How to Reduce the Stress of Moving

By Mary Holmes

At Integrated Move Management, we love to help our clients reduce their stress. Downsizing, moving and cleaning out a home can be a trying time for our clients and their families. Our team is dedicated to working with each client to meet their individual needs. We also truly understand that when we are working with a client – it is their move, not ours. We don’t dictate how things should be done; we only suggest what may work well and help them meet their goals with the least amount of stress and for the lowest cost. Here are a few of our most recent projects:

Full Service in Harpswell, Maine – We are enjoying working with a senior in Harpswell who is preparing to move to Northern California to be near his daughter. We have been downsizing in a methodical manner for the last couple of months – starting with the garage, basement, and attic. We then moved to closets and finally the remaining living areas of his home. He has four children that live around the country and Integrated Move Management created a document for each of the children (and many grandchildren) to express interest in the various items he won’t be taking. The house sold very quickly and we will now plan for shipping of these items to the various locations, as well as hiring a mover to take his possessions (and a car) to California. Our plan is to pack in two stages – items that are being shipped to his kids and then the items he is taking with him. It has been a pleasure to work with this client and his family and we are only sorry that we can’t help him settle into his new home in California.

Full Service and More in Cape Elizabeth, Maine – This project was similar to our recent Harpswell project: it was multiple stages of downsizing a home that was packed with forty years worth of beloved possessions from a family of five. We transported many loads to both donation sites and the transfer station. Once the major downsizing was complete, we staged the home for the real estate sale. We also did some minor home repairs and painting in order to ensure the home was market ready. The client is moving to South Carolina to be near her daughter and family and now that the house has sold we are now packing her items to go to a local storage facility, so she can stay with her daughter until she finds a new home. We will be transporting the items to the storage facility for our client. Once she is ready, we will manage the process of finding a mover to bring her items to her in South Carolina.

Settling in at Oceanview Retirement Community in Falmouth, Maine – Helping a senior settle in to their new home is one of my favorite services that we offer at Integrated Move Management. In this case, a lovely and active 98 year old woman was moving to Oceanview from Connecticut. We met the movers at the community and set up her apartment – including unpacking the boxes, making her beds, determining furniture arrangement, and removing all boxes and packing material. The client arrived from Connecticut just as we were finishing up. She was thrilled that her home was ready to go and that she could start enjoying her new community without the stress of unpacking. We always love a good “reveal”.

Our mission is to provide whatever services our clients feel will be valuable to them. We enjoy doing “soup to nuts” projects – but we also love the feeling of helping with that “one thing” the client is struggling with or is stressed about. Please visit our Website or call us at 207-865-4493 to find out more. You can also fill out our Contact form.