0:00

Today

0:00

on Clear Your Clutter Inside

0:02

and Out, we're talking about seniors

0:05

and downsizing. Helping

0:09

a senior to downsize and not sure

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what to do? What

0:14

questions can you ask to help an older

0:16

person make decisions more easily?

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Wondering if an estate sale is the right choice?

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Learn tips for supporting seniors

0:26

as we begin our month focusing on downsizing.

0:31

Does your clutter own you? On Clear

0:34

Your Clutter Inside and Out, we'll

0:37

teach you how to become aware of your clutter

0:39

along with action steps to declutter

0:42

and create the life you desire. Come

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on, let's get started. The

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entire month is inspired

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because I'm downsizing. I

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am organized as I

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hope you all know and I'm pretty decluttered,

0:58

guys. You wouldn't

1:00

walk into my home and open a closet door and have

1:02

a bunch of stuff out. We

1:04

don't have a ton of stuff. I know this because

1:07

of my work and seeing people

1:09

and seeing homes and this

1:12

has been a stressful process. I

1:15

realized that this house that I'm

1:17

in, this is the longest I've ever lived

1:19

anywhere. It has been a very interesting

1:22

process so we're gonna take the entire month

1:25

to talk about this. I think

1:27

we're in general as a society, not everyone

1:30

obviously, but kind of moving really

1:32

to in that direction of less

1:34

is more. Here

1:36

are some special tips if you're helping an elderly

1:39

person because remember you need a little more extra

1:41

care for that. When my grandmother

1:44

moved from, gosh, the house they'd been,

1:47

my grandfather had grown up in that house. They

1:49

had it when they're married, had all their kids, had

1:51

the grandkids and then we had to,

1:54

after my grandfather died, we needed to

1:56

downsize or to

1:57

a little ranch. That was a lot.

2:00

we'll talk about the emotional stuff later, we're just physically. Now,

2:03

my other grandmother had Alzheimer's and so

2:05

it was

2:07

a little more challenging and

2:10

she had to downsize more rapidly

2:12

in the sense they had to get after my grandfather

2:14

died. She couldn't stay by

2:16

herself. At that point, we really knew that Alzheimer's

2:19

was going on, but going from a two-story

2:21

home that she'd been in for 50 years into

2:24

living with my parents and

2:27

my aunt and switching off for a

2:29

while and then it was really my parents before we had

2:31

to get her in a home. But that's a huge switch

2:33

to go from living in a two-story home to

2:36

living in someone's house. So here are some

2:38

thoughts and tips if you are working with a senior.

2:42

Just some things to think about. If

2:44

you are really short on time, perhaps

2:47

say someone dies and you've got

2:49

to

2:50

move like my grandmother did,

2:52

paperwork can be very time-consuming.

2:54

She may need to go through that later. Then

2:57

usually if it's a filing cabinet, that's something

2:59

that could get moved easily. So if

3:01

you are kind of in a hurry, table

3:04

that for later. Frame

3:07

decisions as yes-no questions.

3:11

If you keep something open-ended, it can

3:13

be stressful. They might feel like they're

3:16

put on the spot. I know if you ask me an open-ended

3:19

question, goodness, I don't know how long I'll go

3:21

on for. So

3:24

you might not want to say, what

3:26

clothes would you like to keep? If

3:30

you're looking at wardrobe, for example, in dresses,

3:33

pare down the options and

3:35

present something that's easy for them to say yes-no

3:37

to.

3:38

So for example,

3:40

how about we keep your

3:42

best church dress every

3:45

day

3:45

and special occasion? Do you agree? Then

3:48

they can say yes or no.

3:49

You have made it a lot more

3:52

manageable for them. So again, not

3:54

the open-ended questions,

3:56

just a yes-no.

3:59

I'll talk about it on a later episode.

4:02

I was surprised at the emotions

4:04

that came up for me as we're

4:06

getting ready to move.

4:08

So we want to make this process

4:10

as stress-free as possible.

4:15

Do as much pre-sorting as

4:17

you can as possible. Now I just, for instance,

4:20

mentioned dresses a

4:22

while ago. So I would have a pre-sort category

4:25

of every day, what you'd wear

4:27

to church, special occasion there.

4:29

And then you could say, okay,

4:31

do you agree of these categories? And you can say, how

4:33

about we do, let's

4:36

pick two. Do you agree to pick two dresses?

