Downsizing Simplified Celebrates!
- Cindy Murphy
- 4 days ago
- 12 min read
Episode #16: It's our 19th birthday, light the candles!
This week, the "Living Smaller & Loving It!" downsizing blog is taking an unconventional, slightly (or more than slightly) lighthearted look at the past 18 years in business. We've got a few stories to share!
As always, please see our ANNOUNCEMENTS at the bottom of the page. We've got a downsizing LUNCH & LEARN event coming up at Foxwood Springs Senior Living on March 24th — see the details below.
Another Year Older!
Time to Celebrate.
March 1, 2007, was the day we hung our OPEN FOR BUSINESS sign out. The best part of those 19 years has been helping our many wonderful clients through their later-in-life downsizing journey.
The experiences we've had are too many to mention, but as part of this birthday celebration post, I'd like to share a few that stand out in an unconventional and whimsical way. I've always said that having a sense of humor was a necessary component for doing this job. So, in that spirit, here are a few "I'll never forget when" moments commemorating our nineteen years of working with the best clients, some of which, as you'll read, kept us on our toes. Prepare for a little humor, a head-scratcher or two in the "woo-woo" section, and a bit of sadness. (No one was hurt during these work-related escapades.)
I'll never forget when...
...movers were unloading our clients' belongings, and an elderly neighbor came around the corner and drove halfway up the lowered ramp of the moving truck. (The sun was in his eyes, he said.) Thankfully, no one was on the ramp or nearby. The elderly gentleman needed help backing down the ramp. He was fine, just a little embarrassed.
...I arrived for a sorting and paring down assignment and was greeted by a parakeet that had been given free-flying reign of the apartment (no caged bird here) by my client. For two days, I dodged and ducked this bird as it flew around, landing on different things, including my shoulder several times, always startling me, of course. I was glad when this assignment ended, as it was way too stressful keeping an eye out for the little yellow missile speeding around in the airspace.
...the team arrived on a snowy, cold January morning to finish packing our mid-80s female client, load the moving truck, and then head out for our several-mile drive to her new 3rd-floor apartment. Our client loved wearing high heels, and on this snowy day, she chose high-heeled boots. When it was time to leave, I started her car, then walked her out and got her positioned behind the wheel — she'd be making the trip alone (no family was available). I had things to finish up inside before I left, so I headed back to the house.
About ten minutes passed, and I came out the front door only to discover her car was still parked and running in the driveway, but she wasn't in the driver's seat. I called her name, and the only response was a faint "help!" coming from the direction of the car. I hurried over only to find her on the passenger side, halfway under the car. She had gone around the car to get something out of the back seat. She lost her footing (those damn high-heeled boots) on the snowy driveway, fell, and slid under the car. This woman was tall, 5'9"ish, and half of her body was under the car! To get her out, I had to clear a space out of the snowbank next to the car so I could get behind her and pull her out. This rescue operation took some time, but aside from a very cold bottom and legs, she wasn't injured. Once freed, she got back in the driver's seat and took off!
...I was unable to convince the client to pare down some of her clothes, or they wouldn't fit in her new closet space. She refused, saying she wore everything and couldn't give anything up. We made the move and started unloading the wardrobe boxes onto the new closet rods. The weight of the clothes caused the upper rod to collapse, which then fell onto the lower rod, collapsing it. There were clothes everywhere. A very long time was spent picking up and sorting out the tangled mess of clothes. Solution: a rolling clothes rack was purchased and brought in to hold the excess, done.
...I was shown a specially built, climate-controlled room in the client's basement with lighted display cases along every wall full of Pre-Colombian artifacts. It was an amazing sight! The client, in his early 90s and a retired Spanish teacher, had spent many summers travelling to Colombia, South America, bringing back artifacts for his collection (all legal at the time). His amazing collection was donated to a museum prior to his move.
...our client had us pack a crazy (I mean CRAZY!) amount of craft supplies, and when asked about them, she admitted she hadn't used any of them for years.
...our client decided to take her sister's pain medication for her sore back, and I had to call 911 after she started exhibiting signs of "intoxication". She was scolded by the paramedics for taking her sister's meds, but didn't have to be transported to the hospital. This client also had the meanest cat in the world. Every time you came near it, it would hiss and take aggressive swipes at you.
...our client had us pack eight full sets of everyday dinnerware (8-10 place settings each), which amounted to an enormous number of boxes. The thinking was that she could switch out the dishes when she wanted. So, only one set was unpacked for use, and the rest were piled high along the garage wall.
...we were fired early on day two of our 5-day packing assignment by a hoarder who couldn't stand us touching her stuff. Her illness kept her from understanding that in order to move, everything had to be packed in boxes. To this day, I'm not sure how she was able to get her apartment-sized hoard packed and moved.
