 Welcome back to Living Out Loud. This is Susan Karp, the Executive Director of the Arlington Council on Aging, and today we're going to give new meaning to move over. See you in a few. Welcome back. Let's stop for a moment and look around. Look at your living room. Look at your kitchen. Look at your bedroom. Are there things that are accumulating? Are they accumulating and then becoming unsafe in your house, which could be a fall hazard? Or are you thinking about the possibility of moving, downsizing? Maybe you want to move closer to your family. Maybe you've decided that your 3,000 square foot home is too big for you anymore and you want just a condo. It may seem overwhelming. Well, today I've got a guest, Deb Stone, who's a co-owner of Ship Shape Organize. Now, before we begin in introducing Deb, I always let you know that our programs in the Council on Aging are for information purposes only. So I'd like you to be listening to see the kinds of things that Deb is involved with and see how that might apply to your life and how a company that's like Ship Shape Organize might be able to assist you. So now I turn it over to Deb. Deb, welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us here on the set of Living Out Loud. Why don't we begin in talking a little bit about you and how you got involved in creating this company that you run. Well, I've always loved living a simple life, but I really did it. And I lived on a boat for two years with my family. Oh my. So as you can imagine, we all had one suitcase. I cooked pretty gourmet meals without a KitchenAid mixer, without a coffee pot, with a few utensils. And life was simple and life was freeing. And I came back and when you come back to land, sometimes Amazon packages are on everybody's front doorstep and we realize how many things we have. And I tried to bring that simple way of life back to my own house. And then it just was a natural progression to start a company and helping others. Oh my goodness. So you went from a home that was roughly 4,000 square feet and the boat? Oh, I don't know. It was small. It was small. And how many did you have on that boat? There were five of us. Five. Well, and you were all still speaking to one another after? Loved each other all that much more. Oh, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. That really must have been a challenge going from having everything in a lovely home with probably a bedroom for each child and you're coming into a boat, talk to us about, I mean, what was it like after the honeymoon period was over? The honeymoon period, to be honest, kept going. The problem was when I brought the kids home for a little part of the time, then they didn't want to go back to the boat. Oh, I see. But they learned to be creative and play with less and they've made magical people out of latex gloves and we had puppet shows and so it was a great experience. Good, good. So you were back and you moved back into your home, I'm assuming. And so how did you actually, how did you transition from being a boat person? From being a boat person. Well, everybody went off. So the kids went off to school, my husband went off to work and I found myself sitting in the kitchen missing my family terribly. But what I tried to do was not over schedule the afternoon activities for the children, have that quality family time. And I really simplified my home. I went through my attic and thought, why am I really keeping this? Do I use it? Do I love it? And I started the process in my own home. So for you, it sounds like that was a fairly easy transition between looking at what you had and downsizing when you were in your current home or at that time. So how do you help folks with your business? So you started this business and you are a co-owner. So you've got another partner and you obviously partner with other companies. So what other companies do you partner with? So when we go and do a client's home, we take a look around and then depending on the scenario, we can bring in antique appraisers, consignment stores, donation companies, junk haul to make it an easy process. And to try to get them the most money for their items that they no longer want. Okay. So you are coming in and you're reviewing everything and you're giving the customer a plan. So how do people find you? Lot from referrals and a lot from our website. Okay. So are you finding that seniors come to you or do you find that their adult children are coming to you? A lot of times the adult children reach out to us because as you know, families are busy. Adult children often are both working and they have their own children and sometimes they just know that mom or dad needs some help. Right. So that's where we kind of come in. And see what we know also is that and you and I are both adult children. So I'm speaking very candidly is that we sometimes as adult children can be the evil empire to our parents. And I say that lovingly and I say that a little bit of a joke because we find that as adult children, sometimes we weigh in on our parents lives when we're not always welcomed to weigh in. Now this our audience knows sometimes I use my father as an example and he's he doesn't watch the show. He always asks if he gets some revenue from the show because he knows I mention him. But but contemplating downsizing downsizing could mean and help me with with the understanding here but it can either be where you're selling your belongings and going or you're reorganizing the things that are in your home that make it a clearer and cleaner environment, cleaner being visually clear as well as removing what I would be remiss in that saying is our fall obstacles