 Welcome to the Business in Hawaiʻi Show. I'm your host, Stela Nyanagida, and my guests and I are live from our home offices on Oahu, Hawaiʻi. If you want to tune in to any of the Think Tech Hawaiʻi shows live, we are at www.thinktechhawaii.com. While there, please subscribe to our programs and get on our mailing list. The theme of Business in Hawaiʻi is to share with you stories of local businesses by local people. Our guests share with us their expertise, trials, and tribulations while building successful businesses right here at home. From our stay-at-home orders and now as we cautiously venture to our new normal, many of us have vowed to take on cleaning projects around our homes or help loved ones sort through clutter that they always have wanted to tackle. If you are like anything like me and simply don't know where to start, my guests today can help you with that. In the Think Tech studio today is Cynthia Arnold of Declutter, Hawaiʻi. Welcome to the show, Cynthia. Thank you. We have a presentation prepared and so I think we're going to launch right into that. If we could start with the presentation slide. Take it away. All right, well thank you for having me on Think Tech. Today we're going to talk about your declutter solutions to age and pace and to also move. I know right now everyone's at home looking around at their home and thinking, oh my gosh, why do I have all this stuff and how do we go through it? So this is actually what we do on a daily basis. So we call ourselves Hawaiʻi's decluttering specialists. We have two companies, Senior Move Managers and Declutter Hawaiʻi. We are the same company and I'll kind of give you an idea of where we started and how we got to where we are today. Next please. So I like to joke around first. If you've ever tried to really go through your stuff, you know how emotional and crazy it can be for you to think about your things and to think about getting rid of them. So we like to joke around a little bit. So one of the comics I use is I'm the clutter theory. I'll come back. I'm going to need a much bigger wand. A lot of people look at other stuff and think, oh my god, can you just go and be gone? Well, unfortunately we can, but that's one of our comics. Next one. So who are we? We are Senior Move Managers and Declutter Hawaiʻi. We started in 2010 and we're a family business. Actually when we started it was myself and my uncle and auntie were the owners or are the owners and through that I had siblings, I had cousins, I had my friends work for us and basically it was the people I trusted in my circle that I wanted to then entrust on our clients. We call ourselves the One Stop Shop Support Team where we may not be the solution to your problem, but we'll help you go through your problems to help you find the correct solutions. I tell our clients, you know, we can be your personal assistant. I've helped clients go shopping for furniture or even cute, you know, little men that are widows now, they don't know where my wife, where his wife bought this or where his wife bought that. So we end up really just helping them find solutions to their problems. So we started in 2010 and the pictures I'm showing, NASM is a National Association of Senior Move Managers and we started with them in 2010 when we started our business and it's a national association of all other companies like ours, but in the mainland we are still the only company on the island of actually the islands of Hawaii that are part of the National Association of Senior Move Managers. There are 500 other companies like us, but all in the mainland, in Canada and I think there was one in Italy, Europe, so we're getting all over the world. The pictures I'm showing on here is actually the one on the top left-hand corner. We went to our first association conference in 2010 and we did this full, it's like a sensitivity training where we had goggles that were different diseases, like if you had cataracts or if you had diabetes, so that we can see what our clients would see in those situations. We also rode in, had to wheel myself to the bathroom in a wheelchair. We had to use a walker. We also had to sign a check with our non-dominant hand. They did all these activities for us so that we knew what our clients would be going through themselves with different types of diseases or different types of ailments as they get older. We were in 2011, 15 Craigside, the retirement community was built and I was there groundbreaking and as they were building and we moved in more than half of their clients when they first moved into 15 Craigside in 2011. Next slide. Now in 2012, oh sorry, these are pictures of some of our happy clients that we moved in. Unfortunately, some have passed since we've moved them in and we've gotten really close to them. One of our models is, we treat you like family and quite honestly, I still remember almost all of our clients. I visit our clients that we had 10 years ago just so that they know that we still care about them. They do really become family. I was actually pregnant when actually all these pictures were taken. I was pregnant when we first started this business. As the company grew, I grew as well and our clients got really close to my daughter who is now nine years old. I told her when she was born, she was born with multiple grandfathers and grandmothers. Next slide. In 2012, we started a company called Declutter Hawaii. Now it's the same company, we're the same employees. It was just a marketing, we started Declutter Hawaii as a marketing tool because clients would call us and say, you know, I'm not a senior and I don't need to move, but I really need help with the sorting aspect or with the getting rid of stuff. Can you help me? That's why Declutter Hawaii was born. Basically, so that people could know that they could call Declutter Hawaii and get the same services because when people think of senior and move, they only think you help seniors and you only help them move. So Declutter Hawaii was born because of that. And this is one of the pictures of one of our clients. We helped to declutter their home and to age in place. I also am certified aging in place specialist, which is a CAHPS certification. And basically, that means I can help