One of the things I most want to help people understand is that everything has a cost, we cannot escape that fact. For me, many times I have traded my time, my emotions, my aching back to save a dollar. If I could help others avoid this I would love to explain the cost analysis of doing it yourself vs hiring it done.
When my in-laws needed to move from Northern Indiana to be near us and where they could have more care, it took us eighteen months to get their home cleaned out and ready for sale for the much needed money for their care. Every possible weekend we drove an hour and a half each way to try to sort, pack, move, clean out the home where my wife grew up. During all that time, we were not able to go see her parents on those weekends, we were not able to be with our own kids, or my parents. We were not able to go out with friends, we were working, digging, sorting, cleaning. The average family takes nine months to clean out the family home. It took so long because the first thing we went to throw away was a stack of old newspapers and magazines. For some reason we went through it and found the deed to the house. That meant we needed to sort through every pocket, ever nook and cranny.
Cleaning out my mom's place took sixty days of every day, until late at night, sorting, packing, cleaning and hauling. Again, during that two months we barely saw her, she wasn't strong enough to be there, and we were under a time crunch getting the farm house and barns cleaned out. My uncle we moved and didn't get things set up properly at the new apartment and the incompleteness of it, and the change pushed him into a deep and dangerous depression. We moved him again to an assisted care community, this time everything was done and put away, pictures hung and a reveal was done as he came in the first time. This time, setting him up for success he is as happy as he has ever been.
Each of these times, I truly wish I had known about a company like Caring Transitions who could have taken those tasks off our plate. Then we could have spent our time being with our loved ones, helping them emotionally as they were making these deeply emotional changes instead of spending all our time and energy with their old junk. That would have been the best use of our time and energy.
Caring Transitions can take care of the clutter, they can do the sorting to find those hidden and lost valuables, those documents you need but have no idea where they are. They can help you get things were they need to be in the new place, and everything out of the old. Maybe even running an estate sale to offset the costs, maybe even make you some money for something else. But at the very least you get to be there for your family when they need you the most.
Guest Blogger - Jim Morgan - Director of Outreach Caring Transitions Indy North.