Moving when you are old and your body aches.

[CTyankee]

Yeah, you get old, sell your house (which has really gained in value) and are all ready to move into a retirement community.

You got it all planned out with your calendar.

You put your plan into effect and you start with the downsizing.

You learn on Day One that your body is not happy and you've just started

You go on DU that you have loved for many, many years. You start this thread like this one.

For some reason, it doesn't make your body ache less.

Now you feel stupid complaining: you've got it better than most folks! Whatsamatta with you!

I'm at that point: grateful but tired and sore.

Thank you for reading my post. I love you guys/gals. I'm trying to gain perspective and keep my sense of humor (and humility; with all the war and suffering going on). I appreciate what I have now and all of you DUers who over my many years of members here brought me lots of comfort and lots of friends.

One more favor. If you have moved when you were old, tell me how you did it!

[Scrivener7]

1. A little a day, and use some of that capital gain to

hire some high school or college kids to help on an hourly basis.

[CTyankee]

2. good idea. We have a neighborhood newsletter. I can post there!

[Scrivener7]

20. Definitely! If I were a high school kid, I'd think a job working for you was a gift falling in my lap!

[multigraincracker]

3. I gave up and got a 20 yard dumpster.

Got it all done in 12 hrs. All moved in and don’t miss all that crap.

[CTyankee]

4. what is a 20 yard dumpster?

[LuvLoogie]

8. Yard means cubic yard capacity

One can have an empty dumpster delivered and, once full, taken away.

[CTyankee]

14. Oh, OK, thanks

[TygrBright]

5. The way we did it for my Mom was to hire Rose's Daughters

They are a specialist moving company that focuses on assisting the elderly to downsize and relocate.

We didn't need their full downsizing help package because my sister had already planned for that, placing colored dots on only the things that needed to go with Mom to the new apartment at the assisted living.

They came in to Mom's house and took pictures of EVERYTHING - every room, every piece of furniture, every wall, etc. They opened every closet, took pictures of what was in it, every drawer, every shelf, every cupboard. Then they packed all the dotted stuff, moved it to the new apartment, and unpacked, using the pictures to place everything as close as possible to how it had been arranged in the old house - if the flatware was in the drawer closest to the sink on the right in the old kitchen, that's where it went in the new kitchen. If the picture of a winter scene was above the sofa in the old living room, it was hung above the smaller love seat in the new living room (the big sofa didn't move with her.)

They put the boxes from the closet top shelf back on the closet top shelf in the new bedroom, stacked in exactly the same order.

There may be a similar specialist company where you are - search on "elderly relocation" or "downsizing and moving help" or something like that. Ask around.

It was definitely a great choice for us and worth the money.

helpfully,
Bright

[Joinfortmill]

13. This sounds very cool and efficient!

[elleng]

6. Glad things improving.

My continuing/recurrent problem is balance, no pain! Retunrning to neurosurgeon in couple weeks.

[CTyankee]

17. Glad there is no pain but the balance thing must be unnerving!

[elleng]

18. It is!

Have hydrocephalus, so neuro inserted a shunt 1 1/2 years ago, to move fluid from brain more quickly. May need more redirection, so seeing doc in few weeks.

[CTyankee]

23. Keep us informed on your medical journey, ellen! I hope the outcomes are good!

[elleng]

24. Thanks, yank.

Procedure worked quite well, felt like I could shoot hoops! Have lost the great feeling, and hoping doc can readjust device (whixh is in my head) so timing of passage of fluid can improve.

[SARose]

7. Working on it now

I feel your pain! 🤭

We are nearly finished giving away and donating a lot of stuff. Now we can’t sell the house. No one’s leasing or buying houses near me. Real estate has come to a screeching halt.

We went through the foreclosure crisis after Obama shut down the space shuttle program. There were more than 600 foreclosures within 2 miles of us.

Worried this will soon begin here. Too many homes near me are investor owned. Even they can’t sell these homes now.

All dressed up and nowhere to go! At least our home is nearly paid for so there’s that…

[CTyankee]

21. There is, theoretically, now a seller's market: high demand, low inventory. And we are near a private school that is

pricey. However, it is not the best time of year to sell.

[CountAllVotes]

34. You own your home

Think twice before you move!

Things will change and dump isn't going to be around forever!

Don't let one rotten egg ruin the whole batch.

Many would love to own their own home.

[SARose]

35. We are trying to down size (again)

We want to move to a 60+ apartment community. I am 75 and my husband is 82.😬

Sadly, in my part of Texas we are watching a rapidly slowing housing market. My area has been over built to the max; investors own tons of houses in the area; interest rates are high.

Texas doesn’t have an income tax so property taxes are rapidly rising while insurance rates are also rising.

And the influx of folks from California (and elsewhere) has reversed. Folks can’t stand the heat, the rednecks, and the flooding.

It’s a right mess!

Right now we are hunkering down and prepping like mad.👍

[CountAllVotes]

36. My friend moved recently

I believe she lived near Dallas, TX.

Sold the house and moved.

Relieved is what seems to be the story!

Best of luck!

[twodogsbarking]

9. Have lived in the same house for 37 years.

Should have an auction and buy a beach chair and sunglasses and move to the beach

[erronis]

10. Simple solution. Have someone sell the house you've lived in, give you two weeks to move out

and no time to find a new place. No help with the moving, etc.

