Getting the kitchen organized is all about what you want to get out of the space, and how much time you normally spend in it. It goes without saying that kitchens can be tricky to organize! There never seems to be enough cupboard space, or the perfect configuration. Sometimes you have a nice big space with plenty of cupboards, and other times you have a small apartment with a cupboard for a kitchen.
The Organized Kitchen
If you’ve got a tiny kitchen, you already know how essential it is to maximize your space. My rule is to make sure that any tools or dishes I buy can be used for more than one thing (this is a tip I learned from Alton Brown, who used to have a “basic” cooking show before he became a big celeb on The Food Network). Next time you want to buy something for your kitchen, ask yourself how many uses it has. If it can be used for more than one task, that’s great! If it’s a one hit wonder, give it a pass. Using Brown’s rule, I recently bought an Instant Pot. This thing is a slow cooker (a kitchen essential for me), rice cooker, pressure cooker (which has saved me a ton of time when I making stews and soups), yogurt maker, sauté pan, and more, yet it only takes up the space of one appliance!
Plastic and Glass are Beautiful
Store your dry goods in glass or plastic containers you can see through to help you put your hands on things quickly. My pantry inspiration is Canadian Chef Michael Smith, who stores his spices and dry goods in canning jars (you can see it here http://chefmichaelsmith.com/photos/new-kitchen/). You’ll see that he also had lots of in cabinet lighting, which is a great way to perk up a small, dark space.
Get Creative With Peg Board and Modular Shelves
Peg board and modular metal shelves are kitchen favourites. Cut a piece of pegboard to fit a large drawer. Insert dowels inside the peg holes, and they become guides so plates, platters, or awkward sized dishes don’t slide around. Check out great ideas on Pinterest to see loads of ways to organize with pegboard. https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/151715081175723248/
The large space under a kitchen sink is often poorly utilized. Modular metal shelves can be inserted around the plumbing to make the most of this space, and provides a sturdy surface for storing things.
Shoe Organizers
Use an inexpensive shoe organizer to save cupboard and shelf space. Look for one that has clear plastic pockets, so you can easily see things like spices and small kitchen tools that you store there. Rolls of garbage bags, elastic bands, and Hang the organizer on the inside of your pantry, or trim it down to fit on the inside of a cupboard door. You can fasten the corners with double sided tape to stop it from shifting when the door opens.
What are your favourite kitchen hacks? Share them with us on our Facebook page!
If you’d like some help getting organized, or you’re thinking about making a move, reach out to us! We’d love to help you make the most of your space. You can reach us easily by using the link on our contact page.
Are you a senior who has had a trip or fall at home? Though the initial design of your space may have been ideal at one time, things can change as we age. It’s not uncommon to need some updating in order to keep up with changes in our lives, including things like eyesight, balance, and low lighting.
Falls are a major factor in hospitalizations, causing up to 90 percent of hip and risk fractures, and 60 percent of head injuries to older adults in Canada. They are also the number one cause of injury related death in seniors.Those are sobering statistics, and we want to give you the tools to avoid them!
While we love to create a space a home that is warm and welcoming, the use of area rugs in a big problem with tripping. Sometimes the “look” of a big floor area can be too much, and we fill the space or create warmth by adding a rug. But sadly, even when they seem to be well secured, people regularly trip over corners and edges of area rugs.
To see if you are putting yourself at risk for a fall, consider the following questions:
- Have you fallen in the last six months?
- Do you hold onto the furniture as you move around your home?
- Are you using your hands to help you as you stand up?
- Do you take medication that makes you feel unsteady or lightheaded?
- Do you get up in the middle of the night to use the washroom?
- Do you wear slippers or socks when you are at home?
- Are you using a cane or walker in your home?
If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to some of these questions, speak with your doctor or nurse practitioner about how to protect yourself from a fall. They may wish to review your medications, assess your health, and check your vision. Sometimes a few simple changes at home are all that’s needed to make things much safer.
