Product Description

Vickie Dellaquila draws on her experience as a professional organizer and senior move manager to share her most valuable tips on downsizing and moving. Here is a book that will help you downsize, organize, and move in an organized, efficient, and caring manner. With her background in healthcare and social services, Vickie brings expertise and warmth to helping seniors face the physical and emotional aspects of moving to a new home. Whether you are a senior embarking on this new chapter of your life or are helping family members or friends downsize and move, this book is your roadmap.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70213 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-02
• Released on: 2007-01-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 153 pages

Review
A book that guarantees a happy ending! With a heart for seniors and wisdom that can only come from experience, Vickie will expertly guide you down the road to a successful move. --Donna Smallin, Author, The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple

This will help you understand that it is not just about stuff , it is also about the memories, emotions, and life stages that stuff represents. --Peg Guild, President of the National Association of Senior Move Managers

Vickies compassionate approach and insight into the moving and downsizing process gives you the necessary tools to ensure a smooth and satisfying move experience. --Barry J. Izsak, President, National Association of Professional Organizers

About the Author
Vickie Dellaquila is a professional organizer and senior move manager, and president of Organization Rules, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through her business she has helped many clients de-clutter, organize, and simplify their lives. She uses her background in nursing and social services to help seniors downsize and relocate. Her expertise enables her to answer questions like: I have lived in a five-bedroom, two-story home for the past 47 years and need to downsize and move. How do I start? Vickie is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and a founding member of NAPO Pittsburgh. She is a current board member and marketing director for NAPO Pittsburgh, and a member of both the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM) and the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). For more information please visit: www.OrganizationRules.com

Customer Reviews

Don't toss this book away! (You're going to need it.)
I'm 61 years old. I live in a big house and have accumulated way more than I ever should have. Someday I'm going to have to downsize and deal with all the "stuff"--or someone will have to do it for me. That's when a book like this become a lifesaver. You couldn't ask for a more practical help.

Whether it's me who has to make the move, or my mom, it's a huge undertaking to even think about (let alone to actually carry out and finish!). A lot of emotion is involved when someone has to leave behind years of keepsakes and memories. What can we take with us? What will we try to sell (and how)? What could we give away? What will we have to throw away? Here's a book with answers--to make it all a little bit easier.

How do I decide it's time to move, or how do I convince my parents it is? Check out Part One. How do I sort through it all? Check out Part Two. What practical things should I be aware of when I move out (and when I move in somewhere else)? Check out Part Three. The book ends with over 25 pages of practical checklists: things that will have to be dealt with, all organized and ready.

The author has very clearly and concisely revealed the wisdom she's accumulated after years as a professional organizer and senior move manager. It's an easy read, a toolbox of experience. Every family should get this.

Downsizing possessions is a battleground or at least a minefield
This amazing book fills a specific void in the decluttering realm- that of providing practical downsizing advice and solutions for seniors (or anyone, for that matter) moving into smaller quarters.
The first part of the book focuses on reaching an agreement that someone, most likely an elder parent, has to move, and this is usually after a lifetime of accumulating possessions. Dellaquila emphasizes, whenever possible, involving those who are moving. Participation in decision-making is the most important part, emotionally and psychologically. The stage is set for control dramas and unpleasant confrontations between generations even in the best of circumstances.
The middle of the book details many of the nuts and bolts of moving, such as how to decrease possessions, categorizing what to keep and ways to part with things that once generated memories of life in the past. This section addresses such topics as what to keep and how to dispose of different items (which arguably are unique to each family).
The last part of the book is a set of resources and checklists for moving, valuable to anyone relocating their household.
This book gives an excellent overview of what to expect as a member of the sandwich generation, those responsible for their parents' quality of life in their later years. It will also be an eye-opener for those who, as they live longer and longer, have to plan for this latter stage of their lives.

Make time for this book!
Daddy was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and Mother could no longer care for him alone. It was time for them to move onto the next stage in their life and move in with us. Selling their house and life-long collection of memories was more traumatic for my sister and me than for Mother. What were we to do?

Vickie Dellaquila has the answers in her book "Don't Toss My Memories in the Trash". This is a wonderful book to assist you with cleaning out the clutter but hanging onto the memories. For example: Keep a teacup and saucer and sell the rest of the china set or use one crystal goblet for a pencil holder.

"Don't Toss My Memories in the Trash" is written in an easy to read format with check lists, references, and resources. If not for yourself, buy this book for someone who is moving or downsizing. It will make an excellent gift.