Letting Go and Moving Forward and Office Makeover

June 2018
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I worked with Melinda Walker, owner of Athens Pet Sitter to make her office more inviting and to designate a place for every item ( brochures, promotional gifts, forms, office supplies and we selected a cute bucket for stuff that needs to be removed from her office. Melinda and I are members of ASRN, Athens Senior Resource Network. Melinda is on the board.

We did a trade in services. Her staff took care of my 3 cats while my family and I vacationed in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Here is a photo from my trip. Her employee sent me notes and photos everyday. I plan to use them for now on. Not only did they take care of my pets they brought in the mail, took out the trash, and watered the plants.

Let Go and Move Forward 

Downsizing and selling your stuff
We had the CEO of MaxSold, Barry Gordon, fly in from Canada to speak at our NAPO GA meeting in May. MaxSold is an online Auction Business. He shared some very insightful facts with us. He told us, “What stops people the most from moving forward in their lives is their stuff.” I see this a lot in my business. Here are a few examples of what people have told me about their relationship with their things.
 

• I will look for a job that fulfills me after I organize my attic and bedroom (years later they have not organized anything)
  
• I will move into a Senior Community if I can sell my stuff for X amount of money. They are not able to get X (what they feel the stuff is worth). They fall and break a hip and then they are stuck in their old home with Caregivers. The outcome may have been different if they would have followed their dream and not worried about a small amount of money.
  
• Not moving into a smaller house or another house because the idea of sorting through their stuff is paralyzing
  
• Not getting rid of items like old monitors and printers that are never used.
  

 Gordon told us to ask our clients and I do, “Why is it important?” Why on earth would you hold onto stuff that you don’t like or use simply because you think it is worth an extra $50 to $300? This amount of money is not life changing! For most people the items they have to sell are not worth thousands of dollars. People do not want to be swindled by other people. They don’t want to accept less than they think something is worth. Antique Furniture and Collectibles are not worth what they are used to be. Google it, you will find many recent articles that explain this. Check out this article, “How Low Will Market for Antiques Actually Go.” Gordon tells his clients,  “If you love something keep it and sell the rest for what you can get for them.”  
 Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right? I love that quote from Dr. Phil. Don’t let your things control your life.This includes having a storage unit that you pay $300 + a month for….why??? Here is a great article by Becoming Minimalist entitled, When the Stuff You Own Keeps you from Your Dreams.”

Adele Gross
Chief Executive Organizer