When Jim and Francine MacDonald made the decision to sell their cherished family home of 30 years and move to a senior-living community, they had a clear vision in mind. Francine, a former marine biologist and passionate supporter of environmental causes, was determined not to add anything more than necessary to the waste stream. With sustainability and “reduce, reuse, recycle” firmly in their minds, the MacDonalds sought out move-making companies that shared their values.
Enter The Move Makers – where sustainability is not just a practice…it’s woven into our fabric. As we plan your move, we work on organizing and reducing your household to fit your new space. We carefully calculate the number of boxes needed for the move. We are mindful of the paper and cardboard packing boxes we use, recycling as many materials as we can.
As we discuss and plan your move with you, we help to find new homes for things you are ready to part with. During each planning session, a trained move manager works alongside you to organize your home’s contents. We help you decide what to take, sell, donate or dispose of. We supervise the planning and dispersal of those items you wish to sell or donate.
Sharon Swezey, a project manager with The Move Makers, had this to say about our process: “Usually, to help clients find a home for their goods, we hire a company who specializes in clearing things out. We have a couple of vendors we like who prioritize trying to keep as much as possible out of the landfill. The other common scenario is having the moving company take everything to donation after the move, but putting it in their truck at the same time as the move so it all can be dealt with on the same day.”
With that in mind, Francine MacDonald reached out to one of her daughters, who had recently moved from another state to be closer to her parents. Francine asked to reuse her daughter’s moving boxes. The Move Makers were happy to prioritize using the client’s boxes, saving the MacDonalds some money. We also worked with them to locate consignment stores and businesses accepting donated computer parts and furniture. Francine harnessed the power of her local Buy Nothing groups and Facebook marketplace to find new homes for things they no longer needed or wanted. The result? The MacDonalds moved to their new place considerably lighter, both in goods transported and in peace of mind.
(If you’re thirsty for more stories of sustainable moving, journalist David Pogue has a gem. Check out his article, “My Quest to Downsize without Throwing Anything Away,” first published in New York Magazine in October 2023 and reproduced on the National Association of Senior and Specialty Move Managers blog.)
Here’s to moving and taking care of the planet at the same time! It can be done.
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin is an organizer for The Move Makers and a writer and blogger. He was educated in an English boarding school (no, not Hogwarts!) and has lived in eight countries. He’s been paid money for the following: teaching ESL, carrying suitcases as a hotel porter, cleaning carpets, being the refined English telephone voice behind a friend’s attempt to be a literary agent, editing a Japanese dictionary, being an in-home caregiver, and singing at weddings.