Manager guides elderly clients in transition to smaller homes

Judy Rough has moving day down to a science.

VIDEO: Watch Judy and crew hip-deep in the middle of a move.

“We start around 8 a.m.,” she says. Armed with an intern and a binder full of homework, the cheery New Jersey native guides movers, tenants and loved ones around with the precision of an air-traffic controller.

“We usually clear a house out by noon or 1 — that includes refrigerator contents,” she says. “And it’s a point of pride that we can get the new place set up by dinner time.”

Rough moves quickly, and often. But she’s not a gypsy or a fugitive. As the proprietor of Carefree Transitions, Rough works as a senior move manager, helping elderly clients make the jump into late-life homes.

Heavy lifting, little touches

A great demographic migration is taking place in our communities. Boomers and pre-boomers, yearning for simplicity or bowing to the restrictions of age, are leaving elaborate family homesteads for retirement or assisted living communities. Moves are exhausting in the best of times but can be especially hard on the elderly, who must dramatically trim their belongings and tend to countless details on the fly.

“I’ve lived out here for 26 years,” Barbara Forrest says. “My kids don’t live here, and I don’t want to go all the way back to Denver.” So Forrest, 74, is in the process of selling her Scottsdale home and moving to smaller digs in the West Valley senior community of Freedom Plaza. “It’s a lovely place, but I don’t want to do the move myself. I don’t have the back for it.”

Low-stress moves begin long before a box will be lifted. Rough pays Forrest a visit to photograph every stick of furniture and the layout of each room. Rough cracks her binder open and guides Forrest through a dense checklist: “New or used boxes for the move?” she asks. “Estate sale or consignment for the pieces you don’t take?” Everything from cable/Internet changeover to freight elevator access is decided by Forrest, and Rough makes arrangements from there.

“I’m actually fairly new to this,” Rough says. “We moved my parents to a new place about 2 1/2 years ago, and I was amazed how many different people you had to go through. If I make myself the one contact — for home staging, Realtors, movers, consignment people — that’s a big help to people who can’t handle the coordination or don’t want to be bothered.”

Next, Rough pulls out a scale grid of the Freedom Plaza floor plan, and Forrest’s new home is planned down to the inch. As the two move through the house together, Forrest designates which pieces she’ll take, which go to consignment and which go to her daughter in Houston.

Rough photographs the nightstand and bathroom counter. “When you wake up in a new place, it helps if the alarm clock is on the (correct) side of the bed; and the toothbrush on the (correct) side of the sink,” she says.

The move is orchestrated so precisely, Rough urges clients to take that day off.

“The movers and I have groomed each other; I know most of the (senior living) communities very well,” she says. “Clients can supervise if they want to, but I tell them, 'Go out, have lunch with your friends.’ By the time they get to their new place, every box is out of sight and it’ll look like they’ve lived here a year.”

Building to 'A-HA!’

Moving seniors can require a considerable amount of downsizing. “In many cases, you’re dealing with a client who hasn’t moved in 30 years,” Rough says. “During that time, they’ve acquired a lifetime of stuff.” Trimming the load often requires an outsider’s eye. “It helps to have someone who isn’t emotionally involved to say, 'Do you really need to take that hutch?’ ”

Senior moves must also accommodate the physical limits of each client.

Three months ago, Rough moved Joan Simpson into Scottsdale’s McDowell Village. Simpson, who suffers from macular degeneration, shows off an airy floor plan that lets her see and move smoothly. “I have my computer and a screen magnifier near the bedroom window for more light. And look at this,” she says, proudly. A decorative butcher block, a staple in Simpson’s old home, has been retooled and anchors a living room table in her new one.

“Everyone has issues,” Rough says. “Is your mobility restricted? Can you reach high shelves? We want the new place to be accessible and safe, but still have the qualities of home.”

Carefree Transitions charges $60 an hour. All moves are different, depending on home size and the services required. But a typical client will require 30 to 35 hours of preparation, packing and move time. It’s a job, Rough says, that requires the skills of a diplomat and the spine of a lumberjack.

“You have to be willing to do hard physical labor. It’s not glamorous, by any means. Moving day is a 10-hour day, with a quick bite and a rest stop, if they’re going to be in their bed that night, remote in hand.”

But the job, she says, has its own rewards: “I really love the 'a-ha’ moment, when they see what we’ve done. Home is your sanctuary. Pulling it apart can be hard. But if you keep that feeling of 'home’ … it’s the most wonderful victory to see the look on their faces at the end of the day.”

Learn more

Carefree Transitions: (480) 200-3415

or www.carefree-transitions.com