I’m Lynette, the founder of Eldermove. I spent a lot of my childhood moving house. My dad worked for the British Council, so my family were constantly travelling. We lived in Ethiopia for a while, Bahrain and Nigeria.
I caught the travel bug as a young adult, and lived for years in Hawaii, the US and Germany. I didn’t know it then, but this repetitive moving became something I was very good at. I finally settled in sunny Sydney, met my husband, and started a family. No more moving until…
I helped my parents-in-law move from their home of 55 years – a gigantic undertaking. As I wasn’t immediate family, I was able to help them make hard decisions as to what to keep, store, and throw away. But I was also a source of support through a very stressful time. I realised how good I was at organising big moves. This is how Eldermove came about.
TESTIMONIAL My husband and I lived happily in our house in Lane Cove for 55 years, where we raised our three children. Our neighbourhood changed and developers purchased our house for a unit site. This meant we needed to pack up, decide what should be thrown out and make the move to an apartment. It was an overwhelming experience! To downsize so dramatically was very daunting. Our children would have been willing to help, but they all worked full time, and we didn't like to ask then to give up their time. What would we do with our large furniture, piano, our hundreds of books, my Australian pottery collection? Then Lynette came to our rescue. We met for an initial planning session. She was warm, has a pleasant manner and is very helpful and encouraging. It was so good to have someone to help us make the difficult decisions about what to keep and what to dispose of. Together, we made a "to do" list. Lynette helped us book a council clean up, book a rubbish skip bin, organised a garage sale and placed ads on free-cycle and Gumtree. We decided together what furniture should go to an auction house for sale, and Lynette arranged the transport.
On subsequent visits Lynette brought cartons and packing materials. With her help, we packed and made careful lists of things we were taking. we hired a storage unit for things we wouldn't need immediately.
Lynette booked a reliable removalist for the day we moved and reminded us to cancel electricity and gas, internet and phone. She arrived early on the day of the move and directed the whole process, getting us successfully into our new place.
Without Lynette's help this would have been impossible and daunting task for us. We were able to enjoy our new home in a much shorter time because Lynette handled the entire downsizing move, and the decluttering process and helped us settle in.
Cathy and David Brigden (2018)
Testimonial Karen and David Byers - Deceased Estate of the Late Lina Spragge
Since towards end of last year I set about finding my mother a miracle worker who would pack up her gear, throw a ton of stuff out - ruthlessly and efficiently so she could move kicking and screaming to aged care or as she hoped she would move up to me in Bathurst where it would be my husband and I doing the kicking and screaming.
Lynette was so kind and patient with the old demon aka my mother who , when Lynette rang her she seemed not to want to be helped. In to 2021 I desperately tried to hook up with Lynette’ s God made service while my mum was in hospital. I made the appointment for Lynette to go around to Mum at Milsons Point where there was more procrastination. My anxiety levels went through the roof. Mum was so frail yet she didn’t seem ready to start moving process . There is no way in hell with my bad back and knees, living in Bathurst without our own transport that I could pack up this herculean nightmare which was mums unit.
Fast forward to May 23 2021 and mother died suddenly in shower from hypertensive cardiac disease.
The recurring now surreal nightmare just dialled up a thousand fold.
I called Lynette who was still happy to be enlisted for this deceased estate job.Lynette has been an angel agreeing to wait till settlement /probate till I am in position to pay her. Still no problem. Early June David and I went down to Sydney to the unit and met the lovely Lynette Brigden.
From June 4 till July 12 Lynette worked like super woman tossing, selling, contacting antique dealers, valuers , packing stuff I wished to keep and send to Bathurst.,advising, taking silver to a dealer, contacting gumtree, hauling 28 years of some of the biggest amount of rubbish to tip, even sprucing up a few nice pieces I was keeping ( thankyou)
Any people are sceptical of miracles but this was one, for sure. Lynette photographed, step by step, bit by bit asking me whether to keep for me, sell or throw. How did we ever live without mobile phone cameras?
We only went twice to Sydney to pick up and bring back few things. Lynette also put us in touch with another wonderful friend of hers n Vicki Lamb who is going to see to the sale of unit for us. Another miracle. While lynette worked, I realised that I hadn't actually seen the carpet in especially study in years and I lived there on and off in 90s and 2000s! The room was ceiling high with stuff.
Lynette even had time to listen to us tell of our difficult relations with my mother for many years and her poor decisions. Very therapeutic to have same person provide closure of an era both physically and mentally
David and I cannot recommend Lynette Brigden too highly. I feel I am not selling her positively enough. It's been wonderful being able to hand over keys and let Lynette work she is 100% trustworthy and very thorough and lovely person to boot. we hope to stay in touch.
No job could be as taxing and time consuming as packing up my mothers apartment and earthly life. At least next time wouldn't be so tough.Have a break before getting into next project.
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!
Best wishes till we meet again socially hopefully next time
Karen and David Byers (2021)
Moving house is one of the most stressful life events you will ever have to experience. And when physical limitations are added to the mix, as well as years of accumulated objects, it can be a nightmare.
Eldermove are a Sydney-based relocation consultancy helping seniors downsize and move house. We make moving more manageable by helping you plan, sort, pack, book, unpack, and setup. We coordinate the whole process, or we do the bits you need help with the most.
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