clients if they want to stay at home. And how to do that, right? Like, what do they need to do? Do they need to modify their kitchen or their bathrooms or even how to get up their stairs as they get older? So I am CAHPS certified as well. Next screen, please. So now in 2020, after 10 years, we've served over a thousand clients. We help clients to move. We help clients to age in place. And we also help clients with hoarding. Now hoarding is probably one of the newer things going on right now where it's not visually seen in Hawaii as much because we're kind of, you know, more quiet about our stuff. But you have the hoarders show that came up. There's a hoarders buried alive show. Hoarders has started to become a big thing going on and not necessarily because of the hoarding, but because it tends to be a mental disorder, which is part of that hoarding aspect of it. It's not necessarily physical, but it's also mental. We've also done about 200 plus seminars on decluttering. And I was talking about this presentation and it's different for me because we usually want to just educate people how to declutter, how to go about going through their things, which I'll talk about shortly. But we've done over 200 seminars on decluttering all over the island. I've even done them on webinars now. We've been to probably 50 senior fairs, health fairs for different organizations. And this year we got the Circle of Service Diamond Society Award, which is on the screen as well. That is for our commitment to our community and our assistance in our community in Hawaii. Next slide please. So I just wanted to go over what some of the things that we do to help our clients and how we help them process this decluttering. Most of our clients have retired and they're deciding, what am I going to do? Am I going to move to a retirement community? Am I going to stay home? If I stay home, what should I do to my home so that I can stay in my home safely? I usually have a video that I like. It's one of the commercials for a bank where the grandma opens the door and says, oh, hi. And the son comes in and the mother and the daughter-in-law and the kids and the pig. Well, that's kind of what we've been seeing, is that adult children, now that they got married in the mainland, did their schooling, have a job, their adult parents are aging, now they're starting to move back home to take care of their family, to take care of their mom and dad. And that's what we're seeing is that the adult children are moving back home to take care of their parents. Maybe you've tried starting to declutter. Maybe through COVID, you're thinking you're making some headway, but yet whenever you look around your house, you're still thinking, why do I still have all this stuff? I've been decluttering for three months. Well, we'll help you to get over that hump and actually make progress. Next slide, please. So, just to let you know, so we help clients not only downsize and declutter. We actually help them go through all their items. We help them to sort through it, decide what they want to keep, what they want to take with them if they move. So we do help with the moving process as well as the aging in place and home modifications. The other thing that we do, which is different, is we help clients with estate clearouts. An estate clearout is when a loved one is passed away and you have a vacant home now that mom and dad have passed away or usually it's auntie and uncle or brother or sister. And they have an entire home filled with stuff, but you don't have the time to be able to go there every week or every weekend to help sort through and clear out auntie or uncle's home. That's what we do. We come in like for your family and we help you to determine what you want to keep, what you need to give to the lawyers or your accountant and we'll help them to process through everything in the home to clear it out so that it can then be sold or rented out or given to a family member. Through this process we do, like I said, help with the actual moving as well as getting you packed unpacked and all that. Next, please. So our decluttering services, like I said, we help you to sort through your things. We plan everything from start to finish, help you determine what you're going to keep, what you're not going to keep, creating a floor plan or space planning for your current home because a lot of times I just went to a home last week and I could barely get the door open. I had to shimmy my way through that door just to get inside the home and then I followed the client over some papers and books and boxes just to get in an area that we could stand and I almost fell and that's what we worry about in homes is making sure that it's a safer environment for you. We do assist with home modifications and help you with some organization tools. Next, please. So some of the tips that we talk to our clients about if you're going to age in place you want to make sure you remove the trip hazard. You want to increase your lighting. You want to remove the clutter obviously and add grabro bars in the bathrooms in walkways where it's very harder to get around as well as mobility issues. What is your mobility issues going to be like and how can you create a safer environment in your home? Next, please. Some of the repairs and renovations that we've helped clients do is painting, flooring, lighting, increasing security whether it's getting an alarm system or getting you that alert alarm system that you know if you fall it'll alert somebody. Updating kitchens, renovating bathrooms. We just actually did my grandmother's bathroom from a tub to a shower so it's easier for her to get in and last but not least aging in place type of modifications. Next. So these are some pictures of a home that we helped to declutter and organize. If you notice right in front in the before picture there's a wine rack but there were no wine bottles right. There is a treadmill in the middle that actually had hangers. Most times people joke oh the treadmill is used to hang clothes right. So some of those things that it wasn't really in the best best place to be in a living room and then of course we have a table that ends up being a collection table right not necessarily used for to