Aging Parents? Transitioning Seniors With Care, Guided By Cindy Greer

Every May, the Administration for Community Living leads the nation’s observance of Older Americans Month (OAM), a time to recognize older Americans’ contributions, highlight aging trends, and reaffirm commitments to serving the older adults in our communities. We round out National Moving Month (May) with honoring the movers that have come before us and we’ve brought on an expert for that conversation.

In today’s episode, Cindy Greer, founder of Transition With Care LLC, discusses senior move management and the challenges older adults experience when downsizing and transitioning to community living. She emphasizes the importance of using the term ‘community’ instead of ‘home’ or ‘facility’ when referring to senior living options. Cindy explains that senior move management involves decluttering, downsizing, move management, packing, unpacking, as well as coordinating the cleaning out of the previous home. She also highlights the emotional attachment to belongings and the need for open conversations about downsizing and future plans.

The term ‘solo aging’ is introduced to describe the challenges faced by individuals without children or close family members to rely on for support. Transition With Care provides expert guidance and support for seniors and their families before, during and after the moving process. They provide a free consultation and offer a broad range of services, including help with downsizing, custom floorplans, move management, packing and unpacking help. Transition With Care can be as much or as little help as their clients need. The emotional aspect of downsizing and moving is also addressed, with a focus on helping clients look forward to the next step. Transition with Care works with both older adult clients and their adult children, often getting involved when a health event or death occurs. They also collaborate with senior communities, real estate agents, attorneys, and care managers to ensure a smooth transition. The cost of their services is out of pocket, but the value they provide is worth the investment.

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Thank you for listening! XO, Mariette

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Aging Parents? Transitioning Seniors With Care, Guided By Cindy Greer

I’m excited for our guest. Her name is Cindy Greer. She’s the founder and owner of Transition with Care, LLC, a Charlotte-based senior move management firm specializing in assisting adults, 55 and older, with downsizing and relocating. Caring for her own mother and grandmother inspired Cindy to modify her career path as an interior designer and pursue a career in the senior care industry. She held marketing positions in the senior housing and home care industry, as well as for the Parkinson Association of the Carolinas.

Recognizing a need to support this group of adults with the overwhelming process of downsizing, moving, and transitioning to community living, Cindy pursued the senior move management certification. Senior move management was a natural outgrowth of her passions for design and serving seniors, and Cindy founded Transition with Care in 2009.

This is also very timely because not only is May National Moving Month, but it’s also Older Americans Month. I met Cindy when I was emceeing an event for Greenlight Mobility, and they specialize in putting things in homes, so it helps and assists with seniors living in their own homes. We have lots to talk about because she was a sponsor of that. I get so many questions about this particular topic. Cindy, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Mariette. I’ve been excited to chat with you, too, and loved meeting you when we were helping Greenlight Mobility with all their aging-in-place suggestions.

I didn’t realize how cool some of those things could be because they don’t look like what you typically think of in an older adult’s home. It was funny because when we were talking before the show, I said a lot of people ask me about when it’s the right time or helping their parents move into a home, and you corrected me. You said we shouldn’t be saying that or using that. You said, “We call it communities,” or something like that. I think that’s probably the first place to start. What is that like?

Shifting Language: From “Facility” To “Community”

Let’s talk about industry terms for a second because that’s probably a good place to start. Before we hit record, I had mentioned something about moving older adults into a home, and you corrected me and said, “We call it a community or community living.” Let’s talk about the terms, first of all. Let’s start there. What are some of the terms that we should know?

Great starting point. We don’t use the term home. I think that was used many years ago when folks’ only option was a nursing home. That’s how that term got started. The other term that we don’t like to ever use is facility because that sounds too institutionalized. It is far from somebody who is planning on moving to a retirement community. It is a community. It’s about creating community and a simpler life. That’s one. Some of the other transitions that we’re involved with would be going to an assisted living community, or it could also be a memory care community.

A newer niche in the senior housing area is 55 and older communities. Those can either fall into the realm of apartment living, or it can also be independent housing, like what we call patio homes, which are one level, and they might have 2 to 3 bedrooms, but there’s no stairs and that type of thing, very small area of no landscaping and mowing the lawn and that type of thing, but lots of community activities and things like that.

