Senior Downsizing in Calgary

Looking for Downsizing Help in Calgary?

Most people find us the same way. A suite has come up, or the stairs have stopped being reasonable, and somebody types downsizing help Calgary into a phone at nine at night. The house has forty years in it, the new place is a fraction of the size, and everyone has an opinion about the dining set.

We are based at 16 Midlake Blvd SE in Midnapore, deep south Calgary off Macleod Trail beside Fish Creek Provincial Park. That puts us where this work happens most, the bungalows and bi-levels of Midnapore, Millrise, Shawnessy and Sundance, and the newer suites in Cranston, Auburn Bay and Mahogany. This page is about the process. The moving service that goes with it lives on our senior moving service in Calgary page.

Start Earlier Than You Think You Need To

The thing that makes a downsizing move go badly is starting late. A three bedroom house with a full basement and a double garage is not a weekend, and not really a month either if the person moving is to have any say. Families who start eight to twelve weeks out stay calm. Families who start ten days out decide in a driveway with a truck idling.

Start with the rooms nobody uses. Crawl space, spare bedroom, the storage room off the furnace, the garage shelves. Almost none of that is coming, and clearing it gives an early win without touching anything emotional. Leave the bedroom, the kitchen and the photographs for last, because that is where being rushed does real damage.

The Keep, Gift, Donate, Sell Decision

Four piles. That is the whole system, and it works because every item gets a decision instead of a maybe. The piles are not equal in size, and knowing that in advance saves a lot of argument.

Measure the New Suite Before You Decide Anything

This is the step that gets skipped, and skipping it is why families pay to move furniture that comes straight back out. Before a box gets packed, get the floor plan from the residence, then measure the real thing with a tape.

Write down the wall lengths in every room and mark where the windows, doors, radiators, baseboard heaters and outlets sit, because a wall with a heater under the window is not a wall you can put a headboard against. Measure the suite door, the corridor, the turn out of the elevator, and the cab including height. Measure the storage locker, and find out whether it is in the suite or three floors down. Ask the residence in writing which suite type the family is getting and get that floor plan, because the gap between a studio and a one bedroom is often the difference between keeping the sofa and not.

Then lay the keep pile onto the plan to scale. A table for eight, a china cabinet, a queen bed, two dressers and a recliner will not coexist in a one bedroom suite, and seeing that on paper settles the argument in ten minutes. We walk this with families as part of the quote, and our page on what a Calgary move costs shows how the hours get built.

Coordinating With the Residence's Own Move-In Rules

Almost every Calgary seniors residence, condo board and apartment building runs its own move-in process, written down somewhere. Ask for it before you pick a date. You want the permitted days and hours, how the elevator is booked and for how long, which entrance the crew uses, where the truck may stand, whether a certificate of insurance or a damage deposit is required, and who signs the crew in. Our guide to Calgary condo move-in rules covers the building side.

Know what kind of housing you are moving into, because Alberta's terminology is specific. The Government of Alberta explains on its continuing care overview that supportive living accommodation is a setting where people stay as independent as possible with access to services as their needs change, while continuing care homes are licensed as type A, type B or type C. Ask the specific building for its own move-in rules and any limits it puts on resident furniture, because those are set operator by operator.

Families who also need the paperwork sorted can get free support from Unison at Kerby Centre, whose Seniors Support department lists help with financial benefits and pensions, housing applications and tax filing for Calgary seniors.

Where to Donate in Calgary

This is the part people get wrong. Every organisation below publishes its own accepted items list, and they differ in ways that matter. Check before you load the car.

Habitat for Humanity Southern Alberta ReStore

Best for furniture, cabinets, doors, windows, hardware and appliances. Their donation guidelines list furniture, appliances newer than 10 years old, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, doors and windows, unopened flooring, home decor, sinks, faucets, bathtubs, new lighting, hardware and tools. They do not take clothing or bedding, electronics, mattresses, sofa beds, futons, box springs, used flooring or lighting, used window coverings, infant furniture, car seats, or anything exposed to smoke or pet hair. ReStore offers a free pickup for larger items, booked by submitting their donation form, and the same page lists (403) 291-6764 ext 1 for questions.