right obstacles. So I would like to focus on on how you bring everybody to the table in a discussion because as I said sometimes the evil empire which are the adult children are making these suggestions and they aren't necessarily welcomed by mom and dad. And I can appreciate that because I have that dynamic in my family. I would think that you would be not telling the truth if you said you never experienced that in your family. So how do you how do you help everybody understand? So I tell everyone we're kind of the neutral advocate and the we are being an advocate for the client. So even if the adult child hires us and they're paying us sometimes our clients are the people that we are working with in the home and they are ultimately the ones that are making the decisions. Okay. Yet with that same in that same venue you know there are certain issues that the adult children would like to weigh in on what would they like possibly mom and dad to keep for them later in life. Okay. What they value and they also are with the parents during the holidays so they might see hey mom last time you cook Thanksgiving dinner remember you had to have make it up on that step still to get the platter. So it's a it's a discussion. Right so the conversations are different between when you are brought into a home to try to reorganize. So you're walking into a kitchen what are some of the things that you're seeing and what are some of the things you're asking and and having a conversation with the senior. So the first thing is to determine what they use every day and those items should be accessible. They shouldn't be getting up on a step stool to reach a platter and heavy items should be on a lower cabinet that they just lift up for example the crock pot or the kitchen aid mixer but the everyday dishes should be accessible near the dishwasher easy to unload your dishwasher and put it in a cabinet you're not reaching over and awkwardly around the dishwasher. So things like that and you know everybody has too much of certain things in their kitchen. That's true I think coffee mugs I think about my cabinets I think about my friends cabinets and so how many coffee mugs do you have Susan? Well I with my children now the adult children harping in on me I have less around so I have about six coffee mugs so I'm maybe kudos to you I'm ahead of the curve there in this conversation I'm not sure I'll venture on to other ones but you are most people have 35 to 40 coffee mugs and every coffee mug has a story right? WBR every time years ago right? WBR you would be giving your hundred dollar donation and you would get a mug so we had WBR mugs you're right or places that you went you might bring a souvenir back or somebody gave it to you but maybe you only really use four or six and then the others can either be let go of or put on a higher shelf to make room for other things. Right and you know you did make a point about stepping on a stool to get to something so I had a conversation the other day with an individual that was in our office and I don't know how we got on to the topic I think because she had a shoulder injury and and she couldn't lift her her arm right beyond this right and she was she was beyond surgery in in her particular situation and I said well how do you get to things I said please don't tell me you're stepping on a stool and she goes well I have to step on a stool right and all I could think about is stepping on a stool even though I'm sure her stool was very sturdy right trying to reach up and I said and I did make a comment to her and I said have you ever thought of reorganizing your kitchen yes um to get things on a lower thing so you're right and it's it's just all you know coming into play here so no so that's that's really very important when you start thinking about where you are I mean if you have osteoporosis right you could be you could have been five seven and now you're five five I have somebody who's moving and she must be four and a half feet and she's having all her cabinets lowered right she can access them right so she's so she's making her home um more accessible to herself yes um and that's great news because we really encourage people to live in their homes as long as they're able every person makes a decision that fits their life and lifestyle right whether that includes taking into consideration the adult child that comes in and makes a suggestion or whether you're just like you know what I've had enough of the house it's taking too much of my energy to do right um so what if we moved on into something like a living room what are you you know when your eyes are going so living room they're they're two things from a safety standpoint you might want to look at your rugs do you have area rugs are they tripping hazards um sharp corners on coffee tables things like that if you're moving it's a little bit of a different scenario because anyone that comes into your home wants to envision themselves in your home so all those lovely lovely trinkets and tchotchkes that we all have whether it be humble figurines or collections right you know those are important to you but those really should be boxed up and put away so that when a prospective owner comes and walks through they're seeing the house in the room for what it is okay so those so in this conversation now we're talking about two different things so we're talking about the fall safety hazards so that's a piece of what you do is you come in and you assess the area and it's not unusual that we had the couch and the two or three chairs in the living room and then we had the the coffee table and then you've got the lamp over here but