A senior move is usually a downsizing move, and the hard part is rarely the furniture. It is deciding what comes, from a house that may hold forty years of a life, often on a timeline set by someone else — a sale, a community's availability, a change in circumstances.
We have been doing this in Sacramento since 1979, which means we have moved a lot of families through this particular transition, including second and third generations of the same ones.
What makes these moves different
Less of it fits. A four-bedroom house into a two-bedroom apartment or a single room in a community means most things cannot come. That is the real work, and it needs time rather than speed.
The decisions are not logistical. What to keep is bound up with memory, and being hurried through it is the complaint people have most often about how their move was handled.
Several people are usually involved. Adult children, sometimes at a distance, sometimes with different views. Agreeing in advance who makes which decisions prevents a difficult day.
The destination has rules. Retirement and assisted living communities commonly have restricted moving hours, lift reservations, certificate of insurance requirements and rules on what furniture is permitted in a unit.
Start with the floor plan
The single most useful thing you can do is get the dimensions of the new home before deciding anything.
Measure the rooms, then measure the furniture. It converts an emotional question — what do I give up — into a practical one: this wall is nine feet, the sideboard is seven, so it fits and the dresser does not. People find that far easier, and it prevents the worst outcome, which is furniture arriving that cannot physically go in.
Communities will usually provide a unit floor plan on request, and many have restrictions worth knowing early — on bed sizes, on whether certain items are permitted, on how much can be brought at all.
Plan where each piece goes before moving day. We label to match, so nothing needs deciding while a crew waits.
Working through what stays
What tends to work:
- Start early, in short sessions. Hours at a time is exhausting and leads to decisions people regret. A room a week is better than a house in a weekend.
- Begin with the easy rooms. Storage, the garage, the spare room. The kitchen and bedrooms are harder; leave them until there is momentum.
- Sort into keep, family, donate and dispose. The "family" pile is the one that makes this bearable — pieces going to children and grandchildren are not losses.
- Photograph what is going. For many people a photograph of the item carries most of what mattered about it, and takes no space at all.
- Keep the irreplaceable things close. Documents, photographs, jewellery and anything of real sentimental value travel with the family, not on the truck.
What we do on the day
- A crew working at the household's pace rather than the clock's
- Furniture disassembly and reassembly, including beds, which we make a point of setting up first
- Floor and wall protection at both properties
- Placement to the floor plan, so the new home is arranged rather than stacked
- Unpacking at destination if you want it
The bed set up and made, and the kitchen functional, before we leave. A first night in a new place is considerably better when those two things are done.
Donation and disposal
Most downsizing moves generate more to pass on than to move. Charities that collect furniture book up, often two to three weeks ahead, so arrange collection as soon as you know what is going rather than once it is stacked by the door.
Keep receipts — charitable donations of household goods may be deductible, and a written acknowledgement is what substantiates it.
For family members organising from a distance
If you are arranging this for a parent from another state, which is common:
- We can survey and quote without you present, and talk you through it.
- Agree in advance who approves decisions on the day, and make sure the crew knows who that is.
- Expect the sorting to take longer than the moving. Build the schedule around that, not around the truck.
- Be at the destination if you can, even if you cannot be at the origin. Where things go matters more to how the new home feels than how they were loaded.
Estimates
As with any move within California, we survey in person before giving a written estimate — phone and internet estimates are prohibited under state rules and may not be enforceable. You will receive a not-to-exceed price: the maximum you can be charged, which cannot rise unless additional services are requested and recorded in writing.
For families organising several things at once, a firm ceiling on the moving cost is usually worth more than a slightly lower opening number.
Call (916) 489-3322. If you are at the stage of working out whether something is even feasible, that is a fine reason to call — we would rather talk it through early than quote something that will not work.