Here are some things you can do at home that can help keep you safe:
- Remove area rugs
- Install night lights so it’s easier to see if you get up in the middle of the night
- Wear runners or shoes with a non-skid sole instead of slippers or socks in the house
- Take a fall prevention class
- Strengthen your muscles and core with supervised exercise or occupational/physical therapy
- Install secure handrails throughout your home, including in the shower and near the toilet
- Meet with a social worker or home care worker about home health services
- Hire a professional who can organize your home to make it safer for you
For more information on fall prevention and some helpful resources, see http://fallpreventionmonth.ca/ and https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/aging-seniors/publications/publications-general-public/you-prevent-falls.html
Elder Move Inc. staff are specially trained to help you to organize your home, and if you are moving we will also pack, relocate, and unpack your belongings. We work hard to provide you with a safe, comfortable home. You can contact us here and we’ll help you get started!
One thing that drives me bananas is when I can’t find my digital “stuff”! Have you ever searched for a file on your computer and no matter what, it seemed to have disappeared? Me too! It drove me crazy, especially when some of my favourite things – pictures, books, emails, were there but out of my reach. Now, I have a system of tools, folders, and backups set up that keep me on track. 
A few years ago, I had files on a laptop and they were different to the files on my desktop. I also had a backup drive, but honestly, have you ever tried to get files off a backup drive? It’s not for the weak kneed! Because I didn’t know how to get particular files off a backup, I’d email important files to myself so I could access them from anywhere. Of course this meant I had the same file in multiple places, and was not efficient at all.
Do You Have Backup?
There are plenty of options, from storing your emails and pictures on the cloud with OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and many more. Some of these platforms offer a little free storage and you can buy extra space if you need it, although I haven’t found one that meets all my needs. I find that when I want to access something off the cloud and then edit the document, I have to download it to a computer. Then when I am finished making the changes, I have to load it back up. This feels like too much fiddling around, especially if I am working on multiple parts of one project at a time.
My solution was to use an external drive where I can copy files regularly, and they are easy to find and work with. However, my IT friends tell me that I shouldn’t store my external hard drive at home. It’s too easy for files to get lost or damaged. Instead, I store some things in the cloud until I copy them onto an external hard drive.
You have to identify the best method of storage and backup for you. What’s handy? What’s easy to manage? What’s affordable?
My Kind of Gadgets
I have a large external hard drive, and its 4TB is plenty of space. You can see it here (and order from my affiliate link if you like): http://amzn.to/2AfHLAi and to be adequately covered, I also have a backup drive, where with the help of an IT person I could get myself up and going on a new computer if I needed to. http://amzn.to/2AqCrKT
One of the things I love about putting my photos on an external drive is that I have them handy to look at, anytime I want. I don’t have to pull out big albums (although a lovingly created photo album or scrapbook is marvellous, I admit), and I don’t need a set of bookshelves to store my album. The pictures, on an external drive, take up very little space at all. I can also keep important papers, from bank statements to tax returns, and don’t have stacks of paper around the house or tucked into closets.
What To Do About Your Favourite Digital Things?
Have you ever lost important files from your computers or gadgets? If so, think about getting yourself a gift of storage and backup! Perhaps consider it for the techy person in your family. Don’t lose your documents and photos that you’ve so carefully saved; make sure you save them, carefully.
Do you have collections of pictures? Photo albums in shelves and framed snaps up on the wall? Hundreds or perhaps thousands of digital files? If you’re looking for a gift for someone or you’ve got family who wants to know what you’d like for a gift, going digital is a great way to go.
With the right tools, you (or you can hire a professional photo organizer to do this) can have all your photos scanned and then, instead of having photos tucked under the stairs or in an attic you can actually look at them! After all, a photo that’s sitting at the bottom of a box somewhere is just a piece of paper instead of a treasured memory to be enjoyed.
My sister recently took on a massive project for my parents which involved not just scanning their photos – a quick exercise but not helpful for anyone outside our folks who might be looking at the pictures. She is annotating them so that the notes on the back or beneath a photo in an album are also preserved. No doubt, you know the stories connected to your own pictures, but over time those stories get lost. This is no longer a problem when a complete job is done on your photos.
