Moving Tips for Seniors: How to Pack, Downsize, and Stay Organized

As a senior, moving can be an extra challenging experience. When it’s time to pack up your family home, you’re met with decades of memories and treasured possessions to sort through. At Genie Senior Services, we understand the specific needs of seniors during this process, whether you’re downsizing, decluttering, or transitioning into a new phase of life. Here are some of the packing strategies we employ to make the moving process less stressful.

Declutter Now, Downsize Later

Just like with any move, it’s helpful to sort through your belongings ahead of time, purging what you don’t want to bring with you to your next home. If the idea of decluttering your home sounds overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be if you:

1. Start Early
2. Create Categories
3. Prioritize Sentimental Items

Start Early

We recommend starting the decluttering process early, whether you plan on downsizing later this year or a few years down the road. This allows you the time and mental space to declutter at your own speed, as this can be one of the more emotional aspects of moving as a senior. It can also help you avoid the last minute panic and stress of decluttering your home too close to your move date.

Create Categories

As you go through your belongings, sort each item into one of these four categories:

• Keep: Items you need/want to bring with you to your new home
• Donate: Gently used items that others can use
• Sell: High-value goods that could earn you some extra cash
• Discard: Broken, outdated, or unusable items

By keeping these four categories top of mind, you’ll be sorting through your belongings with (relative) ease before you know it.

Identify Sentimental and Useful Belongings

As you work your way through your belongings, you’re bound to run into some items where you just don’t know if you should keep it or not. In those instances, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Does this item have sentimental value to me? 
2. Have I used it in the last year? How often?
3. Will it work in my new home?

If you said yes to any of the above, consider keeping the items. If not, don’t be afraid to part with things that no longer serve you. Or for example, if something is sentimental to you, but it won’t work in your new home, consider passing it on to a family member, so it can stay in the family as an heirloom.

Easy Packing Strategies for Seniors

Once you’ve finished decluttering your home, the next step is packing everything up. With the right strategy, packing becomes less stressful and more manageable. Consider employing strategies such as:

1. Use quality packing supplies
2. Pack room by room
3. Use labels and create an inventory
4. Keep boxes light
5. Ask for assistance

Use Quality Packing Supplies

The items you’ll be bringing with you to your new home are now your most cherished possessions, so treat them as such! Invest in quality packing supplies such as sturdy boxes, bubble wrap, packing tape, and clear plastic bins.

Working with a moving company? When you work with Genie Senior Services, we provide all of the packing materials and wrap your items with care to ensure they make it to your new home without being damaged.

Pack Room by Room

The easiest way to get overwhelmed while packing is if you try to pack stuff in every room all at once. Packing room by room can reduce your mental strain by breaking down a big task into smaller, more manageable tasks. Let’s use your bedroom for example for how you can easily break down one room at a time:

• Bedroom
  • Side table
    • Surface 
    • Drawers
  • Under the bed
  • Linens and blankets
  • Dresser
    • Surface
    • Drawers 
  • Closet
    • Shirts
    • Sweaters
    • Pants
    • Undergarments
    • Shoes
    • Bags
    • Accessories

Sounds less intimidating than just packing up “the bedroom”, right? Going room by room can also help you stay more organized as you work through your house, knowing what has been packed and what hasn’t yet, which leads us to our next strategy.

Use labels and create an inventory

As you pack up your belongings, it can be helpful to create an inventory of what you just packed in each box. For example, you could:

• Create a master inventory spreadsheet in a program like Excel or Google Sheets that corresponds with a number on each box, then list out each item in that box
• For the less digital savvy, you could handwrite a note that lists out each item that has been packed in that box before sealing
• Label each box with the room it should be unpacked in. You could also include a brief description of what’s inside each box if you don’t do a full packing inventory
• Use colour-coded stickers to denote which room a box belongs in, like the green for the kitchen, yellow for the living room, blue for bathroom, and so on

There are many ways to keep track of your items, so do what works best for you and your moving situation.

Keep boxes light

One of the most important tips is to keep your boxes light! You might think the better strategy is the fewer the boxes, the less there is to move, therefore it will take less time. However, this can easily cause boxes to become too heavy to lift or potentially cause injuries, which would slow down the moving process altogether.

Select a box that’s an appropriate size for what’s being packed. Lighter, bulkier items can go in larger boxes, whereas books, heavy collectibles, or small appliances should go in smaller boxes. It’s very easy to overpack a box with a bunch of small items, because you don't realize how quickly the weight adds up. Lastly, do your best to keep the weight evenly distributed in each box, so you’re less likely to drop it when you pick it up.

Ask for assistance

Moving is too big of a big task for just one person—it needs to be a team effort to be successful! Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance from family and friends, or hire a senior moving service like Genie Senior Services to handle the move for you.

Moving as a senior doesn’t need to be an overwhelming experience. By following these efficient packing tips, asking for support, and staying organized, you can ensure a smooth transition into your next chapter. Whether you're moving for the first time in decades or helping a loved one downsize, remember this isn’t just about items. It’s about honouring memories, respecting emotions, and creating new possibilities.

Need additional help with an upcoming move? Book a free consultation and allow us to show you the Genie Magic.