I think there are a lot of seniors who are 55 and older who aren’t ready to retire and sit and watch TV all day. I see so many active older Americans who are getting out there. My parents are in their 70s. My dad and his wife garden, and they do all the things around the yard. My dad is still helping me with little projects around the house, so there’s not much slowing down for some of them.

I would say, in our industry, which is senior move management, and we are accredited members of the National Association of Senior Move Managers, and so they describe our industry as helping adults 55 and older. I would say that we’re working more with empty nesters who are more like 65-plus. When I first started the company, we worked a lot with the silent generation, and now we’re into the Boomers. I’m the last year of the Boomers, so I’m starting to understand it from a different perspective now.

It’s probably nice to have that awareness.

I can relate.

Sometimes I feel like I can, too. We were talking before the show, and if you’re watching this on YouTube, you might see me writing things down every once in a while, because if I don’t, if I think it in my head, I’m going to forget it. That’s how my brain rolls. You said, “I’ve got to think with a pen these days,” or something.

I’ve got my pen in my hand because I like to jot down things, too. You never know when an idea might strike.

I know. I get so many of them. What exactly is senior move management?

What Is Senior Move Management?

Senior move management is focused on helping older adults with transitioning from one home to another. Our core services are helping folks declutter, downsize. We also have vetted relationships with what I feel are better moving companies here in our area. We also do custom floor plans, and we will help them decide. That’s measuring their furniture. If it’s a local move, we will go to that community, or wherever they’re moving, we’ll take the measurements, and we’ll do a digital floor plan, which can be shared with everybody.

Senior move management is focused on helping older adults transition from one home to another. Our core services include helping folks declutter and downsize. Share on X

That’s awesome. I feel like I need that. I’m a certified professional organizer, but I have this graph sheet that I use. I box out. I draw boxes. It’s not software.

There’s nothing wrong with that. I still have my graph paper and even my template sometimes, because if the grid goes down, you’ve still got to work. We do that. Once we’ve got the floor plan in place, we usually bring the moving company in to do a site survey of the home where we’ve marked and tagged the furniture that’s going to be moved. We have a packing service. I have a team of fourteen, including myself, in the company. We pack, and then we also unpack if it’s a local move. Our unpack, we’re like little elves that show up after we’ve followed the movers and offload, made sure everything is offloaded in place, according to plan, and the client’s wishes.

We unpack and put everything away. Pictures are hung, clocks are set, beds are made, wardrobes are put away, and kitchens are put away. They can just walk into their home and start enjoying their lives, and not be in a sea of boxes. Probably, I would say about nine times out of ten, we are also helping our clients with cleaning out the remains of the home that they moved from. Again, we have a lot of relationships with auctioneers, consignment, and donation is a big front line of getting rid of stuff. There’s always a level of trash, but we take care of things that need to be shredded, just anything. That’s what we do.

I moved out of a house one time. The couple who live there are lovely people. The house and the bones of the house were amazing. I ended up renovating the house. It was almost like they packed up a suitcase, threw it in the car, and took off for Florida, and they left everything. They hired an estate sale company. I talked to their daughter about it. She came to my housewarming party because of the story that I’m about to tell you. It was crazy because they had things so overpriced.

There was an old-school church organ that they had in their living room, and they priced it at $3,500. I said, “We’d be lucky if we could pay somebody to take this out of here, $3,500, that’s insane.” The next day, because it was a three-day estate sale, it went down to 50% off, and then another 50% off. There was a pastor from a local church. I said, “This is not going to sell at $3,500. This is probably not even going to sell for $500. Can we donate it to this church?” They said, “No.” I said, “Anything that doesn’t sell, you’re leaving in the house for me to get rid of. This guy is ready to put it on a truck. I know it’s not going to sell.”

The Hidden Risks Of Abandoned Documents And Items During A Move

They fought me and fought me on it. I gave the guy my phone number and, lo and behold, it took four guys to get this thing out of the house. What I was going to say, and it sparked my memory, because you said about shredding, they had a partial basement, and then there was a half wall with storage. I’m going through everything, boxes and boxes and boxes. They had all their retirement papers, their social security numbers, and credit cards. It was their file cabinet that was shoved in the storage thing. I’m a very honest person. I called my real estate agent, and I asked her to call their real estate agent. They had already taken off for Florida. Their daughter lived locally, and she came out.