There are some fabulous gadgets available to help you scan, preserve, and then share your digital photos with family members. Digital scanners can be used for photos, slides, have recorded messages attached, and more. My sister was able to take a dozen photo albums and put all the files on one USB stick to share among the family. Our mom and dad love watching the photos on their digital frame, or to see them on the larger television screen.
Programs like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox allow you to easily share photos among family members, as will a USB Flash Drive. Another great way to share is to store the photos on digital frames that you can give as gifts. This is even better than in the “olden days” when we would sit together in the living room and view the family slides, because there is a lot less work required and less space in the room needed for the old projector.
If you’d like to learn more about organizing and downsizing, check out the other blog posts on this page. If you’re in Alberta and you’d like some help, we’d love to chat with you. Just fill out the contact form here on our site.
I was doing some research on how collectors become hoarders recently, and watching an episode of Hoarders on TV. The episode featured a woman who had so much clutter there was no room for her to sleep in her bed. It was disturbing to see her try to regain control over her house.
How Does Hoarding Happen?
Hoarding can start easily enough. My grandmother brought canned food into the house and filled her kitchen cupboards, then a pantry, and a cupboard under the stairs. She filled two deep freezers so that she wouldn’t run out of food.
At some point, hoarders stop sending as much out as they bring in. Things can easily deteriorate so they don’t have room to sleep in their bed, but they can’t bear to part with their possessions.
Collectors and hoarders both assign value to things. For a collector, the display is something they can enjoy. For a hoarder, they lose the ability to keep their items organized. Piles topple over, dust and grime gather. It’s not unusual for chairs, beds, and tables to be lost under piles of stuff.
People who survive through difficult times, including war, economic depression, or personal neglect, often try to compensate by making sure they never run out of things they feel are important.
The TV Approach
Sometimes hoarding is obscured by looking organized, and it’s hard to tell how out of control things really are. The hoarder may be living among stacks that are tidy, but gradually take over the house.
TV programs about hoarding often send a team to get the job done. A team is a great approach since hoarding isn’t just about a full house. Often, there are a lot of emotions involved in a hoarding situation. Having a team also helps spread the workload, since cleaning even a small space can take a lot of time, and it can be heavy work. Teamwork can also help give the family some much needed help, especially if the family members are arguing about what has to be done.
Just like it is on TV, hoarders are often pushed to make changes because they receive an eviction notice or their house gets condemned. We often work with people who want to live in a smaller home, or move into an assisted living space, but they cannot take all the things they have accumulated.
Do you have a collection? Is it something you enjoy, or something you tolerate? Are you able to manage it, or are your possessions taking over your home? If you need help deciding and you are in Alberta, Canada we’d love to chat with you. Just fill out the contact form here on our site.
As adults living alone or in a place that doesn’t “do” holidays, Halloween can be boring. No kids in cute outfits at the door, no jack o’lanterns decorating the doorways. No boxes of candy beside the front door to sneak a few treats. Boo!
Fear not, Halloween lovers! There’s still time to gear up for some fun, and we’re happy to provide you with a few ideas that don’t require hours creating fancy costumes or decorating.
- Carve cute jack o’lantern faces into a sweet potato or a big turnip and enjoy the activity and the fun, just as if you had emptied out the insides of a 30-pound pumpkin. Take pictures of your creations to save them or share with friends. Don’t waste your hard efforts, either. Afterwards, you can cook and then eat your lanterns!
- Watch some great Halloween classics on TV, a streaming service, or arrange a movie night in the common room of your building. Fun movies like Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler, or The Nightmare Before Christmas from Tim Burton are dark classics that you can enjoy without getting scared to death. Of course, if you’d prefer a good fright, there are plenty of movies at your disposal. Prepare some Halloween treats to go with the movie, and you’ve got a celebration on your hands.
