Moving Made Easy – A Client Case Study

Moving is considered one of the most stressful events that you will tackle in life.

It’s right up there with the illness or death of the loved one. So how can you make it less stressful?

Managing a move can be simple if you are a young adult with little possessions to your name. Remember those days? I do. But then as we age, we collect. We move into bigger homes and buy more stuff. At the same time, we have kids and move up the ladder in our careers, so we have a lot more responsibility. So it’s no longer viable to think that you can pack up your belongings the day before your best friends come over and load a pickup or rental truck.

Life has gotten much more complicated.

We work with all types of clients, but often a move client needs a lot more project management than an organizing client. Clients have asked for special services like fine art or piano moving. They may want furniture or rugs cleaned during the moving process, or ask for window tinting, cleaning, or painting done at their new home before they arrive. We’ve done all this and more. We help families move every week and have gained lots of experience that helps us make your move Made Easy.

I’d like to tell you a story to illustrate how we help clients manage their moves. Recently, I was referred to “Steve” by another client. When I met Steve he was a little skeptical about how much he needed our service. He was moving from a 3-story row home in the city, where he’d lived for many years while he had raised his son. Steve wanted to downsize to simplify his life and sadly a severe illness was keeping him from accomplishing his move on his own.

The Beginning

When I first met with Steve, we walked through his home and talked about his plans for his move and what he wanted his new home to look like for the final product. We talked about how we could deal with the furniture that he didn’t need any longer. It turned out that he was able to manage that part of the project brilliantly on his own after we discussed his options. YEAH! Steve made two appointments with a team of two Basic Organization organizers to simplify his home contents. Mission accomplished. Our next date was PACKING DAY.

Due to Steve’s illness, we packed most of his home without his assistance. But since we had been working with them, the packing team (4 people) knew what to do. By the end of the packing day, when Steve arrived to recap the day, we had everything packed and ready to go. The movers arrived early the next day. The weight of the world was lifted off Steve’s shoulders. That’s a physical sight I’ve seen many times. Once packing is done most clients know that WE GOT THIS.

The Middle

I met the moving van the next morning. I let the moving professionals take over. We know how to pack, how to unpack and organize, and how to manage a move. We don’t know how to move. Have you ever watched movers do their thing? It amazes me every time. How do they get the van through a city alley? Not to mention, how they lift all that weight or maneuver furniture through a narrow doorway. It’s amazing. I’m there to answer questions and depending on the situation deal with building management or nosey neighbors.

I do have to say this job was easy because Steve had done his downsizing and we had planned furniture placement at his new home. But I still had to cross my fingers with the super tight fit into the new building’s parking lot in the city. There’s always something to worry about, but most of the time we’ve experienced it before so we pull from that experience to get it done. I swear we’ve never left clients’ belongings out on the street.

At the end of the moving day when Steve came by his new home, we went over the furniture placement and reviewed that all the boxes made it to their new location. Just the assurance that everything was running smoothly was a big relief to Steve.

The End

But I saved the best for last. The magic of unpack day is what makes Moving Made Easy. The day after the move, a team of three Basic Organization organizers unpacked arranged, and organized Steve’s entire new two-bedroom apartment. Pictures do speak a thousand words, so please check out the video in this post. Sandy and Corby are pictured unpacking and arranging. Thanks to Denene, who took the photos, but didn’t jump into any of them. As you can see, they unpacked art and placed some of it in suggested locations. We always suggest to clients that they live in the space for a while before hanging art. Do you see the boxes? We get rid of all boxes and other packing materials for clients. It is sometimes a surprise to clients how we do it. Do you want to know how? Ask me in the comments.

You’ll also see that Steve is waiting for some new bookcases in the living room, then he’ll unpack the book boxes. He is also waiting for a new sofa for the living room. He also has new blue dining chairs, so he needs to get rid of the wood chairs. Steve is also using his second bedroom as an office/guest room and awaiting some furniture there. You don’t get me started on the delays that the pandemic has caused.

Well, let me tell you, The smile on Steve’s face was priceless when he walked into a perfectly unpacked and organized home. No need to worry about this massive project, when he had his health to focus on. No need to unpack or shlep packing materials out. Having his home ready to live in one day after his move made Steve’s move an enjoyable experience.

Due to Steve’s illness, he decided to stay at a hotel during his move, which made it easier for us to handle our end of the deal but also meant that he didn’t have to live through the chaos that comes with EVERY move.

Don’t kid yourself.

The act of packing everything on your own into boxes will increase the volume in any space to an unimaginable level. Then you watch your movers upend every piece of furniture and fit it “Tetris-like” into a truck and drive away with it all. No, No, No stress there.

When it’s time for you to move again, consider how you will make moving easy for yourself.