It was funny because, first of all, I said, “If it were anybody else, you don’t know who this is.” It had their balances, and it had recent dates. It wasn’t from ten years ago. I was like, “I could take over these people’s identity.” I felt bad because I told their daughter, “When you pull up, I’m sorry, but there’s going to be a dumpster in front.” It is because there was a carpet in the kitchen. There was carpet everywhere. We pulled back the carpet in the kitchen, and there was carpet underneath the carpet.

She goes, “Thank goodness. We hadn’t done any renovations since the house was built in the ‘70s.” It worked out. She and her partner came to my housewarming party, and they loved the renovations, and they were like, “I wish we had done this to the house twenty years ago.” It all worked out. I think that’s a good point you bring up because that last step and that last mile, having somebody in your home to clean it out and to catch any of that stuff, is so important. People don’t realize what they leave behind.

That is so true. That’s a huge focus, to make sure nothing gets out, and we’re very diligent about that. Sometimes, as we’re going through stuff, we will find cash that has been stocked away, like in books on shelves and things like that. We found a grenade underneath in a crawl space one time.

That’s slightly terrifying.

That was unique. It’s important that when you leave a house or when somebody leaves a house who lived in it for a very long time, that things are taken care of and wrapped up. That’s what we do. That’s also helpful, too, because when we come back after we’ve relocated our clients and settled them, getting the house cleaned out is important because that’s usually where the real asset is, to get that on the market. We work hand in glove with a lot of realtors as well because that’s a win-win for them. It’s a win-win for everybody.

We don’t get involved in staging. You had mentioned that. I will say that because we are members of an overarching organization, we’re not the only senior move management company, but there are other move managers across the country. Some of them have a moving component. Some of them do have an estate option component to them. I’ve always chosen to focus on the move because there’s a lot that goes on in that.

The Emotional Burden Of Inherited And Accumulated “Stuff”

What are some of the challenges that you see? I should have pressed record when we started because we had a great conversation that now we have to reiterate. I’m in that sandwich generation. I’m 47, and one of the people that I remember distinctly having a conversation with about a year ago, when I was starting this podcast, her name was Marisa, and I worked with her. She said, “My husband and I are in such a weird position because our kids are in college and we have all their stuff. My parents went into a new community or have passed. I have their stuff, and we want to downsize because the kids are out of the house. What do we do?”

Talk about that a little bit, and some of those conversations that you’ve had. I know that’s a real challenge for everybody, and older adults especially, because it’s all of their stuff. If somebody passes, that’s what they feel is their legacy to their children sometimes. Sometimes the children are like, “I have to figure out a way to get rid of this or consign it.”

Stuff is loaded. It’s an emotionally charged topic about stuff and downsizing. I cannot even tell you how many situations that we’ve been in where our client, it might be a couple, might be a widow but it’s like, my kids are grown and gone, but they’ve either left a lot of their childhood stuff there, or the parents have so much of a sentimental attachment to it that they have found it so painful to try to get rid of childhood stuff that wasn’t taken.

Again, they’ve also absorbed a lot of their own parents’ furniture and sentimental things when they passed because they didn’t know how to address that. When I’m meeting with clients who are in that position, first, I play hardball if it is a matter that the adult children have neglected to take responsibility for their stuff. If our clients are hiring us, our job is to get them downsized and moved in a certain amount of time, and then to get the house cleaned out.

We need a little bit of freedom to be ourselves and not hold onto things just because they belonged to grandma. Share on X

I think when we’re brought on board, it’s easier for the parents to have that conversation when somebody else is saying, if we’re going to meet this goal, and you don’t want this stuff, then I say, “You’ll need to tell Sally and Bob,” being the kids, “that for us to do our job, they’re going to have to come and take a look at what’s here, or we got to get rid of it.” We have to figure out how and the best way to do that. That has been helpful.

On the other side, where they have inherited and absorbed belongings, there may be downsizing and going to a retirement community or a smaller house, and there’s too much stuff. What I try to talk to them about is that we know everything can’t fit. We can look at the diagram or the floor plan, and see that things can’t all go.