4:38

Okay, boom. Again, that's yes, no. Now we have

4:40

everything pre-sorted

4:42

and it makes the process one easier, but

4:44

it also can go by more quickly. Cause

4:46

if any of you listening have done

4:48

decluttering and organizing, it's not what we

4:50

see on TV. It takes a long time. So

4:54

think of what you can pre-sort. Clothing,

4:57

kitchen items, tools,

4:59

anything else

5:01

that you know you have way more of

5:03

than space. So if you're moving

5:06

into a senior facility, it might be

5:08

a one or two bedroom as

5:10

opposed to a huge

5:12

house.

5:14

Let go of multiples. Again, this is going

5:16

to make it easier if you have five sets of

5:18

sheets, keep two, three.

5:23

Don't allow for maybes. And this is good advice

5:25

for anyone

5:26

because

5:27

when you allow for maybe you're really taking

5:30

away the decision

5:31

and that maybe kind of keeps it in the gray

5:33

area

5:34

and you risk becoming more attached

5:37

to the items. Moving

5:39

takes time. I'm telling

5:42

you, we don't have a

5:44

lot of clutter. We've put on a garage

5:46

sale. I'm organized

5:48

and this is a time you want those skills.

5:51

It has taken us a lot of time or

5:54

what feels like a lot of time to me and

5:55

it's stressful. You know, you've

5:57

got it, you're showing your house. You've got to keep it clean.

6:00

clean all the time, that's enough to drive anyone

6:02

in saying. So don't know

6:04

decisions for later. I'm gonna encourage you to have

6:06

them make the decisions now. The

6:10

only thing that I think is okay to set

6:13

aside for later is if you are

6:16

going to give it away to someone, like a relative,

6:18

hold for Susie to pick up.

6:20

And if you do allow that, you give them a time

6:22

frame. Okay, Susie, it's gotta be picked up within

6:24

the week. And if not, I'm gonna donate it.

6:29

When we box things, they become out of sight,

6:31

out of mind. And we really encourage you, especially

6:34

for seniors or yourself,

6:35

don't think, we can store.

6:38

We have a storage to

6:40

declutter the house.

6:42

We rent it, I think a 10 by 10 unit.

6:44

Like for instance, we had to get rid of the cat trees.

6:47

It's like, okay, we have cats, that's not

6:49

gonna change. Although it's, good news

6:51

is we put out candles and people have been like, okay,

6:53

we can't smell the cat. So that's a good news. But we had

6:55

to get out all our cat scratchers and come on, I'm

6:57

crazy for cats. So we've allowed

7:00

one cat tree to stay in

7:03

public, away from the window.

7:05

We have other little short scratchy

7:07

that we move into the

7:08

garage every time someone comes to look at the house,

7:10

it's a very exhausting process.

7:13

So I'm gonna encourage you not to get in the habit

7:15

of getting a rental unit. If something

7:17

like you're gonna sell the house and you needed to clutter it,

7:19

that's fine. But once you're settled

7:22

in, we're not gonna keep

7:24

the storage unit. And we got a deal and

7:26

it's still costing us 74 a

7:29

month, I think. We had to run

7:31

it for a couple months. Again, that's a massage

7:33

right there. So don't get into the mentality

7:36

of maybe and then we can put it in storage and make

7:38

a decision later, no,

7:39

and encourage you.

7:40

It'll take longer,

7:42

but to have the senior be decisive.

7:46

Put the time and the energy and the focus on

7:49

most used items. What is it

7:51

if they love to cook,

7:53

then you wanna make sure that you have those items

7:55

that's going to allow them to cook in the kitchen.

7:58

That's where they're joy and their passion.

7:59

is

8:01

focus on that or if they are an artist

8:03

make sure that they have all their rights supplies

8:06

and what are they going to be doing the most

8:08

of.

8:09

Just had a conversation with someone this morning her

8:11

mom

8:13

is a gardener and so they got

8:15

her in a senior facility but

8:17

where she could garden.

8:18

So one of the things that she held on to are

8:20

her gardening tools.

8:23

Be patient okay this is really important

8:26

and father the lead of the senior. You

8:30

know they might have to take a

8:32

trip down memory lane

8:35

and if you're asking them to make a hard

8:37

choice

8:38

ask some questions where came

8:40

from what is the

8:45

story behind it you know when you

8:47

tell that story and express that

8:49

sometimes it makes

8:52

it easier to release something

8:55

and allow

8:57

them that

8:58

allow yourself that if you ever need

9:00

to do that one downsizing.