- Go for a drive and check out all the great displays near you – some neighbourhoods are decked out more for Halloween than any other time of the year!
- Challenge yourself to eat themed food for the entire day. You don’t have to limit yourself to sugary junk either. Try soups made from squash, or some simple carrot sticks. If you want to go all out, you can bake shortbread cookies with almonds shaped to look like witch’s fingers and really get into it!
Happy Halloween from all of us at Elder Move!
Whether familiar surroundings offer safety and comfort or the people they are with offer companionship and support, we all know what it is we like. Whether you are elderly and frail or a senior with lots of energy and vigor, a routine can help to give predictability and assurance to the way life unfolds. Our possessions, carefully collected and looked after through the years, can offer comfort and familiarity, too. Possessions can be a source of powerful emotional reminders that make downsizing and relocation hard to do, even though they will be going to somewhere that is comfortable and safe. For active seniors who also have activities and friends nearby, it can be almost impossible to convince them about the benefits of downsizing and moving, and so we advise that you stop trying to convince them. Provide them with information they need to make these decisions for themselves, whenever possible.
Shannon Lang, founder and owner of Elder Move Inc., often says that, “Our goal is to work with people who are able to make decisions for themselves and to do things they want to do, hopefully long before their health or circumstances forces them to be doing things like moving somewhere they aren’t going to be happy with.”
For fit, active seniors the decision to move to a new home where they have access to services they want can be pretty simple. Lots of early retirement and supportive living communities offer a range of activities that active people love, like gyms, gardens, kitchens, and woodworking. Shared lounges with game tables, big screen TVs, and themed events help people to make friends and stay in touch easily. Access to transportation, health care providers, and services like hairdressing and vision screenings are also a benefit in many places.
Preparing and planning for the move
Whether you are the one moving or you are assisting elderly parents, family members, or friends, once the decision is made it’s a good idea to start your moving preparations. There are a lot of things to coordinate if downsizing and organizing are part of the plan, and these activities can take considerable time. Lots of people struggle with the idea of parting with possessions that have sentimental feelings attached to them and so the process is a lot more involved than just putting things in boxes. Often, the new home may be smaller and unable to hold many belongings and downsizing is a must, and although they know they must eliminate a lot of things, the actual decision making and managing the feelings that come along with it can make this process a lengthy one. Additionally, if they are moving any distance, the time needed to coordinate travel becomes a consideration, too.
It’s important to be careful and thoughtful when sorting someone else’s household and personal items, even if you are doing it to help out your spouse or your own parents. Emotions can run really high when people feel forced into downsizing and they have to get rid of things they aren’t quite finished with. Often, having a senior move manager available makes this process much less tense, because where you and Dad might argue and fight about golf clubs that haven’t been used in years, Dad is thinking about his love of the game and a loss, whereas you might be thinking about the practical notion of where to store all those clubs. A qualified senior move manager can help to mediate a conversation, encourage some give and take, and help everyone come through the transition together. We certainly recommend that you consider hiring a moving and downsizing company qualified to work with seniors if there is one in your area.
One tip for helping prepare seniors for a big transition, especially if they happen to be people who collect things, is to take pictures of meaningful items so that there are always pictures for them to look back on. A photo album or a digital frame can be a great gift for them, and one that is especially appreciated at a time like this. Another tip is that while it’s sometimes possible to sell some belongings for some extra cash, an equally good idea is to donate reusable items to local charities.
Hiring a downsizing and moving company
Hiring a professional service provider is a great way to lessen the stress of downsizing, moving, and relocating. We recommend that you hire a company that specializes in moving seniors and has experience in dealing with the complexities of sorting, packing, and the emotional toll that it can also create. Fortunately, there are numerous reputable elder care and senior move companies offering full sorting, packing, and moving options.
Once you have a moving company in mind, book the initial consultation as early as possible to help ensure you have the help you want on the dates you need it, and that you know to expect throughout the process.