Goodwill Industries of Alberta

Best for clothing, housewares, books, linens, toys and jewellery, most of what comes out of a downsizing kitchen and closet. Their what to donate page lists clean clothing, footwear, housewares, linens, sporting equipment, artwork, collectibles, jewellery, toys, games, books and media, bags and purses. Read the limits, because Goodwill does not take mattresses, upholstered furniture, large appliances, computers, paint or aerosols, and furniture only under 50 lbs at their Impact Centres. Goodwill states that 93% of its revenues go towards helping Albertans with disabilities find meaningful employment. For the furniture Goodwill cannot take, that same page points Calgarians to Calgary Dream Centre, Habitat for Humanity, Inter-Faith Furniture Society, WINS YYC and the Free Goods Program, so check the current Goodwill donation centre list before loading the car.

Women In Need Society

The one to remember for mattresses. WINS is a Calgary charity, and its donate goods page says it accepts new and clean gently used clothing, household goods, and furniture including mattresses. That page says large donations and furniture can be dropped at the Dover, Glenbrook, Macleod, Manchester or Donation Centre locations, during operating hours and until one hour before closing. It gives the Donation Centre as 137 to 7007 54th St SE, Bay 26, Calgary AB T2C 3C2, phone (403) 255-5102 ext 1203, open Monday to Sunday, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

What Nobody Will Take

Every downsizing job produces a pile that is genuinely finished. Broken particleboard shelving, stained mattresses, a 1988 console television, half tins of stain in the garage. That goes to a City of Calgary facility, not a charity. Per the City's landfill and Eco Centre rates page, residential loads under 250 kg (550 lbs) are charged $25 per load and heavier loads are charged by weight, with electronics, household hazardous waste, clothing and tires taken at no charge. The City's landfill locations page puts Shepard at 12111 68 Street SE and East Calgary at 3020 68 Street SE. If you would rather skip the trips, our Calgary junk removal crew clears the leftovers.

How We Price a Downsizing Move

Hourly, for the actual hours the crew works, quoted up front before anything is booked. The rate covers the crew, the truck, the dollies and straps, the blankets and shrink wrap, the rubber backed floor runners, and the complimentary wardrobe cartons, mirror cartons and mattress bags.

What moves the hours here is different from a normal house move. How much packing you want us to handle, the stairs between the basement and the curb, whether family pieces need a second Calgary drop off, and what the residence allows at the other end. Downsizing shrinks the load, so a house to suite move is often a shorter day than house to house. We walk both places with you, then break out the crew size, the packing hours, the moving hours and any storage before the family commits. Wrapped and inventoried storage between homes holds whatever is undecided, and our Calgary packing service covers the hard rooms.

A few things we have learned running downsizing moves out of south Calgary.

These habits separate a calm downsizing move from a stressful one, and none of them cost a dollar.

9 Downsizing Tips Worth Knowing

1. Get the floor plan before the first box. Measure the walls, the doorway, the corridor turn and the elevator cab. Every keep decision hangs off it.
2. Clear the unused rooms first. Crawl space, spare room, garage shelves. Almost none of it is coming, and clearing it builds momentum.
3. Two hours at a time, one shelf at a time. Long sorting days produce boxes labelled miscellaneous. Short sessions produce decisions.
4. Pin down the gift promises. Who takes what, and which date they collect it. Anything still in the house on move day becomes a storage bill.
5. Match the item to the charity first. Mattresses to WINS. Cabinets, doors and appliances to ReStore. Clothing, books and housewares to Goodwill.
6. Photograph the house and the furniture. An album of the rooms as they were lets somebody keep the memory without keeping the sideboard.
7. Paperwork rides in a car, never on the truck. Wills, deeds, titles, tax records and banking go in one labelled box with a family member.
8. Get the residence rules in writing before booking a date. Move-in window, elevator booking, which door, where the truck stands, who signs the crew in.
9. Set up the bedroom and the chair first. A made bed and the favourite chair on the first evening matters more than anything else.

Frequently Asked Questions