9:03

Talking about it may help

9:06

them have a clear perspective

9:08

and allow them to be more ready to release

9:10

it. Oh you know what now that I've told you

9:12

that story

9:14

about where that came from that's

9:16

something I don't need to hold on to I have

9:18

Joe

9:19

Joe's necklace that he gave me and that means

9:21

a lot more than this book from

9:23

when we went traveling.

9:27

You also are going to have

9:29

to usually pare down because of space

9:31

if you have photos or

9:34

memorabilia or collections

9:37

you hopefully will have an idea of your

9:40

floor plan and where you're moving although

9:42

I have to say

9:43

this is a caveat we

9:45

know where we're moving we have a floor

9:47

plan and

9:49

we're doing two rounds of downsizing

9:52

what I said to my husband was I

9:54

haven't quite and I'm very visual

9:56

so I need to see I

9:58

haven't quite figured out out

10:01

where we're

10:02

going to place furniture. So what I said is let's

10:04

just get everything and then we can sell furniture once

10:06

we settle. To me, that's worth it

10:09

seeing everything and having a place

10:11

in mind. Now again, with most seniors,

10:13

you're going to be moving to a couple rooms.

10:15

I know I helped my Aunt Maple. She went

10:17

from a ranch house

10:19

to a bedroom and a sitting room

10:21

and an assisted living facility.

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11:12

You're going to want to think about the space because

11:14

say if you have photographs in

11:17

two rooms, you can definitely fill out

11:19

the walls but you're probably not going to have that much space.

11:22

So that's where you're going to

11:24

want to do some tearing down, ask

11:26

what are your favorite pieces and think,

11:29

oh, you know, we

11:30

could put this

11:31

right above the fireplace if you have one

11:34

or right above your bed, wherever that makes the most

11:36

sense to you. But collections and

11:38

the like, you're going to need to prioritize.

11:43

One thing that you can do, and we did this for

11:45

my great Aunt Maple,

11:46

was we digitized photos. And so

11:48

we got her one of those frames

11:51

and that

11:52

you can set it on a timer but it flips

11:54

every so often. And so she had this wonderful

11:58

digitized frame. where

12:00

we were able to put a bunch of photos and that

12:02

we were able to let other stuff.

12:04

So think about how you can do

12:06

that and maybe with their artwork same thing take

12:08

the picture if they have a lot of artwork they love

12:11

and

12:11

you want to sell it, donate

12:13

it, whatever you want to do,

12:15

take pictures and then something like a digital frame

12:18

can help with that.

12:22

I'm also going to encourage you and

12:24

I hope I can say this in a way that it's

12:27

heard correctly.

12:29

One of the things is that

12:31

I believe

12:33

you should never hit something

12:35

without someone asking. We had a situation

12:39

someone that I'm related to and I'm like,

12:42

did you not pay attention that I've been in business

12:44

for a decade and they didn't

12:46

ask for my help and this is someone and

12:48

they went in and threw out a bunch of things and it was

12:50

very traumatic for the person

12:53

and I

12:54

don't believe that. Now having said this, this

12:56

is kind of the and part of life.

12:59

I believe this and

13:00

I'm also going to encourage you where there

13:02

are areas that you can go ahead and make decisions

13:05

that this stuff is not worth moving or

13:07

donating

13:08

because remember if you donate to someone

13:11

and they can't use it

13:12

like we didn't realize this we just took a load to Habitat

13:14

for Humanity some good flooring and

13:17

we had some blinds and

13:19

they said he said oh we'll take it but

13:21

I'm hoping they can find a house to use it on but

13:24

things that it's not worth it for you to donate.

13:27

Old spices, recycle

13:29

those magazines,

13:31

expired meds, make sure you dispose

13:34

of those properly,

13:36

donate unused toiletries, you

13:38

probably have a bunch of plastic food containers,

13:41

the junk drawer,

13:42

do stuff like that where they really don't need

13:44

to be involved in the decision and that's you

13:47

can declutter it

13:48

and it's less time that you have to spend

13:50

going through stuff. No, I would make it easier

13:53

I'd say to the neighbors hey I'd pull

13:55

out all the cleaning items the majority of them,

13:57

personal care product, like all of that that they're not going to be able to do. going

14:00

to need and just have the neighbors

14:02

come and get it. That's an easy solution and

14:04

it helps everyone. You don't have to throw it out.