some of the older homes have lamps you know lights in the ceiling right not so much in the newer construction right and when that lamp goes out then you can't see as well then you might have the lamp with a cord I mean the list goes on and on right so you also assist with that you make the evaluation of the space sure to make it more manageable in terms of reducing fall hazards and just a little fenchway in there that maybe instead of the the couch with the three chairs one may be a rocker one may be a swivel but to reduce it to what you need for your life at this time so we have that piece to it right and then we have the piece in prepping the home with the idea that you might be selling your home and moving you've got the piece of what you keep and what you what you keep give away and donate well give away is donate right or give to kids or whatever you're right and we can talk a little bit more about how you go about that but the other piece is and I'm just going to ask if you know where the person is moving are you able to then take the measurements to help them with the idea of how it will fit into their new yes and we work with one independent living community and they have somebody on site that does all the floor plans and a lot of those communities do have somebody do the floor plans so that the client knows right what they can fit in and what they can right but this is the piece of the conversation that nobody nobody really I shouldn't say nobody it's not something that comes to mind because I think you made a comment earlier about when you go into your home you want to feel like it's your home yeah so I just remember when my father transitioned from his retirement home into where he is now is that he was picturing his 1800 square foot contents right moving into 900 square feet which just can't happen right and right and walls are configured so so when you have the working with a professional staff at the independent giving you floor plans and whatever that's great because corners I always say that you're buying furniture for the space that you're living in and that and that may not move with you right conversely there's more than just the furniture it's the boxes and on move and day the boxes can go down the corridor yeah if somebody hasn't really been realistic about their new space and what they can take right and I have one client and I interviewed her for a segment we did and I said you know do you miss not bringing anything like your waffle maker your kitchen aid and she said I must admit if we have waffles I'd buy them frozen so so she's adapted her life around being realistic right right right and that's an important piece of the puzzle yeah so when you're helping people sort through how do you how are the piles how do you help them organize their so typically we go room by room and we we say you know is this a keep or a question mark at this particular juncture in time yeah or you're really okay with letting it go and we always tell clients that there's someone on the other end of that donation who is going to love it and we have a great way to frame it woman who was having trouble letting go of somewhere for clothes and she said okay I'm gonna make up this imaginary friend called Mary and as she was going through her closet she said Mary is starting her first job interview she is going to love this outfit so if you really think that it's going to somebody who wants it and needs it yeah that helps that really that that's an awesome way of describing it because that helps with that transfer of ownership right because I found that in downsizing when the kids when my kids were leaving home college and establishing their own I took the time and the things that they were no longer using I tried to pair it with someone who could use it right and it makes you feel better right you know I didn't really think of it that way but that's exactly you want your items to go to somebody who will enjoy them and appreciate them just so that you know my grandmother's china is still wrapped up in the box that it was sent to me 10 years ago and in my basement I cannot let that go I will be honest with you so you're going to have people like me that would not let go of the grandmother's china so I would say to that what was the intention of grandma's gift to you well it was actually it went to my mother and then my mother and father were downsizing their house because I'm like wait a minute I started to I started receiving all these boxes do you love it I love the memory of it you love the memory of it and so that's an important thing to recognize the difference between the item and the memory right right and then wanting to pass it to one of my three children I have two boys and a girl there where they are in their life and where they are just in their age cohort the value of grandma's china my grandmother's china they're great grandmother and this is no disrespect to my grandmother or how they view it right they don't it's not the same connection to them right and so therefore it sits in my basement because there's going to be some time I just pull it out and use it I which would be great and that was the intention grandma would want you to use it but there's also joy and right but there's also a time in this discussion how you help someone transition between the things that we love whether it's the wbr mug that says carp dm right you know it just it has no relationship to my last name other than my name is on the mug it's gone now by the way good or or the mug that has the picture I mean how can you how can you get rid of johnny your susie because you've got too many mugs in your house I feel