Let’s talk about some of the memories behind things. Also, it’s almost like I give them permission to let go of this stuff. I have even had to do it in my own life when I lost my grandparents and took on some things. Just because it meant something to them, it doesn’t mean that it has to mean something to you because it meant something to them. That doesn’t mean you’re not honoring them.

We have to have a little bit of freedom to be ourselves and not take on stuff because it was grandma’s, but it doesn’t fit into my stuff. I can’t use it. A quick story, when my grandmother moved to assisted living, and she had to get rid of a lot of her kitchen items and stuff, I received her Limoge China, which had the gold rim. I must have moved that Limoge China because you can’t put it in the microwave. You can’t put it in the dishwasher.

It’s a hand wash only.

This is probably going to make some people uncomfortable. On my last move, I thought, since I’m not using it, I’m going to consign it. I have a lot of my grandmother’s things. I have a lot of mementos and things. I didn’t think about consigning it financially, it wasn’t like I was trying to make money off of it. I thought, “I’m going to use the darn stuff.” I use it every day. That’s how I solved that problem. I don’t know if my grandmother would approve or not. At least I’m enjoying it.

Sentimental Value Of Family Heirlooms And Traditions

That’s what I always get. My dad and his wife have a China cabinet, and it’s a beautiful hutch. We use that for special occasions. In Christmas, they change all of it out. They have all the Lennox, and it looks beautiful. It’s almost like a decoration. At the same time, I’m like, “I probably won’t ever use it.” We were very sentimental in my family and my dad’s and his wife’s side. There will probably be somebody in the family who will take all of it when they do go.

I have my key pieces that I like. I love the Lennox. If I could keep Christmas stuff out all year, I would, if it weren’t culturally unacceptable. I love Christmas. My birthday is the day after. Sometimes I’ll set things up in October. They always know if they’re going to get rid of something that’s Christmas, and like a garage sale or something like that, they always send me a picture. They always tell me, “Is this something you want? We can save it for you for when you’re back.”

I think that’s great. That communication is key, having or starting those conversations. I think you said your parents might be in their 70s. That’s a good time to be talking about what future plans might be, at least for them. If somebody may get a chronic illness or something like that, and/or as they’re going through stuff, have them ask those questions, “Would you be interested in this?” before it becomes a “have to” type of thing.

We laugh because my mom has these house slippers that she wears. They’re just regular shoes. They’re like slide-ons or whatever, but she calls them her burial shoes. She wants to be buried in them because she loves them, so she’s had them forever. Even having that conversation, I was surprised to find out that she and my brother want to be cremated, but my dad, I, and Kim want to be buried.

Even having that conversation, which was casual, is one of those things. We started talking about wills, and my mom did one. Dave Ramsey has a service that he touts, it’s like Mama Bear or something like that, and it’s a legal will and trust in the state that you’re in, but it’s $150 or something like that. Don’t quote me on that, I can put it in the show notes. It’s something that says to the state, “I don’t want this house to go into probate, and I want the things to be willed down to my children.”

Even having that conversation was awkward and difficult because it’s not like you’re testing their mortality, but it’s a matter, like I have one, and I’m 47. If something happens to me, I don’t have children to leave this to. I’m leaving it to my brother and my parents. I think sometimes, even having those conversations when things are good and you are healthy, it’s a lot easier to start that conversation. Jimmy Buffett has a 55 and older community, and there are so many cool living situations. I know The Villages in Florida has its own healthcare system. There are some great communities out there that are about a lifestyle, and then they transition to assisted living and things along those lines.

When the need comes up, it is about a lifestyle. With 10,000 adults turning 65 every day, there’s a huge need and market. Circling back around to the point, having those conversations when people are feeling better. I’m in the same boat that you are, Mariette. I don’t have children. I’m single. That’s a whole other aspect or niche in the seniors, and it’s termed solo agers. Write that down, because that can be a whole other conversation about the issues that they have when they’re aging and making those decisions too.

The Realities And Financial Considerations Of Solo Aging

A couple of years ago, I don’t even remember what I was listening to, I don’t remember the show or whatever, but it was a woman talking about how her children were helping her, and she didn’t want to burden them by living with them. She was going and trying to find a community. I remember thinking, “I don’t have any children. Who’s going to do that for me? I have to do that myself.” I stepped up my retirement savings and my mutual fund savings because my brother is four years younger than me. I didn’t want my brother to have to worry about me, like putting me in a home or worrying about the financial aspect of it.

