kitchen storage, and the size of the rooms.  Then I make up a floor-plan and discuss with the client what they can and cannot take with them.  I am firm about telling clients what can be moved to the new place, and they generally abide by my choices–after all, this is why they hire me.  Occasionally I run into a client who insists on making their own decisions or taking things that I already know will not fit, and when that happens I have to back off and let them find their own way.  In those cases, I hear a lot of “You were right…we should have listened…NOW what do we do with it?”  Then we have to have the movers take the items away (at a charge, of course), or have them picked up by a charity.

The “Toxic Move” did not work like that.  A couple of weeks after the two initial, in-depth sessions (one at the old place and one at the new one), I was told that the client’s house was now “practically empty” because they had gotten rid of SO much stuff.  I know from long experience that peoples’ idea of the amount of ‘stuff’ that they have varies widely, and is usually grossly underestimated.  But when I’m told by someone who seems to have a good logical mind that “we’ve done almost all of your work for you” and that their house is “practically empty”, I give it some credence.  It was a busy week and I did not have a chance to go by their house and verify what I was told, and that is where things began to head downhill…

We arrived on packing day to find that while they HAD gotten rid of some stuff, the house was nowhere near “practically empty”.  In fact, upon entering you would not notice that anything at all was missing.  Since moving day was the next day, and closing on their house was two days later, we had to work with the situation at hand.  My crew and I began to pack, and  I said at several points along the way “where do you think we are going to put all of this?”  to which my client replied “We’re just going to take it all and figure it out when we get there”.  (Now I have to say that these particular clients are people who are used to doing things their way, and do not take kindly to being told what to do or how to do it.  Frankly, looking back on things, I’m not sure why they hired me.  They really just needed a moving company with packers who would come in and pack everything in sight, since they had no intention of sorting out as they went.)

On moving day, it took our (large) moving truck, a pickup truck, 3 SUVs, and a car to transport their belongings.  Even then, the clients insisted on bringing additional items from the garage in their own car (no garage in the new apt, of course).  There was too much kitchen stuff, too many clothes, too many pictures, and too much miscellaneous ‘junk’ from places like the garage.  The movers worked for 12 hours straight (and I might add, did not even receive a tip), and my crew worked even longer.  Although the furniture was placed, the boxes were unpacked, and things were put away in all of the cabinets and closets, at the end of the day (9 pm), the new place looked like a storage unit.  There was little room to move, and certainly no room to put anything else away.

The clients were exhausted, stressed, and angry with me because I ‘allowed’ them to bring such an overload of stuff.  Their view was that as the professional, I should have made sure that things did not end up the way they did.  Although I could understand their point, my view was that they should have listened to me and taken my advice.  When you are dealing with adults, you cannot just ‘make’ them do something–you can only strongly suggest.  If they don’t listen, the end result is in their hands.

The moral of this story is this:  when you are moving to a smaller space, you need to be prepared for that space.  Take what will FIT, not what you HAVE.  Imagine where things will be going, especially if you are moving from a place with built-ins, lots of closets, and a large kitchen.  You cannot just “figure it out when you get there”, because no matter how hard you try, 2500 SF of ‘stuff’ will not fit into 1600 SF of ‘space’.

Open Letter to Prospective Clients:

Although most of my clients have a positive attitude about their upcoming move, nearly every week I am faced with one who is either uncertain, angry, or downright scared.  This letter is for them.

“Dear ________.

I noticed while walking through your home with you today that you are still somewhat uncertain about your upcoming move.  The  happy memories that you made while living in your house understandably make you sad to leave it.  Try to remember that when you move, you’ll be able to take those memories with you, but you won’t have to take the high utility bills, the worn carpet, or the overgrown shrubbery. If you can remember that your ‘house’ is not your ‘life’, moving can be a way to keep the best parts and leave the rest behind.

You mentioned that you wonder if you are ‘making the right decision’ by moving to a retirement community.  Although it’s often hard to know if a decision is the ‘right’ one,  none of my clients have ever told me that they wished they had not moved.  Many of them have told me that they wished that they had done it sooner, when they were more physically able, but none have ever said that they regretted it.

Of course, there will be adjustments–some major ones and some minor.  One client was distressed at first to find that the dining room in her community did not offer her brand of sweetener for coffee.  She solved the problem by taking her own packets to dinner.  Another client found it unacceptable to share a smaller bathroom with her husband after moving from a house with a large master bath.  We helped her set up a vanity area of her own, to give her some personal space.  It isn’t as luxurious as her former space, but it works.

Sometimes it may seem as if moving to a place where you are living in a community setting instead of in a private home is a lot like the first day of school–you wonder what the people will be like, and if you will have any friends.  You wonder if  you will like the new apartment, and if it will ever seem like ‘home’.  You wonder if you will be ‘happy’ there.

The best way to ensure that you can answer ‘yes’ to those questions is to go into the new lifestyle with a positive attitude and give it your best shot.  I have found that the people who adjust to their new living arrangements the best are the ones who dive right in–the ones who participate in the activities that are offered, who get out and meet their new neighbors, and who look upon the new lifestyle as a different and interesting phase in their lives.  The ones who sit in their new apartment and wonder why no one knocks on their door or calls them to ‘come out and play’ are destined to be unhappy.  The ones who insist on hanging onto their old lifestyle and brooding over ‘what was’ are certain to be depressed.  (and a side note, here–changing communities won’t solve this problem)

Another thing that I have discovered is that people are about as happy or content as they make up their minds to be.  I have worked with people who had few obvious reasons to be happy–they had lost a spouse and/or child, had dire health problems, had financial worries–or in some cases, all of those.  Oddly enough, these were often the ones most determined to be happy about what they had left.  I have also worked with clients who had a loving family, plenty of money, and good health–and were also angry and bitter about being ‘forced’ into moving to a deluxe retirement community.  While I understand that much of their anger stemmed from the perceived loss of control over their lives, I also know from experience that such an attitude only makes things worse in the long run.