like it's like throwing the favorite picture away right but but these are the transitions so the buckets the or the declutter busters clutter culprits of clutter culprits so if we can talk a little bit about that and how how we can address that because we all have it we all have it even for those of us that that have downsized for a couple of years so right so we always tell people do your items own you or do you own the items let's say that again so do you own the item or just the item only you so a lot of people are so bogged down by the stuff in their home and that's where I feel like the stuff is owning them it's it's becoming a pressure and a distraction to their daily life versus we own the item we have the power to say you know does that bring me joy um or can I you know do without it so and we'll always have the memory even without the item well I can see that you've navigated a number of these conversations before so when you first enter a home um how long from start to finish well I guess I guess it depends so that's a hard question if you're being called in or retained um to help reorganize the home for safety so you have an initial visit you create a plan yes and then you work on having your client your customer the senior um agree with your plan well it's not my plan it's our plan our plan okay right okay that's right working with a senior to determine what they use what they like maybe they have bookshelves that are just crammed with books that they no longer really care about yeah and they'd rather have their figurines decoratively displayed on that bookshelf so it's just going room by room and and taking a look at as we said before safety okay concerns so then you you come in and you bring a crew in and it's done in one day do you take a week no typically in that scenario it's working one-on-one with a client okay um if if it's a move it's a different scenario because it involves a lot of packing but if it's just organizing a home it's really a one-on-one okay all right so do you find is in the seniors there while your seniors has to be there okay because they're the only ones that can make the decision okay as to whether they like something or what they use okay we find that four hours is just kind of the time that we should be leaving mm-hmm it's a lot of decision-making right and they're done at that point they are happy to see us leave and when you're coming in to help with the actual downsizing so downsizing um we're gonna just from where you're wanting to basically move from your home into another home okay so that is a huge daunting task for many they might have lived in their home for 47 years right collected 47 years of things maybe they raised their family there their children's things there may still be there mm-hmm so that's a lot of decision-making and um we tell clients every potential owner buyer is going to open every closet and built in cabinet and take a look and if there are a lot of things in that closet the house is going to scream no storage yeah right but if you open a closet and it's just coats in there right and maybe hats and mittens then that's you know a different a different scenario right so that could act that's really the first part of the process is that you're wanting the person to take a look at their home and start in your boxes your what usually we have three boxes going and it's you know things that you want to keep but maybe not need in the next year while your house is being shown so for example those well in arlington it's shown probably a few days and gone so there you go okay so you can pack up your trinkets yeah to go to your new place and take pictures if they were in a curio cabinet yeah take pictures so you can recreate it on the other end oh that's an excellent idea make it feel or if you're needing or if you're needing to package that up and give it to a family member or if you need to package it up and sell it to an antique or some other dealer yes you still have your visual of the things that you had that were important to you and i also tell people when they do that because a lot of clients will say oh my kids might like that well set everything out on a table yeah take a picture of it send it to your kids yeah and see what they say yeah exactly right exactly because you don't want to ship a box to arizona right for something that might not be used or appreciated right so really on on the downsizing piece you come in and you do your your preliminary cleaning out or separating into your different categories yes whether it's one or two cups or whether it's a whole you know dining room table full of of things right minor in the basement not on the dining room table but and then you're coming back when the house is sold right and you're coming to finish pack getting things packed up and moved correct so at that somewhere along the line you have some sense of what's going based on where they're moving because not all of your moves are in massachusetts i'm sure some of the moves that you coordinate are out of state correct because i find that sometimes when our seniors are moving yes they can be moving closer to family in massachusetts or it's not unusual that families are geographically challenged and they're actually moving to an entirely different state right so a company such as yours can do both in the sense of let's make sure your home is as safe as you possibly can be so that you can stay here until you don't want to stay here anymore so that's looking at at just living space and the functionality of that space right right so we're not talking installing grab bars no we're talking about organizing things almost like an