I want to be able to take care of that and then have him come visit me. I’ve never heard of the term solo agers. That’s a new one for me. It is true. I hate to say it, but all of the things that you talked about sound expensive. As somebody that maybe their parents may not have saved, if they’re working on pensions or they’re former teachers, you don’t have to give prices. Obviously, you’re living in North Carolina, so the price is different.

I can give you, as far as senior move manager services, basically. It is because things can change from different cities, and that type of thing. Normally, we’re charging an hourly rate depending on the services being offered. A lot of move managers write their estimates in a non-binding way. How local movers work is that they’re going to only charge you for the actual time, labor, and supplies. We make a projection, an estimate, and then we take a deposit on that. It can fluctuate because a lot of things are a little bit out of our control. That could be for a variety of reasons.

Figure out what needs to go—there's just no way around it. If you can't do it yourself or don't have reliable family or friends, it can be tough. Not everyone is equipped or prepared to do this kind of work, and it can be very labor-intensive. Share on X

It could be the client getting in the way of themselves. It could be family. It could be something on the moving end that we have no control over. Back to your point about sounding expensive, move managers usually charge anywhere from $80 to $120 an hour. That’s for their expertise in managing a move. Packing rates are different. They usually are anywhere from $50 to $70. You also have your packing supplies.

I was going to say you have a house that has 30 or 40 years’ worth of stuff, that all of a sudden sounds reasonable, because even if you’re in there helping, you’re going to need help to figure out what needs to go.

There’s no way around it. If you can’t do it yourself, or you don’t have reliable family or friends, and not everybody is geared up to do this kind of work. It can be very labor-intensive, lots of bending, stooping, kneeling, and that type of thing. When you’re trying to get the house cleaned out, too, that’s where the real asset is.

Emotional And Logistical Challenges Of Moving

It’s the emotional aspect, too. If you’re not having those conversations ahead of time, and you haven’t made those decisions when you are in a good place relationship-wise, a lot of times people get impatient with their parents. I know I’ve been impatient with my parents. You throw on the stress of a move, and then knowing that they’re having to deal with it or helping to pay for it, there’s a lot of stress that comes from a move in the best of conditions. You throw that on in an uncomfortable situation, which could be very difficult.

It’s almost as if you guys are like a project manager. I think everybody can relate. If there is a construction project or if there’s a home renovation project, you always have a project manager to make all the moving parts work together. I think that service alone might sound like a luxury, but it might be a necessity if you don’t have the bandwidth as a person to help your parents get to that level.

It can be a whole lot more cost-effective to pay it up front than to let it slide. To your point, I have often described our work as it involves project management. It involves a level of social work in some cases. It does involve interior decorating because we’re setting up and making plans for where their things are going to go. We approach that from a functional, safe, as well as an aesthetically appealing space or house.

What I’m starting to throw into it is a life coach. For somebody, say a widow or a widower, that may have lost their wife or husband fairly recently and are now not able to maintain the house as well as they used to and need a simpler situation, but now they’re faced with all of this stuff in the house, and also making all of these decisions without their right hand. That is daunting. We are routinely involved in those situations. There’s a lot of compassion and empathy that we bring to the forefront in order to ease this stressful time in their lives.

It’s almost like a grieving aspect, barring if you’ve lost somebody, but you’re letting go and saying goodbye to one thing. When I say that life coach aspect, we try to get them to look forward to the next step. They usually, I would say nine times out of ten, once we get them on the other side, they wish they had done it sooner. They’re so glad that they did it. It wasn’t an easy transition, but it was worth it. The families are all breathing easier, too, because it’s much more manageable. Everybody’s a little happier and safer, and having a nice lifestyle, as you said.

Working through grief in that situation, grief in itself is hard, and making decisions without somebody that you’ve had by your side for a long time. That emotional aspect. A life coach removes roadblocks. Sometimes, as you said earlier, that’s them. They are their own roadblock. The sentimental aspect of everything, the emotional aspect, sometimes it’s nice to have somebody say, “This is what you have to do.” The other part of that is even having that conversation with their children to say, “It’s not me saying we need to get rid of this stuff. My move manager is telling me.” It takes the accountability off of them and helps place that on someone else. It’s not quite as confrontational.