14:08

Now you're going to... another place you're going to want to

14:10

put the effort in. Do you want to sell, donate,

14:14

give away? Is it so worn

14:16

that it's just trash? That

14:18

can be time consuming. So

14:21

consider an estate sale.

14:24

And we'll talk about that momentarily because the only other

14:26

thing I wanted to add is free cycle

14:28

is an option where we put

14:30

some flooring on free cycle, it's free. Come and pick

14:32

it up.

14:33

That's one less thing you need to

14:35

think about.

14:36

Schools are great. Say if you have musical instruments,

14:39

right? So maybe you had

14:41

a relative, a senior that was really talented and

14:44

maybe they're taking one guitar, but they can let the other

14:46

stuff go. School programs could definitely

14:48

use that. So

14:52

what to consider

14:54

if you're thinking about an estate sale.

14:56

They can be really

14:59

good if

15:01

you have a ton of stuff you're letting go

15:03

of. You know, you're ready like, Oh,

15:05

you know, I know I want to part with this. I don't have

15:07

to spend a lot of time making decisions. The

15:11

worst case scenario with this is you don't qualify.

15:13

You know, depending on the company or what people are doing,

15:15

there's

15:16

probably a minimum of items.

15:19

The advantages to

15:21

the estate

15:22

sale, you

15:24

get cash

15:26

and your home gets cleared out. So

15:29

let me tell you something. It's in, if you've got

15:31

to change carpets or whatever, it's fantastic.

15:34

So you're going to get cash and it's going

15:36

to be a clutter free home.

15:39

What you mainly have to do is just say,

15:41

okay, this is what needs to be sold. So you might

15:43

obviously, what is a senior taking?

15:46

Maybe there are things that need to go to family and friends,

15:49

but that's kind of the extent of this.

15:52

So how much does it cost? Right? There

15:54

should be no upfront

15:55

cost involved. And

15:57

guys, please

15:58

do your due diligence.

15:59

And I've learned just because someone is

16:02

approved by the BBB doesn't mean Jack

16:04

because I had to file

16:06

a complaint against someone and once it was settled,

16:08

they were removed. And I thought, well,

16:10

they need to know. It was actually an acupuncturist

16:13

who... Anyway,

16:15

I had to file a BBB complaint and I

16:18

got my money back.

16:19

But that just doesn't necessarily mean anything.

16:22

But people especially try to scam

16:24

seniors. I've worked with clients. I can't tell

16:26

you how many

16:27

things I've had to help a cancel because

16:29

they were taken advantage of.

16:31

So if they're saying there's an upfront cost,

16:34

go elsewhere.

16:36

They get their payment because they're going to take a percentage, right?

16:40

Estate sale. Here are some examples of situations

16:43

where it might be a good idea for you to have an estate sale.

16:46

You're downsizing. Downsizing from a house to say

16:48

a condo, an RV, a

16:50

small apartment.

16:54

You might be handling an estate from a deceased

16:56

loved one, especially if you're out of state. An

16:59

estate sale is probably going to make good sense for

17:01

you because you can come, make some decisions.

17:04

They can take care of that. And

17:06

again, you get the house cleaned out, you get some cash.

17:09

Good deal.

17:10

Transitioning into senior living like

17:12

my grandmother. If you're going from a two-story house

17:15

into someone's house,

17:18

you're probably going to have a lot of stuff that you can

17:20

sell.

17:23

If you have more than two weeks, you don't have to have

17:25

a quick

17:26

get it done, get it done, get it done, and you have

17:28

the time, estate

17:29

sale might be a good option.

17:33

If you're not eligible for tax deduction,

17:35

so the stuff, I don't know why

17:37

we... I'm never going to stop donating. We have this

17:39

great little charity that

17:41

spays and neuters

17:43

homeless animals and

17:46

we love it. It's one that I love to support. And

17:48

I'm like, yeah, we can fill out the slip, but

17:50

we do our taxes and it's kind of pointless.

17:53

So if you're not going to be able to get a tax discount,

17:55

then you might want to consider

17:58

it. So

18:00

here's an example, like, well, how does an estate sale work?

18:03

Say that you're

18:05

having an estate sale and you make $10,000.

18:08

The company is going to take 35% of that. So

18:12

you get $6,500 and

18:14

they are going to charge you clean out costs. So they take 35%,

18:17

maybe if someone come in and clean or something,

18:19

maybe $500. So you're left with $6,500, $6,000 in profit.

