Last February I worked with Ulysses who relocated to another state for his job. He left the furniture behind to stage his home as it goes on the market. He returned a few months later after the condo sold to pack up. So, he was in town for a few days to wrap up in February. I showed up a day before the movers came in to pack up. Since he moved into a smaller home, he knew he couldn’t take all of the furniture with him. We walked through the home to see what was not going with him. He wanted to donate some furniture, clothes and home décor, as well as unopened canned and boxed food he wanted to give to a food bank. I was handling packing up the donations so they would be ready for the crew that I scheduled to come in late morning while Ulysses was able to work remotely and tune in to back-to back meetings.
The day I was at the condo, Chicago was still digging out from a major snow storm. Snow was piled in the alley and next to curbs on the street. The charitable organization I contacted sent a huge truck that wouldn’t be able to park without completely blocking the street or the alley. The alternative was to send a smaller truck which wouldn’t be available until the next day. While I was waiting for a confirmation from the organization on the smaller truck, I checked in with another removal company to see if they could handle the job that day. Luckily the second company was available. I presented the options to the client. We decided it would be best to get the donation items out the same day as the movers were coming in the next day to pack up.
I was glad we did the removal the same day because the movers ended up coming in earlier because more snow was predicted. We got the stuff Ulysses didn’t want out of the way before the movers arrived. He didn’t have to rearrange his work schedule or take a day off to deal with this. I, of course, kept him in the loop. Having a professional organizer deal with the donation pack up and overseeing the crew gave him a peace of mind while he worked. There’s only so much a person can multitask. Packing and moving is not something that can be done while working. Rather than using his vacation day to deal with the moving/removal, he was able to work through. He later texted me to say that it was the best service he could ever ask for.
Note: These blog stories feature real clients and their organizing solutions. To maintain client privacy, all names have been changed.