Anyway.  I just wanted to tell you that many of the things that you are uncertain about–the moving process itself, leaving your old place, and living in your new place–are the same things that others before you have feared .  They have come through the process intact, and for the most part happily relieved at what they found.  You can do it too.

Pamela

Senior Relocation and the Workplace

Last week I co-sponsored a BSHRM meeting, which meant that I was given 2 minutes(!) to speak to 150 HR directors about RosieMoves and how our services can benefit companies whose employees are dealing with senior transitions.

It’s tough for me to limit a talk to 30 minutes, so 2 minutes (literally) was REALLY a challenge!  Of course, it meant that I had to hit the highlights, keep my inner-4-year-old’s enthusiasm in check, AND get the attention of the audience.  I have no idea if I succeeded in accomplishing the last thing on the list, which of course was the most important.  We’ll see.

The topic of the materials that I left with the BSHRM members was “How much time/production/money is wasted every year by employees who are having to deal with relocating, downsizing, or transitioning senior family members”.  It’s a much larger and more costly problem than most people or companies realize.  While an employee may not always be physically away from the job, s/he may be mentally away from it, worrying about how to accomplish the move, health issues, and/or the family dynamics that accompany such things.  ”At the desk” does not always translate into “at work”.

Here are some facts and figures:

Senior Downsizing Time Comparison

Employee Time Lost in Move from House to One Bedroom Retirement Community Apartment:

Packing Old Home for Move: 40 hours

Truck Loading, Unloading: 12 hours

New Home Setup:    24 hours

Prepare Old Home for Yard Sale: 120 hours  (Less $ return)

Charity Delivery:    3 hours

Sort and Clear Old Home:    40 hours

Clean Old Home :   8 hours

Total: 207 hours  (26 days)

If you multiply the figures on this chart by the number of employees who actually have to deal with this situation each year, the potential loss to businesses in time and money is enormous.

The chart does not even begin to take into account the amount of time lost during the planning phase of such a transition–the time spent trying to figure out IF the parent(s) need to move and WHERE to move them, the time spent visiting communities to find the one that is the best fit, the time spent deciding on and arranging for the sale of the family home, and the time spent on the many other details that most people are unaware of until they are actually put into this situation.

The chart does not take into account the hours, days, and weeks of time that are lost even before the planning time–the times that an employee has to leave work to tend to a parent because they have not yet even begun the process of deciding to move, or have considered it but don’t have the time, energy, or emotional stamina to deal with the move, the parents, or the ‘stuff’ that has to be dealt with.

The chart does not take into account the hours of time that are lost while the employee is AT work, but not fully able to focus on the task at hand because his or her mind is elsewhere, worrying about ‘what to do about mom or dad’.

In business, lost time = wasted money. The chart shows over 200 hours of lost time and wasted money, and it does not even begin to show the full picture.

This is the message that I wanted to get across to the BSHRM members.  It’s a sobering compilation of facts, so let’s hope that I succeeded.

Open House Weekend

This weekend is National Open House weekend, and it looks like Birmingham is going to have great weather for it!   There are going to be a LOT of Open Houses in our area, so if you are even thinking about buying a house you should get out there and look!  also, the deadline for the $8k tax credit is the end of April, if you plan to take advantage of it.

Search for Birmingham-area real estate here: http://www.bhammls.com/(2boplt450lipuj55bgdyid55)/default.aspx

Phone. Gone.

So, my phone is dead, dead, deader than dead.  I blame my real estate E-key, which is a program on my phone (no, it’s not an app) that lets me into the lockboxes of listings when I need to show them.  The last time my phone went on the fritz, it was because the Ekey, which updates during the night, had a hiccup.  THAT time, it was fixable.  This time, not.

Pathetically, all of the info that I need to fully function during the day is on that phone–my calendar (which I do at least have a written version of), all of my contact numbers (which I do NOT have a written version of), text messages about upcoming and past jobs, and other minor items which I use on a daily basis.  

(Also, the most important text message that I ever got, which is the one that my sister sent me from the parking lot of the doctor’s office right after she learned that she had breast cancer.  I kept that message because I wanted to always remember, now that she is ‘better’, that I could have lost her.  I read it every now and then, to remind myself.  Some things you don’t want to let yourself get complacent about.)

On the somewhat brighter side, it’s only been one (full!!!) day since it died, and at least the phone automatically rolls over to the message when you dial my number.  Maybe I’ve missed less than I think.  I’m going to get a new one tomorrow, first thing (meaning 9 am when the store opens).  Now all I have to is hope that all of the info that is backed up on the computer (which I learned to do regularly the LAST time it went dead) will transfer to any brand of phone I decide to buy, and not just to the brand that I had…

Housing Credit Deadline

 

Great house! 2/1, HW, light and spacious!

 

The extended and expanded Homebuyer Tax Credit is set to expire April 30. Binding contracts must be in place by April 30, with closings required to be completed by June 30. This will be one of the final opportunities for consumers to take advantage of the Homebuyer Tax Credit, along with favorable pricing and low interest rates.  

Click on the picture to see details about the great house above!