You don’t have to worry about moving at a particular time of year when you hire the right company. We live in a winter climate where there is snow and ice on the ground for seven or eight months of the year, and a good company doesn’t bat an eye if you have to move in bad weather. That’s simply part of the job and it’s factored into the moving plan.
It is a good idea for you to ask for help when searching for a professional senior move manager to lead a project, whether you are downsizing and staying put, or planning a relocation. Ask your friends, building managers, care providers, and realtor for referrals. You can also check with your local chamber of commerce, the better business bureau, and look for reviews online.
The right senior move manager does more than act as a relocating company for seniors. They will not only coordinate and organize belongings, but the team will also offer support along with peace of mind during hectic moments that can be part of any downsizing, relocating, and moving adventure.
We recently completed a project for Alex (not his real name), a client who was away on vacation when his mother passed away. Since she had been living in a long term care facility, we needed to get Mrs. B’s room emptied and her possessions packed up and moved out almost instantly. That’s what we do, and so that’s what we did.
Mrs. B came from a great family who loved her dearly. Since she was a centenarian – more than 100 years old that means – her son Alex had hesitated for years to take his family on a big holiday “just in case” something might happen while they were away. But Mrs. B wanted her family to take the holiday, explore the world, and spend time together, so she encouraged her son Alex to book the tickets and get going. With some reluctance but looking forward to plenty of fun, off they went.
A few weeks into their vacation, Alex called us in tears to say that his mom had passed away and he was overseas. He asked if we could pack up her room and deliver her personal possessions to his home, and to take anything suitable for donation to a local charity. We got everything done very quickly, and thanks to how easy it is to communicate by phone and email, Alex was in touch with us throughout the process, without having to catch an immediate flight home. This is exactly what we mean by our motto where “we take your move personally.” We treated Alex’s situation as if it was one unfolding in our own family. His mom’s things were moved quickly and efficiently, and the facility was able to prepare the space for a new resident in need of a high level of care within a couple of days. Alex and his family completed their vacation together, in a form of tribute to his mom and their grandma.
There’s a really powerful video circulating right now, of a man named Alan Beam being interviewed by his wife. In it, he shares how he is aching for a visit from his friends, who no longer visit now that he has Alzheimer’s Disease. I didn’t really have to watch it to get a sense of how terribly sad his situation is, but then I decided to watch it anyway and had a good cry. (You can see the Global news version here as long as they keep the link active or try this one -> Global News Link.
This man’s story is so familiar to us, because our clients here at Elder Move tell us the same kinds of things. Many seniors, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are, feel isolated and ignored because people just don’t visit them. Holidays are a heartbreaking time for us to visit different facilities, as residents are often completely alone. There are lots of reasons for this, not the least of which is that often it can be extremely difficult or not recommended for residents to leave their residence to spend the holidays in the care of their family. I remember how hard it was to transport my grandmother to our Christmas festivities, but it was so important that she be there we just made it work when she was healthy enough to do so. As she became more fragile though, it did get a lot harder and after a few years we had to take Christmas to her rather than bring her to Christmas. While I understand why some families won’t come visit their seniors until after all the holiday hubbub has wrapped up, I hope they realize how hard that is for the grandma’s and grampa’s who are left out.
I heard of one facility just this past Christmas where there was an outbreak of a contagious illness during the holidays, and no visitors were allowed at the facility for nine days! There was no way around it given how contagious things were, and it practically ruined Christmas for some residents and their families, but was hardly different than any other day for others.
I’d love to see better access to technology for residents in all facilities, so they can access a webcam and say hi to their loved ones, and chat just like they would by phone. Some residents have private phones of course, others have cell phones (though theft and fraility make them a target) so a better plan is needed.
Some facilities have great programs for their residents, connecting them outside to the community, and keeping people engaged inside with some pretty amazing activities. We see people dancing, doing exercise classes, singing in choirs, painting, woodworking, and much more. One of the places we often visit has a billiards room with tables for games, a huge screen for watching movies, and a karaoke machine. That’s a high energy, vibrant place and we are really thrilled to see so many of these types of residences being built. The residents love them.