occupational therapist would would take a look you know and they'll feel a lot better right you're doing it and you know what i also tell people if you don't do it a do it as a gift to yourself right but b sometimes think about it as a gift to your children i had one client that i worked with and she said you just have to come over and help me with the boxes in the basement and we went down there yeah and there were truly 30 boxes from her mom's home and then another 20 because she took over all of her uncle's items okay and home and there were lots of tears going through those boxes because she didn't know what was valuable or sentimental to them and she couldn't make decisions on certain things and she just felt so bogged down by it all so it's there there are lots of reasons to do right and organizing and to tell you the truth project you know unless we had a program like this our listeners might know not understand what a company such as yours whether it's your company or whether it's another company the kinds of things that that you can have done you know to help you out in the house whether it's as i said whether it's basically making that environment as safe as it possibly can be right which means you know because when you have the couch in the three chairs it's because you've had a family growing up there and maybe there's just husband and wife maybe there's just um maybe just one person is left in the house so you know do you need all of that where you're kind of like you know going through a path in your own house right or if you're looking at completely selling and and making a transition the company such as yours um those are the kinds of things and these are the kinds of things that when you're looking at companies you can listen to what deb and i have talked about and you can sort through maybe what your needs are right so now deb is a lot of people really don't realize that there are resources out there oh help them this is what we know this is what we know sometimes think oh my gosh how am i going to do this all on my own i can't right well not many people can right right and even you know sometimes if if you're in the process of of interviewing real estate brokers for example when you're selling a house that might be the first entry yes into a company such as yours but i think what i'm wanting to make sure that folks know is that if you're in your own home and you want to stay in your own home and it just seems overwhelming that companies such as yours can also have that um that piece of the business and these are questions that you'd want to ask yourself you know for our listeners oh okay i didn't realize that there were companies that could also do that i thought i had to wait for my daughter my son or my neighbor or whomever to come help me out so that's good even if they're books that you're not sure about that can be packed up and go to the attic or to a kind of a right holding area and to get them out of that bookcase that is becoming too cluttered and right because they also might still have that attachment so that right that pre-contemplation phase about what do i do with that whether it's that coffee month yes don't talk to me about my grandmother's things on my base and i did have okay i'll give you that one i did have one woman who did a major renovation and we packed up a bunch of boxes and they were shipped to well all of half an hour to her son's basement yeah safely stored during the renovation i saw her recently and i said how's it going she said do you know i haven't even brought those boxes back yet see i thought they were so important right but i'm really liking yeah it takes electricity and it takes a while it really does um but now as we we've covered a lot here i found this to be very very very very helpful in understanding not only what ship shape organized can do and you can't say that three times quickly no because it's gonna come out wrong it is a tongue twister how did you do that um but are are there any other aspects of um your fields or your company or anything that you want to share with us before we need to wrap up um well we can also help with the move and interviewing moving companies for you which is of course a lot of people don't know who to trust or where to go and and then ask the movers those important questions to be sure that they're insured and that everything right eyes are dotted and tees are crossed as we say sometimes when you pack your own things they don't ensure they don't ensure them they don't and people don't realize until it's a little too late right and also they don't ensure really they'll only ensure 60 cents per pound right so oftentimes we encourage people to take their additional insurance and check with their homeowners and this is not to disparage any moving company because i'm sure there are many out there but but yes so um well i really appreciate you coming and and um having some time with us on living out loud i have learned something new i just want to recap that um companies your company in specific you do things that reorganize the the current living space so that someone can live more comfortably and safely in their own home um you do some preparation for uh getting the house on the market if somebody's choosing to sell and you also help individuals as they transition from the home that they're living in into their new home that they'll be residing in and unpack them so the coffee maker's plugged in and the bed is made and it sounds perfect it sounds perfect but um this has been great um and we hope that you've enjoyed us and deb thank you so much again for joining us thank you and until we see you again