My move to the retirement facility (If joining the thread late, at least skim the first few posts)

In My Humble Opinion
21

Looks like a pretty decent sized place. You’re packing a lot of stuff in there and you’ve got plenty of closet space too. I think you’re pretty lucky something like this was available on short notice. Not lucky that you needed it in the first place of course, but mixed blessings are better than none at all. And you reserved space for the most important piece of furniture, a nice big TV. That’s smart planning!

So everyone hates moving, but we all gotta do it eventually. I think you’ll do fine. And I have to say I’m surprised you’re 75 years old, you don’t post like you’re a day over 50.

22

This was the last place available of this size, so yeah, very lucky. The only ones left are one-bedrooms, and that just would not have worked.

Groovy! This whole thing is such a gas.

23

This was SOP when my parents lived in an independent apartment at the retirement facility, for just about every resident who ate lunch in the dining room.

Just curious, is the dining room in the same building as your new apartment? Also, what about mail delivery? Is mail delivered to your door, or is there a central location that contains everybody’s mailboxes?

24

Dang, you are all ready for your movers with the whole apt. mapped out and labeled. Bravo, though September will be here in a short minute, you seem well prepared.

25

The dining room isn’t in my building, but it’s a very short walk. They provide umbrellas in a stand by the door. :rofl: BWA-HA-HA-HA! Umbrellas-- that’s a good one. I guess you could use one to avoid getting sunstroke.

This could be tricky.

I just had a conversation with the Marketing/Admitting person about this. She gave me te Official Procedure. Then I called my friend who has lived there for a couple of years and she said ignore everything the woman said and do it my way.

The front door of the building I’m (we’re) in is always locked. Residents have a key fob to open doors all over the campus. Each door (except the front door also has a key pad and you have your own code.) (The key fob is also used to keep track of meals in the dining room.)

The front door of our bldg has a call box-- God, I hate those things! When I was in my book club, ALL of the members except me and one other person lived in gated communities and they all had them. They were invented by Satan.

My friend said she put the address of our building as her amazon address and then added instructions for the driver to use the call box to call her number. She can hit 9 on her phone and open the front door so the driver can leave package(s) near the bank of mailboxes inside the building. My friend said once she figured out this system through trial and error, she’s rarely had problems getting her stuff.

The Marketing person OTOH told me to put as my amazon address the address of the other building on the campus because that building is open during business hours and a volunteer receptionist will receive your package and call you to come down and pick it up. There are little carts and wagons available for bulky stuff.

My friend said this is a BAD system and when she followed this Party Line procedure she could not be sure she was getting her packages. There were many screwups and missed deliveries. (Did I mention the receptionists are volunteers, i.e., residents…) Besides, it’s a long way over there for us from our building to pick up shit.

I get a lot from amazon. Some weeks I might get 4-5 deliveries, including a couple on one day. I don’t want them going astray. So I plan to follow the field-tested procedure, not the theoretical one.

For regular mail and deliveries by USPS we can use the address of OUR building, because USPS has access to the building, which amazon does not. So they can put mail in the central bank of mailboxes for our building. For small-ish packages there are larger boxes that lock and they put the key in your regular mailbox. Many of you will be familiar with this system…

However… I have not has this experience because…in my current house I have an old-fashioned mail slot next to the front door. The letter carrier just shoves the mail right into my living room. Sigh. :cry:

More adjustments.

26

The flaw in that system is you need to be in the apartment when the package arrives. Or am I missing something?

27

The furniture placement was pretty easy. When I moved to this house, I made a similar document in Photoshop. I just went back to that document, which already had all my furniture, and dragged the pieces into the new floor plan. I spent a few hours at the apartment with my tape measure.

I’ve also rented two storage units in the basement of my building (a basement in Texas!), so I don’t have to make final decisions on every single thing immediately. They’re $15/mo each chain-link cubicles maybe 5’X10’. When I moved the last time, as I said, I walked away from half my possessions. I don’t want to put myself in that kind of bind this time. I don’t need to.

28

She can hit the 9 on her cell phone wherever she is in the city. She doesn’t have to be in the building. She does have to have her phone handy. She sees the incoming call from the call box on her phone and she answers or just hits 9 and that opens the street door.