eat on or to do your homework with our computer. It ends up being a collection table. So what we did was we went through that home helped them to downsize the items they need and don't need and then help them to put things in places so that it's more walking space. So if you notice there's a lot more floor space in the after picture. The other thing I talked about is increasing lighting and in this home we actually painted the inside of their home white so that it was brighter right off the bat. Next please. This is a picture of a bedroom. Now this was actually a child's bedroom and we noticed they weren't using very many things of course everything goes on the floor right. But what we did was we created just having a dresser and utilizing the closet for the things that they other space that they needed. This child didn't have as much stuff it was a high school child so it was just about teaching them habits like okay when you get home just don't take off your clothes and throw on the ground right. Kids it's a little easier to keep to have better habits if you teach them earlier than they even me as an adult right. I have a harder time figuring out keeping my habits good. Next please. This is a home office in the same house. What we did was we realized that the family wasn't using any desktops. So we took away one of the desks and we just kept one of the desks there with a desktop for their kids if they needed it. Most of them already had iPads or laptops so they could do their homework anywhere. Then what we did is because they had so many paperwork we bought a file cabinet and labeled it for each family member. They had three kids and then of course the parents. So what we did was we had every child had their own drawer and the parents had theirs as well. And we had to instill in the children and the parents that when you get home if there's things you need to file like schoolwork or bills or things like that that you put it straight into the file cabinet and file it yourself. So we helped them start that organization tool so that they could then be empowered to do it themselves. Next. So our moving services we do as well plan coordinate the move from start to finish. We do help them to sort through their items and downsize and declutter. We also then create a floor plan for them specifically for the unit they're moving to. And then we pack everything we move it and we unpack it and help our clients get settled in the in their retirement communities. Currently through COVID a lot of the retirement communities are not allowing family members to come into the retirement community. So we're the vendor that they call to say hey yes we can pack your clients things at their home move it to their new home unpack it and help them get settled. So that's our moving services next piece. Part of our moving services we also help with purchasing furniture. So a lot of our clients who've been living in their home for 50 60 years they have the same bed that they had the same sofas the same furniture. So clients want to purchase furniture will go and help them purchase furniture and help them to create the floor plan so it's comfortable for them. Next so letting go of your things now this is getting into how do we actually help our clients process through all the decluttering. We always talk about memories we talk about what their goal is because if you think about all the things that only talk about the stuff that's in their home they're never going to know what they can achieve. So the way we do it is we talk about goal setting and planning of plans of action. From there we keep them focused on what their goal is and what the action plan is as we sort through their items and as we organize through their items. Next please. Part of what we do is we help them with small things like these tips to conquering the clutter right. If you're at home and you're going to start a home project you really say you want to start with the least used areas and that's because it's the stuff that we haven't looked at we haven't really thought about recently right. A lot of times that's going to be your linen closet or the hallway closet or the extra bedroom that you are now calling storage right. It maybe was your child's bedroom and it's now all the stuff in storage your son still has his things there. Those are the type of areas we like to start first so that it's not as emotional to us as say our bedroom or our kitchen. We want to schedule time to get started set smaller goals so that we can get to the final goal which is our move or our agent place sorting through all of your items begin with high traffic areas mostly to increase safety right in our field we work with mostly seniors and if I got a call the next day that our client had fallen I would feel devastated. We've actually gone into those situations where we get the call from the social worker after a client has fallen in their home home unfortunately we've gone there where after it was too late or you know the door was was pushed in or the window was broken so that they could get to the client so we've been in all those situations and we want to now empower people to start doing things now so that they're not trapped with their trapped in their home with their stuff. You want to minimize incoming items and I always joke about this because when COVID first started and I went to Costco not thinking anything I was like why does everyone have like cases of toilet paper right I never really thought about it but we hoarded food we hoarded food we hoarded toilet paper anything we could get our hands on because we were scared right like what if nothing comes into the islands but the way I think about it too is make sure that you have enough but also that your neighbor will have enough right the opposite side of it is when COVID is not around we do see clients buy buy buy and buy and not have space for it so that they end up leaving it on the floor or leaving it in areas where they would never look there to find it so we want to minimize these incoming items I kid you not we have thrown away food from every single home we've been into because we all overbuy and even in my home we just went through and my husband found this orange chicken sauce