When my own grandmother moved into an extended care facility, she had experienced a stroke. Her symptoms had a pretty big impact on knitting, which truly perplexed her (and us!). She had been an admirable knitter her whole life, turning out great volumes of delicately knitted sweaters, cardigans, baby layettes, afghans, and more. After her stroke, there was an obvious breakdown in her cognitive abilities, where she could still read a pattern, but she couldn’t get her hands to follow the directions in her mind. This frustrated her to no end, and although she did not finish another knitting project after her stroke, she was able to attend knitting classes in her facility and to offer instruction to other residents and at least was out and about being social and not feeling confined to her room.
If you know a senior – whether they are part of your family or they are a friend – who is alone and would appreciate some company, please go and see them. If you aren’t sure what to talk about, then take the advice of the man in the video at the beginning of this post, and talk to them just as you would have before they got ill. Don’t use the excuse that you want to remember them “just the way they were.” They need you now, just the way you are. Your visit and compassion would mean the world to them.
It’s that time of year again! The holidays decorations and festive swag is all being put away. When you visit the stores, they’ve replaced the lines of Christmas wrap with storage totes, and I have to admit that their multi-coloured lids and unbreakable wheels are calling me. It’s not that I need to be downsizing or organizing every year, but I find that after the holidays I can always pack things up a little better than I did last year. Besides, having everything tidy helps free up space in my head for other things, including working with clients on downsizing and organizing in their homes.
Recently I’ve been looking up storage solutions online, and although some of the containers are large they typically don’t weigh a whole lot so I can get them delivered for a good price. Small totes, big totes, and colourful boxes with flowers or the Eiffel tower all over them beckon me and since it’s January as I write this, they are all on sale!
Here are my top 7 tips in case you are planning to do some downsizing and organizing. These tips will help if you are planning a move, or simply want to make things more comfortable right where you are, at home.
- Decide what storage containers suit you best according to what you can pick up and move safely. I love bins with wheels on the bottom, but I find that some of them are too big to get my arms around (I’m 5 foot two and it’s like there are designed for someone seven feet tall)!
2. Select totes that will stack safely up to three high (any higher than that and things can tip over), but any lower than that and they are sprawled in the storage room instead of being tucked away against a wall. 
3. Work in chunks of time to avoid overwhelm and boredom. If that hall closet is really packed, you won’t look forward to spending three hours organizing and downsizing it. Set a timer so you work for just 15 to 30 minutes at a time, take a short break, and then set your timer and get back to work again.
4. Maintain control of your stuff. Be clear with family members about your decisions, and remember that if there are items you no longer want or that bring joy to you, it’s time for those things to go. There are plenty of charities who can use what you no longer need.
5. I’ve accepted the fact that our kids and family members typically don’t want our stuff…except when they want our stuff. It’s a good idea to discuss what you are getting rid of, and offer it to them if you think they might want it. Try not to be offended if they say no – our tastes change over time, and we tend to accumulate a lot of stuff nowadays and it’s not that our kids are trying to hurt our feelings; they are just working on creating their own homes and comfy spaces. And they need to think about how they are organizing and downsizing within their own homes.
6. Be kind to yourself. Getting organized and getting rid of things can be hard to do. There are decisions to make, memories and feelings that are tied to our things, and then there’s the actual physical work it takes to move furniture and boxes to get them out of your way. Take breaks. Give yourself a pat on the back and remember these things didn’t accumulate overnight. It might take a while to get them sorted out.
7. Ask for help. This can be hard to do, but there are people who specialize in just this kind of work, like we do here at Elder Move Inc. You might be surprised that you own kids may want to help with downsizing (or you might also be surprised at how much they don’t want to help). Either way, if you’d like some help, give us a call and we’ll arrange to come see you at home and talk about your project. We do more than packing and moving people; we help lots of people just like you get things organized and tidied up to make your home more comfortable.
If you’re in the Edmonton, Alberta area and would like to discuss downsizing, organizing, or relocating and moving, just give us a call.