Maybe one of you that is familiar with this system from your gated community can explain better. When I was in my book club, you’d pull up to the call box in your car and either key in a code or scroll to their name in a call box of some kind. (Really fun in the dark, with cars piling up behind you.) When they heard your call they might answer by voice and you’d say, “It’s ThelmaLou,” and you’d hear a beep and the gate would open. Or sometimes when you got through they wouldn’t answer, they’d just beep the gate open.

Once the front door is open, the amazon person brings the package in and leaves it by the mailboxes where you can pick it up. It is sitting out, but not as “out” as when it’s on the front porch of your house.

At one point, I thought my friend told me the amazon person will actually bring the package into the building, carry it to the door of your apartment, and leave it on the floor there. But I might have misunderstood. I’m only getting about 3-4 hours sleep at night and not tracking terribly well.

Did I answer your question. If not, do ask me again. I really want to understand the process that works and I’m not 100% sure that I do. Yet.

29

That makes perfect sense and it’s a good system.

30

Good decision! I hope you get settled in quickly and meet some great people.

31

Assuming the “building” with basement storage is in your building in the retirement facility, if so that is awesome. If they have one basement I would hope all buildings have them and more importantly that there is at least one large social/shelter area in case of emergency/loss of power.

32

Yeah, my storage cubicle is in the basement of my building. Don’t know about emergency plans yet.

33

I can attest to the greatness of this system from the delivery side. I’ve had customers open a gate and then unlock a door for me when not at home to physically receive a shipment.

My question is, how did you find such a great moving company that they would unpack and put away?
Unpack sure, we do that, but putting stuff away is something the customer had to arrange separately with someone if they wanted help with it. I dunno, now that we’ve been sold to a different company, maybe…:thinking:

Oh, also, the facility dining room, what sort of kitchen staff, do you know? Many a lunch I have eaten, in a facility I was moving someone into, that was pretty good. Around here, senior living facilities tend to have accredited chefs running the dining room and kitchen and the food is pretty dang good.

34

Let us address for a moment the issue of making my freely-in-and-out kitties into strictly inside. They’re both about 10, so not quite as frisky and active as they were as kittens. And I’ve had them both since kittenhood. One of them I bottle-fed as she was a foundling.

I’m setting them up in the walk-in closet in the den and lining the floor of that closet with a rug from here so it will have familiar smells. Of course, they’ll have the run of the place, but if I need to close them in the den, I can. I don’t plan to close them in the closet, but I hope they will see the closet as a hidey-hole of sorts.

When the company maid comes, I’ll put them in their carrier. I may still keep my cleaning lady who’s been coming for 10 years, because we’re close and I love her. (And she needs the income.) My friend tells me that the company cleaner is in and out of the apartment in about 45 mins. I think there’s just the one for my whole building.

There are two washers and two dryers in a room about two steps outside the door of my apartment. Very convenient. I only do one load of laundry a week anyway.

35

Just google “senior moving services” “senior relocation” or something like that. There are a lot of these companies.

This is the one I’m using:
https://www.generationsteam.com/

Here’s another one:
https://www.caringtransitions.com/

Check out the services. Packing, moving, unpacking are all part of the offering. Also estate sales of what you don’t take. Disposal of what’s left.

Not cheap-- my move will be $5,000, but worth every penny IMHO.

I don’t know the qualifications of the chef, but the food is really good.

36

Regarding Amazon deliveries, I would encourage you to suggest the building add an Amazon Hub Apartment Locker, which provide a secure spot to receive packages from Amazon and other services. There’s one in my apartment building and it works well. (Prior to us getting that, I would have Amazon deliveries sent to an Amazon locker location at a nearby supermarket.)

37

That’s a great idea.

It’s not good to have residents become too used to buzzing in anyone who calls out “Amazon!” at the front door. Sooner or later, someone gets buzzed in who doesn’t belong there.

38

I’ve got a good feeling about this! My partner and I are in our 60s and we have talked about when, not if, we will move into a place like you describe. We’ll follow your adventure with keen interest and again, salute you for your insight, foresight, and clear sight!

39

The delivery people would still need access to the locker location, but that can be placed someplace secure.

40

Huh, I was thinking of the ones outside of 7-Elevens. Interesting.