New Year’s Resolutions

It’s a thorny subject. In the past I’ve made resolutions, but they’ve fallen by the wayside. All those goals and targets not achieved weigh heavily on me, and make me reluctant to start the process again. But it is a new year and I can’t help but want to start with a fresh perspective.

So this year I decided to keep it simple. The idea came to me in one of those Christmas crackers you have at the dinner table. You know, the ones with the paper hat, silly toy and fortune cookie kind of saying. Mine said “Just when you’ve learned to make the most of your life, most of your life is gone.”

Before Christmas I had lunch with a past client, a senior who moved into a Retirement Residence almost 2 years ago. Since then she has put her heart and soul into exploring and enjoying all the amenities that exist there. And it has worked. She couldn’t be happier. As we chatted I decided that she is my role model for ‘making the most of your life’. Making the most of my life will be my resolution for 2011. And in my role as a Seniors Move Manager I will also do everything I can to help my clients to make the most of their lives.

I think that this year I can and will make it happen!

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Taming the Paper Tiger: Part 2

The clutter is gone. The rooms looks tidy. You know where to go to find a document or piece of paper. Now the trick is making it stay that way.

Here are 10 steps to maintaining your home as a clutter free zone.

1. Commit to making decisions. Don’t fall into the trap of procrastinating.
2. Use your FAT system when you open the mail or bring paper into the house:  File it, Act on it, or Toss it.
3. Be aware of what paper is coming in and ask if you really need it. For example, if you have 6 bank accounts and therefore 6 statements coming in every month you should re-evaluate whether or not you really need them all.
4. Buy a shredder.
5. Make a date each week to manage the paper. For example, Monday mornings at 9 you will work on and clear out the Action file, and remove all items that are in the toss area.
6. Establish the safe spot for filed items – a cabinet, or perhaps boxes in a closet.
7. Make your filing system easy to use. Color code them and make the labels easy to see.
8. Re-evaluate subscriptions. Do you really read them?
9. Donate magazines to local hospitals, retirement residences and the like on a regular basis
10. Review the filing system annually and purge older documents. For example keep tax returns for only 6 years.

Follow these easy steps and the paper tiger will stay in it’s cage!

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Taming the Paper Tiger: Part 1

For many the clutter problem begins with paper. Piles of it start appearing in every room of the house. It starts on table tops and expands to include the floor. Junk mail; old newspaper sections or clippings; statements from the gas company, phone company etc;  previous year’s birthday and Christmas cards; store flyers; and much more. There is no system. It is all mixed together.

So what is the problem. Usually the problem comes when you have to find a specific piece of paper or document. You can go crazy looking for it. Which pile did you put it in? It gets worse when during the search you come across your car insurance renewal form….that was due 2 months ago. Oops. Now you have to stop driving your car and reapply for insurance. It all just gives you a headache that won’t go away.

Here are 5 steps to follow to get your paper back in order:

1. Get help. Invite a friend to work with you. If you have let it get this out of control, you will need someone who will ‘tell it like it is’ while you are making decisions on various papers .
2. Set up two filing areas. The first is for items that need immediate or imminent action. The second is for things you want to keep so you can refer to them later.
3. Set up two areas for tossing. The first is for shredding. The second is for immediate trash.
4. Start by just sorting the piles in one room. Don’t work on anything. Just place each piece of paper  into one of the four new areas you have set up.
5. Set up categories in your filing area for the various types of paper items you are keeping. For example:  tax papers, household bills, investment information, recipes.

This is the first step to Taming the Paper Tiger. Once you have made it through the whole house you will feel a lightness of spirit that will have make it all worthwhile.

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Tips on How to be a Happy Senior

I’ve just read a great book by Lyndsay Green called ‘You COULD Live a Long Time:  Are You Ready?’ One of the most interesting segments encourages us to sharpen our interpersonal skills as we age so that we can maintain a healthy, happy set of relationships. If you are a senior moving into a Retirement Residence you know that you are going to meet a lot of new people, so this is good advice. The following are some of the tips she gives that we could all take to heart:

• Treat other people with mutual respect and acceptance.
• Try not to be judgmental.  Take people for who they are.
• Be ready to listen.
• Do not give advice unless it is asked for.  If people want advice, they will ask for it.
• Tell people you appreciate them when you get a chance.
• Be interested in other people.  People who are secure and less self-centred age more easily.
• Make people smile, and even better – make them laugh!

It can be difficult not to be angry about the changes that come with aging, but the clients I have worked with who are happiest and healthiest are those who exemplify this list of personal practices.  Even though I’m still in my fifties, I’m going to start now.

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THE NINTH INNING

As a Seniors Move Manager I meet a lot of adult children who lament that their parent(s) won’t consider moving because it signals the end of their life……their last move.

I love sports analogies, and one struck me recently. There have been a lot of really great ninth innings of baseball games. My personal favourite was the 6th game of the World Series at the Skydome in October of 1993. The Blue Jays went to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning behind 6-5. The crowd was going crazy. In the end, thanks largely to Joe Carter, we won the game 8-6. But all anyone remembers (with great joy) is that 9th inning. That ninth inning doesn’t have to be sad or depressing, it can be the greatest inning of the game. It’s all in how you play it. When I think back to my dad, he certainly made the most out of his ninth inning, and we all have many fond memories of the years he spent living in his retirement residence.

The other perspective is that not all games end after the ninth inning. The longest game in Major League Baseball history lasted 26 innings. So you can’t assume that ‘the end is near’ when the 9th inning starts. The game may go on much longer. My dad enjoyed almost 6 years at his retirement residence. For him it truly became his home.

So if you are involved with, or are a senior who is considering moving, put on your baseball cap, step up to the plate, and prepare to swing for the fence! You might be surprised by how much fun it can be!

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