...I arrived to finish unpacking and organizing my client's new apartment, and he told me he had crashed the driver's side of his car into the large concrete pillar next to his underground parking space. The pillar obviously won!
...we arrived to pack our late-80s client and, with her help, discovered canned food, paper products, and bottled water she had stashed away all over her large two-story home. Pulling the food out, checking expiration dates, and then packing the unexpired items took time. To keep the trash/recycling weight down, we had to open the expired cans and dump the contents into the disposal (more time!). The client had no idea that bottled water expired, and there was lots of it.
...we arrived to clean out the duplex of a deceased woman for a trust officer/bank and discovered how much this woman loved to smoke cigarettes. She used a fairly large storage room off her garage as her smoking space, and unfortunately, many items were stored on shelves in the room. Needless to say, nothing was salvageable because of the nicotine film that covered everything, and it all went into the dumpster. Gloves and masks were required.
...we arrived to set up an estate sale for a 90s elderly woman and discovered that one large bedroom in the home had hundreds of stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, not many were sold at the sale and were donated. I was told a year or so later that the ones she took to her new apartment were present at her funeral (aww).
...we had to call the Highway Patrol so the client could surrender his firearm. Speaking of firearms, on another job, we were warned by the client's son during a packing session to watch out for his father, who may be carrying a gun--WTH!. (The son thought he'd got them all put away before we arrived, but he couldn't be sure!)
...I spent a day packing several boxes for a couple, only to come back after the weekend to discover all the boxes had been unpacked and everything put back where it had been. (Dementia played a role in this, which brought about "family present and assist" business policy changes when working with a dementia client.)
...I did a 10:00 a.m. consultation with an older potential female client, only to be verbally accosted by her extremely intoxicated son, who lived in the basement. Much yelling and threatening from the son to his mother, along with accusations of me trying to get her to sign contracts, NOT! This situation came about quickly and could have ended badly; thankfully, it didn't. I reported the verbal abuse of the mother by her son to the retirement community, which had sent me, and refused any future dealings with her until the son had been removed from the home.
...on the first morning of a packing job, the client told me how to do my job. When I offered pushback with valid reasons, the client began to cry and yell at me, telling me I didn't know what I was doing. Quickly recognizing this situation was not good, I told her I obviously wasn't the right person for the job. I called the daughter who had not arrived yet and explained what had happened and that I would not allow verbal abuse of any kind. The daughter begged me to stay until she arrived. She talked with her mother, who calmed down, but over the course of the next several days, her instability would flare, and I'd have to remind her that I would not stand for any verbal abuse. I insisted that the daughter and/or son be present to run interference for me until the job was completed. Six months after the move, I received a call from the son asking me if I'd pack and move his mother again. I had to say, "NO!" to this job. (Another policy had to be put in place...)
...the client insisted on renting a 10' x 10' storage unit to store her seemingly valuable costume jewelry collection. I'm sure there was value to the collection, but I wasn't sure that a large storage unit was necessarily the answer for ten jewelry boxes.
...we arrived to pack, and the clients had a dog who made it clear that we were not to get close to the woman of the house. As I was walking down the hallway, minding my own business, the dog came up from behind me and hard-snipped me on the back of the leg! Yes, it hurt, and yes, I insisted the dog be put in a secure area of the home.
...we were setting up an estate sale and discovered a Civil War-era cannonball buried in the client's garage. Apparently, the owners had been moving it with them for years. The local police bomb squad took the cannonball to a nearby field and blew it up. They said it wasn't safe, and of course, we couldn't sell it at the sale.
...and finally, the "Woo-Woo" Happenings (a.k.a., the hmmm, can't explain that!).
The chair that rocked. We were setting up an estate sale, and the basement of this large ranch-style home had been designed and built out to resemble a town from the 1800's (I kid you not!). There was a saloon with a massive bar and tables and chairs around the perimeter of the room with a dance floor in the center, a barbershop with an antique barber's chair, a bookstore, a billiards hall with a huge antique pool table, and a mercantile/general store (facade only). The bookstore and the general store had small front porches with railings. The general store had two wooden ice cream chairs on the porch. Taking a break one afternoon, a team member sat down on one of the ice cream chairs. A short while later, the chair next to her rocked as if someone was getting up from it. She was the only one in that area of the basement...no other team members were around. She still talks about this spooky ordeal to this day.
The light in the window. Another estate sale setup found us scratching our heads over a small lamp in the front master bedroom window. As we were leaving one evening, walking by the window, we noticed the lamp was on. We went back into the house and turned it off. (It was a touch lamp--touch the base and it turns on.) This happened a couple more times—the lamp would turn on on its own. I finally unplugged the lamp and moved it across the room to another display table. No more lamp lighting issues.