Figure out what will fit in your little SUV, donate what you can, trash the rest.

Start all over again.

Actually did this twice in 40+ years. Helps get rid of stuff we want but don't need. I can't take it with me where I'm going!

[Joinfortmill]

11. I'm 76 and in the process of planning (another) move, this time from the NE to the SE

Since this is not my first move. I've moved three times in the last 12 years, I've already downsized considerably. And that, my friend, is the worst part - the downsizing. What I can tell you is that you can live quite well without all the stuff you thought you needed. Also, pace yourself. Start early. Wishing you all the best in your move!

[barbtries]

12. i was walking down the stairs this morning,

and i said, "My legs hurt," then I said, "Do my legs ever not hurt?" and the answer was no.

I'm not yet disabled. I can do pretty much what I want, pretty much still have my marbles, healthier than I have any earthly right to be, and already got way older than either one of my parents ever did.

I moved last when I was 61. I worked hard physically at it. There's a box under the stairs that has not been opened yet. Mostly, I had a lot of help, and I hope you get the same.

Here's what I say about moving: moving out is a pain in the ass, but moving in is fun. So have fun! I hope you love your new place.

[bluescribbler]

15. I spent money.

I rented a portable container. I hired a crew to load the stuff I was keeping into the container. I hired another crew to clear out everything that didn't go into the container or into my car. When I got to my new home, I hired another crew to unload the container. I still had to pack stuff into boxes and later to unpack them, but that was a helluva lot easier in my then 71-year-old body. That was three years ago, and I don't regret penny of what I spent.

[catbyte]

16. I'm 70 and went through it in July.

I lived in an apartment for 10 years and the junk I collected was ridiculous. My late fiancé left his fully paid for and furnished house to me when he passed away suddenly a few years ago. I couldn't bring myself to move in so I rented it to friends who lost their townhome when a nearby unit caught on fire. The husband passed away in May and his wife is disabled so she couldn't stay there alone. My rent increased by about $300/month so I thought why pay rent when I have a house? My lease was expiring so I put in my 60 day notice. Ugh.

I rapidly got overwhelmed. Since I didn't need to move furniture, I packed what I wanted to take, mainly kitchen items and personal things. I called a moving/junk hauling company and they did the nasty work for me. They moved the things I wanted to keep, then donated my furniture and other things. They completely cleared out all the junk in my apartment. I think that's the way to go. Get folks to help you.

Good luck and I feel your pain!

[OldBaldy1701E]

19. I suffered.

It has been four months and I am still suffering. Because I am not twenty years old, I developed a huge blister on my foot, and it got infected because I did not notice it thanks to my neuropathy. I have been wearing crap on my foot since then. I spent the entire summer staring at a swimming pool because I could not get into it. It took me a week to generally recover from it, and we still have the garage to go though to weed things out. The hardest part is having to get rid of things that you used to use all the time, but now you barely touch because of your bad health. I have lots of tools that I now have to look into doing something with because I just cannot use them like I used to.

It sucks.

[CTyankee]

22. Oh, no! You need help and I hope you can get it soon!

Is there family that can help you?

[OldBaldy1701E]

29. Thanks.

None that would want to bother.

I have my beloved husband and that's about it these days.

'Thicker than water' my ass.

[Intractable]

25. In terms of getting older, I find I have to keep getting rid of stuff to make my life more manageable.

A garage full of potentially useful things is still a thing to be managed/cleaned/fixed/maintained.

[The Madcap]

26. I plan to start unloading stuff the day after I retire.

A bit every day. If no one wants it, it goes in the trash. I would like to get the house cleaned out by 75%. I dread having to leave the mess to my kids.

[Grumpy Old Woman]

27. We moved to a retirement home about 30 miles from our home.

My son and his friends took one U-Haul of the larger furniture, and my husband and I spent about a month taking a truckload at a time from the old place to the new place.

The advantage was that we got to put things away a bit at a time, and had more time to figure out what we actually wanted to take.

One of the biggest complaints I've heard from my fellow oldies here at the Old Folks Home is that 'someone else' moved them, and didn't bring something that was important.

Good luck on your move! I hope you will like living in a retirement community as much as we do - the grounds here are very nice, but the other people who live here are the thing I like the best.

[CTyankee]

30. Well, we have old age in common, so that is not surprising....aches and pains, old sorrows for people we lost, a life

lived, raising kids, etc and on and on.

And forgetting stuff that is happening currently! I wish I could forget who is POTUS because he is the main operator of mental pain every day. One shocking thing after another. UGH!

[bucolic_frolic]

28. I can barely manage the monthly paper trail

Downsizing slows and slows.

Maybe it's me. Perhaps I should try a week where I slowly eat only 2 cans of Alaska salmon for the brainpower.

[AllaN01Bear]

31. ive been hurting since i was a child , but i empathise with those who have severe chronic pain.

[CTyankee]

32. I'm so lucky, to be able to go into a retirement community with the proceeds from my house sale.

But I know that I am lucky to be born white and middle class. It is a totally UNEARNED privilege and I am painfully aware of that. And I'm healthy in my old age and not in pain like so many are. I am thankful for this situation!

[malaise]

33. Yes aging is no joke

If you can exercise it helps. Also try icepacks where it hurts.
So far I have been very lucky but my day will come too.