How Can You Help Mom Downsize to Prepare for a Move to Assisted Living?
Senior Housing in Terrell Hills TX: How Can You Help Mom Downsize to Prepare for a Move to Assisted Living?
Planning for a move is one of the most stressful things in life. If your mother has been living in the same house for a long time, choosing assisted living might be difficult. Once she has committed to this, she’s going to need to consider downsizing.
There’s no way she can bring everything with her.
It’s easy for her to want to keep all of those mementos, pictures, birthday cards from her grandchildren, art from her own children, and so on, but that’s not feasible. She will have one small room and limited space.
You can help her downsize.
The most important thing is to help her realize what she has to limit. Find out from the assisted living facility what your mother can bring along with her with regard to furniture, pictures, mementos, and other items.
When you have a good idea of what is acceptable and just how much she can take with her, begin organizing these things. It may be helpful to either clear out one bedroom in her house she doesn’t use or her main bedroom. Create a copy, for lack of a better word, of this new room she will be moving into.
Arrange it in a way that makes sense, maximizes space, and begin putting the items she would like to have in there.
Before long she may begin to realize there’s just too much ‘stuff.’
This is when she has to decide on whether she gives some items to family members, sells or donates them, or puts them in storage.
In the United States, storage facilities are huge businesses. That’s because people have a tendency to cling onto these possessions far longer than they should ever do. Help your mother consider the cost of a storage unit and the actual monetary value of the items she will be putting in there. In 12 months, will it still be necessary to have that facility? If not, if your mother sees that as a waste of money, especially considering the cost of assisted living, she may realize that she can do a lot more good by donating or even selling some of the items she has and simply won’t need.
Take it slow.
It’s going to take your mother some time getting used to this change, so when you help her downsize, be patient. Let her come to these realizations in her own time, if possible.
For more information about Pipestone Place Assisted Living in San Antonio, TX or to take a tour, call today (210) 718-0211.
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