Not a moving experience!

She was at her wits end when we got the call! This past November we worked with a woman who recently moved to Vancouver from Hamilton to be closer to her children. What should have been a transforming experience turned out to be chaotic, disappointing and botched by unqualified, uncaring movers. Though the company (who shall remain unnamed) has been in business for many years, my client and I discovered after doing a bit of on-line research and blogging, her debacle was not an uncommon occurrence with others who had used this company.

We won’t go in to absolute detail but her story is as follows. After deciding to move to the Coast her daughter thought she’d found the perfect company to assist with moving her Mother across the country. My client knew she was in trouble when the day before her scheduled move, they called to confirm the time the movers were to arrive. The agreed time did not sound right and she questioned whether they’d have enough time to pack all of the contents of her apartment. “Oh, we have to pack your items too?” said the guy on the line. At this point, it was too late to make any changes and Jane (not her real name) hoped for the best. After all, the company has been in business for a long time.

When the movers arrived the next day, Jane left the apartment so as not be in the way of the movers. Now, let me explain, Jane is a senior, has MS and is in a wheelchair and felt she would simply be in the way.

We will spare you all the details – suffice it to say her items did not arrive in tact nor did they arrive on time. Jane had to take up residence at the local YWCA because they couldn’t find her items and therefore she could not move into an empty apartment. She had to hound them daily by phone to ask them to find her stuff. Many times her calls were not returned by anyone from the administration office. Finally when her items arrived, furniture had not been packed properly and had been damaged in the move, items were missing, components of some of her furniture were missing (like the glass shelves from her china cabinet and the hose from her vacuum cleaner), items had been dumped into boxes with opened powder detergent resulting in spoiled contents of boxes. This is just a sampling of problems that were encountered. We simply want to make a point because our client realized she had made one grave error. She had not done her homework on the company she was employing to move her. Secondly, she realized she should have never left the premises and assumed the contents of your home were being handled with care.

It wasn’t until after this harrowing experience that Jane realized that there are many blogs filled with complaints and horror stories from others who have used this company. If this helps at least one person – then our job is done. Remember – do your due diligence before employing anyone to help you move.

If You Were Not Born with the Organizing Gene - Move to Another Room

If you are not among the fortunate 35% of the population that have been organized since birth, do not despair. The trick to having an organized home (life) is simple. The reason that organized people don’t spend half their waking hours searching for things, is not they possess photographic memories. They understand intuitively that they can retrieve whatever they need, as long as those things reside in the areas in which they are used.

Try to imagine a shopping experience in your home. Does your house or apartment resemble a department store? Stores are designed to assist people in finding what they need. A large store would no sooner combine kitchen gadgets with lingerie than they would offer baked goods and snow tires at the same counter. When applying this concept to your own living space, think of how you organize your storage, closets and rooms. Do you have closets that are repositories for cartons of books, gift wrap, mountains of greeting cards received over the years as well as clothing? Are you storing paperwork in your kitchen cupboards, bedroom side tables and your home office? Do you scatter tools in every room in the house? Are there extra dishes in the bathrooms?

Do a walk through in your own home. Bring a large box or shopping bag. Root out those possessions that don’t belong in the rooms where they currently reside and move them to another room – the room where they are actually utilized. You will save time, money and feel in control.

Hoarders

Everyone was talking about it …. the two part Oprah show entitled “Inside the Lives of Hoarders” which aired November 15th and 16th. Kudos to Oprah for shedding light on this misunderstood topic as it may be more common than you think. http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/home/repair/slide/20071115/repair_20071115_350_101.jhtml
This was a fascinating show depicting the struggles of one woman whose hoarding affected her entire family. If you saw the show, we welcome your comments.
Our experience tells us one thing – you cannot help a hoarder until they are ready to help themselves. The worst thing to do is to step into their home uninvited and think you are doing them a great service by clearing their clutter and organizing their space. That’s the worse thing you can do! They have to be mentally ready to part with their “stuff”. A hoarder normally has very deep-seeded reasons associated with this behavior and should seek professional help. The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD) has created a Clutter-Hoarding Scale as an assessment measurement tool. Visit them at http://www.nsgcd.com/

It’s Your Move…

We recently discovered a great thing and want to share it with you. When moving is right up there with death and divorce when it comes to stress, anything to make it a more pleasing experience is worth sharing! The company is called It’s Your Move. They make packing and moving easier and environmentally friendly too! They address the question: “What do you do with all those boxes after your move? Instead of using cardboard boxes they rent out stackable, plastic boxes on a dolly. They deliver the boxes to you AND pick them up at the end of your move after you’ve emptied them. Their prices are reasonable and comparable to what you would pay for cardboard boxes. Visit their website at http://www.saynotoboxes.com/