That’s a very good point. I had thought about something too, that was going to be a good add-on, and I can’t think of it.

We’ll come back around for sure. We’ve got lots of questions. Who do you typically work with? Is it the kids? Is it the adults? What does that look like?

Great question. We work with both. We get calls from the adult client who’s ready to move. We will get calls from adult children. Usually, when a health event has taken place, or there may be a chronic disease like dementia, and now they have to look at the next step, whether it’s assisted living or memory care. Also, when there has been a death in the family, we are called to help with home clean-outs in that respect. It’s almost like 50-50 that we get calls from both sides of the coin.

You also mentioned that you work with some real estate agents. I imagine you work with attorneys in there. I imagine there’s an operational side of it that comes into play, too.

We get a lot of referrals from the communities in the Metro Charlotte area. We do our best to know the ins and outs of all of them. It is because we are working so frequently in them. That’s also an added benefit because we know what a lot of those protocols are for moving in and that type of thing. We get referrals from realtors, and then also care managers, who are hired by individuals to look after them. Solo agers use care managers because they may not have good rapport with their families, and they’re involved in all different kinds of aspects, elder law attorneys.

We get a lot of repeat clients. Just because you’re moving one time doesn’t mean that’s the last time you’re moving, or that you’re downsizing. Interestingly enough, this is so timely, not only is it Older Americans Month, but it’s also Moving Month. Also, my second client that I moved close to fifteen years ago, we moved her for the fourth time. I’m going to go see her tomorrow and say hi to her. She downsized from the big home, and then she moved to a two-bedroom apartment in independent living. She decided she either needed a change. I think food is an important part of community living because you’re not cooking as much, but I think she decided she didn’t like the food anymore.

I moved her to another community, and when communities open, they sometimes will run specials to try to attract move-ins. Anyway, Ms. Brainy, I know she wouldn’t mind me saying her name, is on my website. I filmed her. We had to interview her and all that stuff. She’s a special lady. We’ve moved her multiple times, as well as other clients multiple times, because things change. It could be a fact that, “My daughter was here, but now she had to take a job in Ohio. I need to go where she is,” type of thing. Repeat clients and word of mouth. We’re fortunate.

Just because you're moving once doesn't mean it will be the last time. Share on X

Trust And Safety In Senior Moving Services

That’s probably because they have that level of trust. I went to the Titan Moving Retreat last year in Tampa, and I spoke with the movers. It’s a weight cycle that puts us on. It’s an amazing event. They released a new digital course and training for movers out there to create raving fans, but also to help people be better movers and to scale, because there are a lot of scams out there. I have heard some heartbreaking scams. Most of them are targeted at seniors. A lot of them are for seniors moving to Florida and the Carolinas.

I heard one story where the mother had hired these people. They came into the home. They were in New Jersey. She was moving to Naples, and she wanted them to move the car. She was going to fly down, and they said, “Sure, no problem. I need to have the title and all that stuff.” She said, “Great, I’ll put it in the glove compartment for you.” They were masterful. They walked around, and the day came and moved all the stuff, and then she never heard from them again. They took the car. They took all of her stuff. They were that good.

By the time they reached out to me, they had been waiting and trying to find their stuff for almost a year. I put them in touch with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. They had gone to the FBI to try and get, but there are so many moving crime rings, and so many of them are so sophisticated these days that unless you know somebody that you trust, someone like you, and having those repeat business who have the relationships and know. If I were to move, I have a couple of movers that I would work with because I personally know them. I personally know their business.

It makes such a difference. There are crime rings that are centered around moving. It’s such a big business targeting seniors. If somebody is moving down to Naples, they know they probably have money. People from Jersey have been living in their houses for 40 years or whatever. It’s a legitimate problem. I think taking some of this into consideration and working with someone like Transition With Care, you have not only the peace of mind, but you get all of those relationships with you that you can’t put a price on.

That’s something that you know they’re going to get to their next destination safely because you’ve already vetted them out. You’ve had the repeat experience that your stuff’s going to get there safely. I think that’s an incredible service that you’re providing. If those bad guys put as much effort into being good guys, we’d have such a better planet, but that’s not how this whole world rolls these days.

