Downsizing with Care

Team

Our values

  1. We are gentle on the environment
    We keep items out of landfill where humanly possible.

  2. We are prepared and intentional
    We assist our clients to make conscious decisions through our own intentional thinking and research.

  3. We are a people centred business
    We treat clients and team members as friends.

  4. We believe in continuous learning
    We are flexible to different approaches and continue our professional development in this vocation.

  5. We think outside the box
    We think of creative solutions to problems.

 

Your email

I am currently setting up company emails for everyone through Google Workspace – watch this space!

Tsheets

For any work on behalf of the client (in home work, buying boxes, doing donation deliveries) please log under that client in Tsheets (normal rate of $40/hour will be applied).
For staff meetings, consultations etc, please log at admin rate ($25 per hour) by using the following time fractions.

  • 1 hour admin – please log 38 minutes under Melissa
  • 1.5 hours admin – please log 56 minutes under Melissa
  • 2 hours admin – please log 1 hour 15 minutes under Melissa

Your organising kit

Organising kit inventory
Video on all the bits and bobs in the organising kit
If you need any more supplies please let Melissa know.

Suggested session sequence

1. Catch up on sales progress, floorplan and other coordination activities
2. Set a goal for the session
3. Prepare work area
4. Sort as needed
5. Spend last 45 minutes loading up the car, “packing away”, etc
6. Log your time in Tsheets

Packing items

Here are some videos with handy tips and tricks for packing:

Packing books
Packing kitchens and household items
Packing paintings
Packing shoes

  • Label boxes on the top, front and side
  • Write FRAGILE on the top, front and side of boxes containing breakables
  • Draw arrows on box for “this way up”
  • Label knives or any other sharp object (secure with tape and label tape)
  • Where something is already damaged (eg chipped plates or clocks that don’t work) label it accordingly on top of the butchers paper

Also, pack oversized items by “telescoping” two boxes of the same size.

Organising after decluttering

How to organise any space – Cas Aarssen podcast
Her order of work is:
1. Remove obvious rubbish
2. Declutter and organise small space by small space
a. Make decisions on which categories of item might work in that space
b. Declutter and organise by category
c. Use containers and labels as appropriate (especially for our hoarding clients) – speak to Mel about purchasing these.
Many of our downsizers will not want/need organising help after sales/decluttering.  Many of our hoarding clients will need help organising also!

Sales

Our general “rule of thumb” is that we try to avoid selling anything under $50 for clients unless it’s part of a bigger sale – it’s just not worth our hourly rate, unless it helps them to move things on. We take no commission on sales – just handle the sales so they don’t have to. Look at the “Sequence of work for downsizing + contact list” below for recommended outlets for selling different types of items.

We also don’t recommend garage sales unless it helps the client to declutter items which they otherwise might not declutter.

Documents

Let Melissa know if you want any more hard copies of these documents for your folders. Feel free to email individual documents to clients if you think they would prefer an electronic copy over a paper copy.

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