How are you celebrating Senior Move Managers Week, which has been declared from September 12- September 18th? In case you’re unaware, a certified senior move manager is an insured, trained professional able to help both older individuals and their families to either age-in-place or move to another location, with help and support in organizing, sorting, downsizing, packing, shipping, and all other aspects of reconfiguring a current space or creating a comfortable new space. Especially for older adults who experience stress or anxiety, or are overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving a long-time household, these experts can shoulder much if not most of the challenges of such a move and allow you to transition to a new setting with peace of mind and a positive attitude. If you think such a manager might help you or a loved one, grab a packing box and click here. And if you’re interested in the wisdom and experiences of a seasoned move manager who faced her own challenging move to a retirement community, click here to read the insights of professional move manager Margit Novack or take a look at her recent memoir, “Squint: Re-visioning the Second Half of Life.”

If you’re not quite ready for a move manager but are thinking about downsizing or moving to a new setting, there are resources available to help. For example, the Family Caregiver Alliance has an excellent checklist for downsizing a loved one’s home and preparing for a move: with everything from whom to contact to how to discard unwanted items, you’re sure to find some useful information. Some other useful contacts to investigate? If you want to consider selling items instead of moving them, take a look at some of the recommendations in previous agebuzz posts, or consider such online platforms as Offer Up or use your smartphone for the Craigslist app that allows you to organize and post your items on CraigsList. If you have electronics or computers you want to sell, donate or recycle, you’ve got to make sure you do so in an environmentally acceptable manner, and in a way to ensure whatever private info is stored on these old devices cannot get into the hands of criminals. If you’ve got pure junk that just needs to be disposed of, consider utilizing The Bagster, which allows you to buy a bag that essentially operates like a dumpster to help clean out your junk and have it hauled away.

But if you’re still formulating your ideas about whether and where to move, there are some good recent articles to help you consider the pros and cons. For example, a recent article in Kiplinger relates that in 2020, 400,000 retirees made a move, 30% more than the year before, and 38% of them to different states than their previous residence. So you’re certainly not alone if you’re thinking about leaving your current place and starting anew. Considerations when you make such a move? Everything from tax rates to insurance costs to proximity to close family members. Kiplinger recommends, as do other resources such as Harvard Health and The Washington Post, that you try before you buy- either book an Airbnb to see how you like the area, or rent an apartment, to determine if it’s a place where you’ll find community, services, and comfort. Moving in your later years is an enormous enterprise, but with some thoughtful help and planning, much of the practical stress and burden can be minimized and contained.