I’m right there with you, Mariette. It would be so much nicer. We’ve heard our share of horror stories with movers, too, which is so unfortunate. I wasn’t aware of the actual crime ring because I’m not in Florida, but that makes an awful lot of sense, unfortunately. In this day and age, or maybe in the near future, probably everybody is going to have some scam that they will have dealt with. We have all the data breaches and all that stuff. Don’t get me started.

I work in technology, so it is a very real thing that’s not changing. There was something like Change Health had a breach not too long ago. I know people who have personally been impacted by it, but something like 11 million people were impacted by that one breach. What happens in cybersecurity is a lot of times, they’ll have one group that finds the vulnerability, and they put it out to a cyber gang, and that cyber gang will go and hold everything hot a ransom.

Typically, the finders get a finder’s fee, and if they don’t pay it, they hold enough of the personal information, they call it PII, to go back and breach that company again, because now if they paid the ransom, they know that they’re going to pay it again. That’s what happened with Change Health. They paid the ransom, it was like $22 million or something. I could be getting that number wrong, but that’s the number that I remember. Because that gang didn’t pay them the finder’s fee, they had enough information to go back in and do another ransomware attack. They went back to get their money, and they can. There’s no way for us to track anything. They’re very good at what they do. Unfortunately, it’s not going to go away.

I was at the dentist. I’m not going to mention the name, but I had a crown put in. Many episodes ago, I talked about having to lose my front tooth, and I had to get the post put in, and the crown, and all that stuff. I had it redone because I didn’t like the way it looked. The first crown came in a week and a half. The second crown was 6 or 7 weeks. I finally was like, “What is going on?” It came in, and I was asking my dentist, and it turns out the lab had been hacked, and they were holding all of the patients’ names that were attached to the X-rays for ransom. They didn’t know whose X-rays went to what dental office. That’s a small petty crime.

It’s crazy, but kudos to you for what you’re doing, and having this put on your heart from working with your own family. I think a lot of us are in this position where we want to make sure that we honor our family’s legacy, but also are doing things in a way that we don’t have to incur all of that. Next time I move, I want to downsize as well and get rid of a bunch of my stuff. I know how daunting that could be for me, and I don’t have anybody else’s things in my house. That gentle and expert guidance that you provide is probably worth twice what you’re charging for this family.

Thank you. That’s sweet. To point out, too, because I don’t want to be too misleading about the cost. It is out of pocket. I’d love it if long-term care insurance would recognize the need for this, especially if somebody’s moving to assisted living. We can handle everything from soup to nuts, or we can be as much or as little help as needed. Sometimes people have us a la carte. Sometimes people have us come in and unpack, or they want us to do a floor plan, or they want us there on moving day to oversee the movers and make sure things are placed. It can be as much or as little.

I will say, though, when somebody has tried to go in it, being cost-effective, and I don’t blame anybody. We want to keep the cost down for people, but they always end up adding more because they realize it’s a whole lot more than what they thought. They may have moved several times over the course of their lives, but maybe they didn’t have it moved in the last ten years since they were 60 and now, they’re 70. That’s the way life works. Our bodies aren’t meant to lift and carry everything our whole lives.

The Challenges Of Moving As We Age

Robustness is part of my framework for a reason, covering mental and physical health, but boxes can be heavy. Even if you don’t pack them very much, moving them, you can rupture a disc. The older you get, the harder it is to do all that stuff by yourself. In our heads, we still feel like we’re young and we can do that, but in reality, it’s not the case. I think, too, that’s always how it is. We don’t have a baseline for what it costs. When somebody sees something like that, it’s sticker shock.

It’s the same thing when people call me and are like, “I got three quotes from movers. They came into the house, like you said, to have them come out. They’re going to charge me $15,000. I’m going to get pods.” I’m like, “Don’t do the pods. You’re going to end up getting twice as many pods, because it’s never enough.”

I have one person in particular that I don’t even know if he listens to the show, but we had this conversation. I said, “I promise you those are reasonable rates. You are moving from a 3,000-square-foot home. You’ve got several kids, a couple of cars, all that stuff.” He went the pod route and ended up paying $30,000 from Illinois to California and said, “I should have listened to you.”