18:24

That's kind of easy. If someone take care and do

18:26

the legwork, to me that's personally worth 35%. Again,

18:28

you have to figure that out.

18:32

Now there's another option

18:34

that might be useful for seniors if you don't qualify

18:37

or can't have an estate sale. Same

18:39

day cash buyout. That

18:43

is usually a good choice for you. You have a decent amount of stuff

18:46

and what they're doing

18:49

is, all right, you have bulk items

18:51

and they figure they pay you X

18:53

amount and that they can make money reselling.

18:56

This is a good option if you don't have enough

18:58

for an estate sale

19:00

or maybe you live in an HOA community.

19:02

So, but maybe the HOA doesn't allow for an estate

19:04

sale. You just have to

19:06

know that then something like a same day

19:08

cash buyout is going to be really great.

19:11

So what you have to do is gather

19:13

all the stuff,

19:14

what you're willing to sell and

19:16

you need to make the decision, am I getting a fair

19:18

amount? Now again, you need to take into consideration

19:20

that they are taking

19:23

out and moving items from your home

19:25

and they need to make something.

19:27

I once had a client call me and

19:29

the was a local haul junk

19:31

guy and he said, I can't, it's all junk.

19:34

He said, I lose money if I haul it off. He said, if

19:36

I can sell stuff, I'm willing to do it for free.

19:38

So you have to just take that into consideration. So

19:42

again, no upfront costs to you.

19:45

You have to be prepared. It's like

19:47

doing a garage sale. You're never going to get anywhere

19:49

near what you think it's worth.

19:51

So again, if they have to remove store, blah, blah,

19:53

blah, blah, blah, blah,

19:54

that's what you okay. Like am I getting

19:57

a fair price?

20:00

A same day buyout might be a good deal if

20:03

you have a collection you no longer

20:05

want to keep. Maybe you collected

20:08

humbles. You have a tight guideline like, oh my gosh,

20:11

we have two weeks less, we've got a week, we've

20:13

got to get this stuff cleared out.

20:16

If

20:16

you have a handful of valuables that you're ready

20:18

to roll, and again, there are different levels

20:21

of these same cash buyout,

20:23

but for someone that might be an option.

20:25

Maybe you have a few pieces of furniture.

20:28

Again, not eligible for a tax donation,

20:30

it might be worth it.

20:32

If your house is really just

20:34

disgusting and they exist, trust

20:37

me. If your house is really in bad condition, probably

20:40

not worth it to have an estate sale. Let's

20:43

use the same math, because

20:44

I'm not a great math person, say the value

20:47

of all the stuff I have sitting here is worth $10,000.

20:50

The buyout offer is $5,000. You

20:52

just made $5,000 and you get it cleared out

20:54

of your house.

20:57

You also have another option, donate it all.

21:00

Or giving it away to everyone

21:02

that you love. Or someone, college

21:05

hunks moving junk that'll come up,

21:07

sell what they can.

21:09

I know there's a guy around here,

21:11

he makes sure if it's recycled, it can

21:13

be recycled, or if it can donate or can sell it.

21:16

That's another option. You don't get any money on it, but

21:19

you're not trashing Mother Earth and again,

21:21

it's out of your house. Really,

21:23

is it money that you need, peace of mind?

21:25

Those are the things that you really need

21:27

to consider. Again, having

21:29

a grandmother who had Alzheimer's, depending

21:32

on the situation, those are things that you need

21:34

to think through. Take

21:37

action from today's podcast. Create

21:41

a list of tips for seniors

21:43

that you

21:44

believe would be helpful.

21:48

Write down any other considerations

21:50

you or your senior may have.

21:55

Be patient.

21:59

whether or not an estate sale

22:02

or a buyout is an option. Consider

22:07

donating,

22:08

calling off,

22:10

or giving away items to loved ones.

22:14

On next month's episode, we're

22:16

talking about moving tips.

22:20

Go out, clear your clutter

22:23

to create the life you choose, deserve,

22:25

and desire. Clear

22:28

your clutter allows you to share your gifts

22:30

with the world. Get your free

22:33

self-assessment to discover your

22:35

clutter priority at reawakenyourbrilliance.com.

22:39

If you've enjoyed Clear Your Clutter Inside and

22:41

Out, please rate, review,

22:44

and share us.