that my daughter I think wanted and it expired last year so even in my home I do yes have some old food as well but it's something that we all do so I want to you know we want to buy what we're going to use one to save money and two make sure that we have the space for it that's but not least is the easiest thing is to share share your goals and be held accountable next so I have questions that we ask our clients and that we ask ourselves as we go through this so some of the questions you can think about as you're decluttering is do you really need it when will when was the last time you used it when will you use it again because if you haven't used it in five years most people will say oh I'm going to use it tomorrow or I'm going to use it next week and really it's because we're telling ourselves that because we ourselves know if I haven't used it in five years why am I keeping it right or what is this used for right how often do I use it is it replaceable now is it something I'm keeping but yet I can replace it for a dollar or two dollars later on when I need it where will it fit in your home and this is a great question especially if you're moving somewhere you want to ask yourself where will it fit in my new home and if it won't fit in my new home why am I bringing it right how often do I use it when will I use it again next week so this is our sort acronym that we use every day we talk about sorting with our clients and then as we go through this process we have four piles of stuff right sort is s o r t cell offer retain and toss now most people look at their stuff and think either throw out or donate which is true not very many things do sell nowadays especially you know with everything going on but the selling aspect needs to be something of value to other people it may be worth a million dollars to you but it might not be worth a million dollars to somebody else so when we talk about selling things we need to think about how much we would buy it for right how much would we buy a cup that said grandpa 2019 or would we buy something that is for an association that we're not a part of so those are some of the things we think about also will the younger generation buy it right because right now all of our clients who are usually seniors 70 to 90 they want to sell all their china but the people who are buying things that are used the 20s to 40 year olds they don't want china they don't want knickknacks they don't buy these things just because it's pretty right they'll take a picture of it and keep it in their home but so these are the four four areas of things that you're going to sort through you're going to either keep it toss it donate it or sell it next so why do we sort this is a picture of one of the homes we got called to go and do and next picture will show you how what we found in this home we found $16,000 in cash now somebody has asked me oh did you like to keep the money I said oh of course not it's not ours um the $16,000 of cash was found in the dresser in the back of the drawers if you pulled it out it was stuck to the back because I think the heat stuck the paper bag or the plastic bag to the back the next picture will show also other things we found which photos are something you can never replace it's irreplaceable right the black and white and we also found $20,000 of gold bars and that's the reason why we sort and we help our clients go through their items because you may not remember where you put things or you may not remember that you've had those things next please so this is just a funny comic I don't think you're getting the point of this exercise right we want to keep everything and toss and donate only a little well it should be the opposite when we're going through our thing next so I'm going to show you this is a picture of a hoarding situation we went into it was about a foot and a half of newspaper and things on the ground we had to obviously start from the ground and move our way through the house and up it was mostly newspaper which I do things with hfd and that's you know really dangerous especially in a fire situation we didn't know but there was a dining table and back of that as well as a sofa so now the client gets to sit on her sofa and enjoy her space next this is our team and our contact information like I said we have most of our employees have been close family friends or friends of ours somebody asked me yesterday always john your brother and I was like oh no he's kind of like my brother but we are very much like family next please and I want to end with this um compassion is something that you can never you can't train you can't buy you can't you know it's just something that comes in your heart and compassion has been something that's been very important to me as well as our clients and having that compassion to our clients and compassion is being tender with the young kind and gentle with the aged sympathetic with those who are striving tolerant with the weak forgiving with the wrong and forgiving with the wrong because sometime in your life you've been all of these and I end my seminars and my webinars with this because we really need to think about compassion we go into the most personal space of our clients and we want to make sure that they know that we have that heart for them and the last slide I'll show you is our future webinars so we do seminars in person but because of COVID we're doing webinars and we have a three series um declutter webinars which is the downsize and move declutter to age in place and lastly decluttering to avoid hoarding so if you are interested you may contact me by phone or by email and we can put you on the RSVP list thank you so much Cynthia oh my gosh I can't I can't even think about the numerous times I could have used your advice um so please everyone go to smm hawaii.com that that's your website um and you can also find the webinar series there Cynthia I wanted to thank you for joining us today it was an amazing presentation a big thank you to the production staff back in the studio if you would like to be a guest on our show please like us subscribe and leave a comment below business in Hawaii airs every other Thursday at 2 p.m and we look forward to seeing you here back