Whether you”™re moving to new digs or it”™s time to downsize to smaller quarters, packing the memories ”“ deciding what to keep and what to leave behind ”“ can be a challenge for even the bravest hearts. Ellen Kutner can help.
Kutner discovered her niche for organizing and de-cluttering after being downsized from her position at IBM a decade ago. “I was busy helping my friends and family and to my delight, they loved my work and so did I. I decided to pursue it as a career and became a licensed professional organizer.” As the owner of Simply Organized, Kutner has been working with a new continuing care life community, Woodland Pond in New Paltz, as one of its preferred consultants.
Kutner has been coordinating moves with the continuing care retirement community”™s incoming residents since October 2009; that”™s when she met Martin Lodge and Lynn Clarke. Lodge wanted to stay local, but not in the 1,600-square-foot Victorian home he has owned in the village”™s downtown area for three decades. Woodland Pond”™s amenities and in-house medical services made the most sense for both of them.
Now, they are in the midst of deciding what”™s coming to their new apartment while they wait for their current home to be sold. Since Lodge put his house on the market, Kutner has been working to help them decide what to take and what to leave behind and working with their new floor plan to place the furniture the couple will bring with them.
“It”™s a difficult process, to say the least,” said Clarke, who shares a love of early American antiques with her partner. When the two merged her Manhattan apartment into his New Paltz home in 2005, they merged two homes of furniture into one, along with their own personal collectibles. Clarke is a clothes devotee with a spare bedroom dedicated to her wardrobe. Lodge”™s passion? Books, books and more books that surround him in his den on shelves he built himself. The former SUNY New Paltz professor has already donated several of his treasures to the Huguenot Street Historical Society.
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Kutner said the hardest part of moving is deciding what”™s really important to keep and what needs to be left behind. “For the most part, it”™s tough to part with your home and current lifestyle at any stage of your life. Even if the move you are making is a positive one, it”™s an emotional process. What do you take? What do you sell or throw out?  Taking 1,600 feet of living space and downsizing to a 960-square-foot apartment is a challenge because the older you are, the more years you”™ve spent accumulating.”
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Lodge and Clarke decided on Woodland Pond because of its senior health care services. “My son was surprised we had chosen a ”˜continuum of care”™ retirement community to live in, but when I explained to him that it made the most sense for us, he understood,” said Clarke. “We are both ready to have some freedom, not be tied down to household chores and to have more interaction with others. We also want to have health care on site so if the need arises, we are not going to be looking outside for care or be separated. Woodland Pond offers skilled nursing and is affiliated with Kingston Hospital. At our age, even though we are both healthy and mobile, we have to think of the future.”
The most positive aspect of the move right now for Clarke is working with Kutner. “She”™s been terrific,” said the former children”™s librarian. “You need to be able to get along well with the person who is helping you make these tough decisions, because they are tough. Ellen”™s been very patient and dedicated and does keep me focused. It”™s easy to lose focus if you feel you are faced with an overwhelming task. She”™s making this move and downsizing that much easier to deal with.”
“The most important thing for anyone going through the process is to keep visualizing how and where they would like to be,” said Kutner. “Rather than looking behind, look forward. For Martin and Lynn, they need to stay focused on their new home, the freedom they are going to enjoy from taking care of a house and the constant maintenance it requires.
“It”™s especially gratifying to help when people are moving from one location to another, because there is a beginning and an end,” said Kutner. “Getting people to prioritize what is most important to them is a challenge for a professional organizer, especially if they are having a hard time with downsizing. Many people can”™t picture what their new life will be like, so it”™s important to help them keep their eye on the prize.”
Kutner”™s advice to her own family? “I tell my children not to start gathering ”˜stuff”™ at this stage of their life. Go out and enjoy living, enjoy being with other people, and don”™t clutter your house up with material things. Eventually, you are going to have to decide what to do with the years of accumulated ”˜treasures”™ which often only have value only to the owner.”
