How to Keep What You Love During a Move

Downsizing evokes different emotions; parting with some possessions feels jarring, but donating or throwing away other items creates an exhilarating moment of lightness. The Senior Moves team understands that moving and downsizing elicit numerous emotions. 

Our team is often tasked with helping clients decide what to keep. However, there is one rule we often follow in managing the organization of possessions. We believe that items that bring happiness are worth saving, but we also know that some clients have many cherished items. To help understand how to keep what you love during a move, use our guide to discover the items that bring true joy. 

Table of Contents: 

How Senior Moves Saves Mementos 

What to Do With Old Letters and Cards? We Can Create a Book 

Digitize Photos: How Tech Saves Cherished Photos 

Saving Handmade Items and Artwork 

Memory Quilt Ideas 

Knick Knacks: How Senior Moves Organizes Tiny Treasures 

Exhibit a Personal Collection 

Books are Priceless 

Key Takeaways: 

The items that are beloved should always make a move. The Senior Moves team creates organizational strategies to allow clients to keep what they love.

How Senior Moves Saves Mementos 

Downsizing does not equate to throwing out all possessions. The process of downsizing requires a mindful understanding of what to keep and what to donate or discard. While every client’s case is unique, the Senior Moves team helps all clients uncover what items to keep and move to their new home. 

Several items/mementos are standard “keepers.” These items include: 

● Favorite books 

● Photos and photo albums 

● Notes, cards, and letters from friends, family, and loved ones 

● Special clothing items (from children) 

● Handmade crafts and artwork 

● Personal collections 

● Knick knacks with a special meaning 

Everything Should Have a Space 

Every saved item must have a space, and possessions should not clutter a home. Any item can be saved, and the Senior Moves team works to find a home for each item. This space can be a shelf, an area of the wall, or even a more creative solution. 

If a cherished item brings joy, our team wants clients to keep that item. However, any item that takes up space but isn’t used or cherished might be better off in a donation bin or left out for the trash pick-up. 

When a client chooses to keep any item, we aim to find a strategy for organizing, storing, or displaying it. Senior Moves uses creative solutions that help ensure that items can be saved without sacrificing space or organization. 

Saving Cards & Letters: Creating a Unique Memory Book 

Many clients have an abundant collection of old letters and cards. What do you do with these treasured mementos? Again, when every item needs space, organizing all correspondence into order sometimes necessitates creativity. 

One simple solution for organizing these items is to create a memory book. Large retailers like Walmart and Target offer three-ring binders and clear page protectors that can be used to create a book for storing cards, letters, and other written memories. Our team helps create these books for clients, saving these precious items.

How Senior Moves Organizes Cherished Photos 

Years ago, photos were printed and stored in envelopes or photo albums. In today’s digital world, these photos can be scanned and saved to a device. In addition, photo albums can be printed with digital photos. Transforming hard-copy images into digital files saves space and time. 

Photo collages or framed photos also enable clients to save the images and create unique artwork for their walls. Collages can be themed for anniversaries, vacations, birthdays, etc. In addition, digital picture frames exhibit a collection of images; these pictures scroll in the frame, allowing guests and visitors to see various cherished images. 

Solutions to Preserve Handmade Items and Artwork 

Children often create handmade artwork and crafts as gifts to their parents or grandparents. These unique pieces serve as tactile memories. Artwork and drawings are collected into extensive collections, and choosing a few favorites for framing might be necessary. 

Thanks to digital technology, all of those masterpieces can be saved. The team at Senior Moves can photograph each drawing, painting, or craft and digitally preserve it. 

Turn Old Clothing Crafts into A Memory Quilt 

A memory quilt is designed from special garments; these quilts include the clothing of a lost loved one, while others are created from t-shirts or jerseys from a child’s youth. Memory quilts also allow individuals to keep special baby blankets and garments in a meaningful way. Small pieces of clothing create the patches used to make the quilt, which can be draped on beds, sofas, or even displayed on a wall. 

Senior Moves helps clients preserve special clothing and linens by working with companies and individuals who create these unique quilts. 

Personal Collections: A Labor of Love Worth Keeping 

An individual’s interest might lead them to amass a collection of items. We have seen many unique collections through the years and understand the dedication and joy that collections bring. Some clients collect vintage records, baseball cards, figurines, or model cars, and collections can also align with a theme. For example, a collection focusing on the individual’s interest in elephants might feature plush animals, statues, jewelry, or even lamps. 

If a collection brings joy, we help you move it! We focus on creating a solution for storing or exhibiting the collection, ensuring it fits into the new home. We can even create a designated space that accommodates for more additions to a still-growing collection.

Senior Moves Organizes (and Saves) Joyful Knick Knacks 

Many of our clients save knick knacks they received from friends and family or tiny treasures that they purchased during a vacation. Knick knacks are those little statues, figurines, or items displayed on shelves, mantles, bookshelves, and nightstands. 

Over the decades, these tiny items grow in number. By the time seniors need to move or downsize, knick-knacks might be displayed in every room in the home. Should they all be saved and moved to a new space? 

Knick knacks are tricky possessions. These tiny items hold many memories, some with more meaning than others. If knick-knack collections are extensive, we might recommend that our clients only take the most meaningful items. However, there are always exceptions. 

Some clients have space for all their tiny treasures and are adamant about keeping all these memories. If every tiny figure holds joy, we work with clients to find a solution to move them to the next place. Again, creativity can be key. Floating shelves or display cases can store these treasures. 

The Stuffed Bookshelf: Why Books Are Never a Burden 

Avid readers and book lovers do not need to donate all the books in their library. Books are bound reminders of characters and adventures that transported the mind to another place and time. Personal book libraries can be vast, overflowing on many bookcases and shelves, spilling out of boxes, and hiding in drawers. 

In some cases, not all of a client’s bound adventures can move to another home. Yet, the Senior Moves team believes that a client’s favorite books should always make a move. While choosing which books to donate and which books to keep can be difficult, the decision simplifies when our clients understand that donated books always enjoy another life. 

Senior Moves always recommends keeping any autographed book, rare or higher-priced hardback books, and any book an individual wants to read repeatedly. We all have a favorite book; you don’t have to part with yours!

FAQ: Keep What You Love 

Does Goodwill take books? 

Yes, Goodwill accepts books for donation. However, the Senior Moves team can also find other organizations for book donations. We also help our clients create book displays to keep the books they love! 

How do you display collectibles on shelves? 

Senior Moves has years of experience with organizing collectibles and creating beautiful displays. Trust us to showcase the collections, knick-knacks, and items that make you happy. We will find a place for everything you want to keep. 

Where to make a memory quilt? 

Memory quilts incorporate different articles of clothing, old blankets, and other textile items to create a meaningful quilt. The Senior Moves team will help find trusted individuals experienced in creating these beautiful quilts. 

What is the best way to digitize old photos? 

The Senior Moves team has a process for digitizing old photos to preserve them forever. We help every client keep all photos organized and help create photo albums to showcase all these memories.