The boat that couldn't stay anchored. Again, another estate sale, this time involving a decorative boat that wanted to change its display position. A team member went into the room to start working where she'd left off the evening before. She immediately noticed the boat had moved from its original spot to another table. Ahoy matey!
Knock-knock. During a small house sale setup, we were working in the living room. Adjacent to the living room was a bathroom. Our work was interrupted by loud knocking on the bathroom wall. We went to investigate. There was no one (that we could see) in the bathroom. This happened a couple more times in this house, different walls, same knocks.
Steps in the living room. Another sale! We were working in a family room when we heard the front door open and footsteps on the living room hardwood floors. We came around the corner expecting to see someone standing in the living room. Guess what? No one was there, and the front door was locked!
Lamp on, lamp off, lamp on, lamp off. Another lamp in a living room that couldn't make up its mind if it wanted to turn on or off. I had to unplug it; it was becoming annoying.
In closing, not every sale we did (our last sale was in the fall of 2021) had spooky vibes; however, if there was a certain feeling in the home, we could detect it rather quickly. Situations like those mentioned above require respect for whoever may be sharing the space with you and their belongings. We know not everyone will believe our encounters, and some will think us a little whacky, and that's fine; we get it.
That does it for our unconventional Happy 19th Birthday post. This is actually something I've wanted to do for a long time. Writing these brought back so many memories, and I assure you, there are many more that weren't included. (I'll think about sharing those another time.)
Thanks for stopping by!
Cindy Murphy
Downsizing Simplified
March 2026 Memories Shared
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"Living Smaller & Loving It!"
ANNOUNCEMENTS
All About DOWNSIZING Lunch & Learn.
Foxwood Springs Senior Living Community, a wonderful community in Raymore, MO, will be hosting my "Living Smaller & Loving It!" downsizing event on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 11:30. This LUNCH & LEARN is a supportive, no-pressure event designed to help you take the next step with ease. There is limited space, so R.S.V.P early (and tell them Downsizing Simplified sent you).
This event is also posted on our STORIES, SNIPPETS, & SHARES web page.
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Our Downsizing Information REACH is GROWING!
Knock-knock, we've got site visitors, and we're excited about that.
Take a look at where our unique visitors are coming from on our
STORIES, SNIPPETS & SHARES web page.
(February Stats)
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COMING UP Spring 2026: As our new "Senior Living in Kansas City" web page prepares to launch (Spring '26), I wanted to share some statistics that we've recently compiled regarding the senior communities that are currently available in the Greater Metro. The "Senior Living in Kansas City" page will list all communities in the Metro, organized by State, then alphabetically by Region (North of the River, etc.) and City.
Our new "Front Door" Program will give participating program communities direct links from their community listing on our page to their homepage. Page visitors will be able to choose the part of the Metro they prefer to live in, the type of community they desire (IL/AL/MC), then select the community, click, and visit! We believe this page will be a valuable resource to our site visitors.
Now the numbers, Metrowide...as of this post (2/11/26), there are:
79 Independent Living Communities
99 Assisted Living Communities
39 Memory Care Communities
TOTAL COMMUNITIES: 217
In addition: 69 Senior Apartment Buildings and Subsidized Housing Units/Apartments
*For communities wanting more information regarding our "Front Door" Program, please connect with us via the CONTACT page, by phone (816) 358-6338 or email, info@downsizingsimplified.com (all accessible through the Contact page). The "Front Door" Program is an affordable participation opportunity!
COMING UP: A new RESOURCES page. This page will feature both not-for-profit and for-profit business resources for seniors. All listings will have direct links to the company's website for immediate contact. If you are a for-profit business and would like more information on listing costs, please use the CONTACT link.
Here are some of the for-profit businesses that conduct business with Seniors (click the arrow to expand or collapse the listing):
In-Home Health Care
Adult Daycare
Elder Law & Estate Planning
Dentist
Physician
Hearing/Audiology
Optometry/Ophthalmology
Podiatrist
Hospital/Clinic
Housekeeping
Insurance
Transportation
Moving
Personal Chef
Personal Shopper
Veterinarian
Realtor/Real Estate Services
Automotive
Junk Hauler
Home Improvement
Plumber
HVAC
Electrician
Estate Sales/Auction
... and more!
Stop by our new TESTIMONIALS web page. We wanted to share some of the feedback our customers have given us about our services. We are proud to have served the downsizing community for 18 years with quality services. We begin our 19th year in business on March 1st.
Please like, comment, share, and subscribe; we appreciate your support.
Click here to explore the website, send a message, give us a call, or schedule a free consultation.
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