Seniors may remember a 1970’s comedian named George Carlin. Carlin had a famous comedy monologue about people and their ‘stuff’ in which he observed that a person’s house is just a place for them to keep their ‘stuff.’ When the house becomes too small to contain all the existing stuff, they buy a bigger house and fill it with even more stuff. This goes on until, inevitably, the children are grown and the couple decides it is time to downsize. But what do they do about the once-valued objects they have accumulated?
As seniors mature, they are often surprised to find that their children have no desire at all to have the treasured possessions they have amassed. This includes not only obsolete electronics or expensive furniture, but frequently heirlooms that have been in the family for decades or even generations. Names like Wedgewood, Lenox or Waterford just do not register with young people the way they did in the past. If the china, the silver or the crystal, cannot go in a dishwasher, many young people would just as soon put it in the trash.
The volume of unwanted objects is certain to grow as more and more seniors reach this plateau. George Carlin commented that it gave rise to the storage business, “…an entire industry devoted to watching our stuff”! A new group of specialized workers, ‘Senior Move Managers,’ has come into being in part because of this situation. A big part of their job amounts to separating the ‘keepers’ from the other possessions that should be left behind. This can become a major problem; look around your home and ask yourself how you would dispose of unwanted clothes, furniture, cookware, etcetera if you had to move quickly.
The intelligent way to deal with this problem is to think and act ahead. Before you are faced with an impending move, take an inventory of your ‘stuff.’ If you have a treasured family heirloom or valuable possession, talk to your family about how you want to pass it on, and whether or not it is wanted. You may be surprised to find that your son or daughter does not want silver to polish or paintings to hang.
If these types of decisions are approaching for you or a loved one, OurSeniors.net can help. At any time during the senior life transition or senior relocation process OurSeniors.net can provide knowledgeable, unbiased advice on questions like –
- 55+ Communities in Florida
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OurSeniors.net is proud to be associated with two fine Senior Placement Advisors. These professionals can help make the senior relocation process as safe, secure and successful as possible. In Palm Coast, Community Senior Advisors, LLC, owned by Ms. Ellen Brody-Palm, is a free residential placement service focused on providing education and resources to seniors who are making a transition to independent living, senior assisted living or memory care living. In the Dade-Broward-Palm Beach County area of South Florida, Cynthia Fiammetta-Lopez, assists families by helping them locate the best senior housing choices, meeting their medical, social, spiritual and financial requirements.
For help with this and other senior life questions, you can contact an OurSeniors.net Advisor by phone at 866-333-2657 (Se Habla Español), or by using the link, Contact Us. Check out our website at OurSeniors.net and take an online look at our senior living magazine, OurSeniors.net Magazine by clicking its link.