The True Cost Of Moving Services And Planning

Not to say that I’m always right, but I have done this long enough. I know that I have 11,000 pounds worth of stuff with my washer and dryer, because I’ve moved as many times as I have. I can understand when somebody gets that moving quote. For me, it’s typically somewhere around $9,000 or $10,000. You’ve got to tip them and provide lunch for them on both sides. It adds up, and it can be shocking for people if they don’t have experience or understand what it costs.

People may have moved several times in their lives, but maybe not in the last 10 years—since they were 60 and now they're 70. That’s just how life works. Our bodies aren’t meant to lift and carry everything forever. Share on X

To your point on that, when you’re not involved in moving on a regular basis like we are, we have had inflation in this industry, just like every industry has. Fuel charges have gone up, labor has gone up, and supplies have gone up. I hate that. I hate that for our clients, but it is the reality. Whether it ever comes back down or that type of thing, nothing seems to be going down.

If anything, I feel like it’ll flatline. Start saving your Amazon boxes.

Make sure they have the flaps on top of them so they can be taped shut.

I like some of the services that have the plastic bins that they come and take them, you fill them up or whatever, but that’s some houses, that’d be a lot of bins. This has been an awesome conversation, and I know we probably are going to get a lot of questions, so we might have to have you on a second time. If somebody wants to work with Transition With Care, because you’re only in the Carolinas, that’s where you’re servicing.

Our service area is the Charlotte metro area. That’s Mecklenburg County, and then the surrounding counties. We are routinely involved with helping folks in and out of the area. If somebody were moving to Charlotte from Ohio, we could connect them with a senior move manager in that area to maybe help on the downsizing end of things and the home cleanout. We’re here receiving the truck and packing everything according to the floor plan.

Routinely, we’re servicing the Charlotte metro area, and we have a website. It is www.TransitionWithCare.net, and all the inquiries come directly to me. It all starts with a conversation, and we always offer a free consultation. We can come and meet with you at your home, with your family, and see what the lay of the land is. We do provide a written estimate line item. We’re very transparent. It’s extremely important to be very transparent with costs and expectations. We go from there, and we’ve had some people say we’ve made it fun.

Good. I’m a joyful mover. I love all things fun and moving, especially when there’s a fresh start on the other end of it and much joy in the future. There’s a national association of senior movers, too, if somebody wanted to find something in their area.

They can go to NASMM.org. That stands for the National Association of Senior Move Managers.

That’s awesome. Thank you so much, Cindy. I appreciate it. I’ll put your information in the show notes, if anybody locally in the Charlotte Metro area wants to get a hold of you. Thank you so much. This is such an important conversation. Thank you for being on the show.

Thank you for inviting me. This has been so much fun. I’m always happy to be a guest on your show. Anything I can do to help.

Thank you. I looked down, and we’d already been recording for 55 minutes, which I felt like we just started.

I think we could talk forever.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thanks, Mariette.

Important Links

About Cindy Greer

Cindy Greer is the founder and owner of a senior move management company dedicated to helping adults 55+ transition to new living environments with ease, dignity, and peace of mind. With a background in interior design and a heart for service, Cindy brings a unique blend of creativity, compassion, and precision to each move.

Drawing on her artistic side, Cindy helps clients visualize their new home by crafting custom floor plans that honor their preferences and lifestyle. Her favorite moment is the “big reveal,” when clients walk into their beautifully arranged new space—designed exactly as they envisioned—and immediately feel at home.

Her compassionate nature is rooted in personal experience, having helped her own family navigate the challenges of downsizing and moving during retirement. She understands how emotionally complex this phase of life can be and provides gentle, empathetic support through every step of the process—especially during transitions prompted by loss or medical needs.

As a seasoned project manager, Cindy expertly coordinates teams of professionals, including packers, movers, auctioneers, realtors, and more. She thrives on turning chaos into order and ensures a smooth, efficient relocation experience that saves clients time, money, and stress.

Driven by high standards and integrity, Cindy earned the prestigious A+ accreditation from the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), a testament to her commitment to ethical practices and excellence in service.

Whether supporting a move across town or across states, Cindy Greer is known for delivering thoughtful, personalized relocation experiences that empower seniors to embrace the next chapter of their lives with confidence and comfort.