Moving elderly father - hints and tips?

[AChickenCalledDaal]

My 85 year old father is in the process of buying a one bedroom flat near us. He'll be moving from the family home and can only bring about 25% of his stuff. There are lots of books, ornaments, pictures etc.

He is incredibly lucky, in that he doesn't need to sell his house before he moves. So in the first instance, we can focus on just packing up the things he needs and worry about getting rid of the rest later. Even so, both he and I are pretty overwhelmed about how to do it.

I live 400 miles away and have a job and two teenagers to manage. So I can't be there for weeks on end to help him pick and choose what to take. I can potentially take a week off to help with the actual packing, but I doubt that will be enough.

Anyone been in this position and got any hints and tips to break it down into a manageable process?

Could you hire some help locally? Try age uk? I know a lot of hospice shops, Red Cross etc offer house clearance for stuff he does not want.
Does he have a cleaner or someone who could help?
It’s a massive task. Good luck.

Pack with him what he absolutely needs in the flat - clothes, basic kitchen, bedding, fave books, and furniture for each room that meets his immediate needs. Sort of what he will need to get through 6 weeks

Then decide what absolutely can't come - all the other beds, furniture that won't fit, gardening stuff if no longer needed. Take to tip or donate - the only things that must go at this point are the bulky things.

Everything else goes in labelled boxes and into a self store unit near you and then you bring him a couple of boxes a week (or more if he's good at sorting and won't be overwhelmed).

Are you moving him or will you get packers? TBH, I'd be tempted to get packers and then go up two days before with a van and help him put the essentials in there, and then get the packers to get everything but furniture and take it to storage. Less time you have to be away and less opportunity to prevaricate

If you pack what he wants in boxes. You can hire a man with a van, who will help load & unload the van

Will your DF need to pay council tax on the empty property, utility bills, insurance ?

Pack What he needs - beds, sofa, bedding, plates, saucepans etc. Let him take a few boxes of 'sentimental mementos'. Everything else has to go. Keep reminding him why he is doing it. Let him move in and then book a few days off about six weeks later to go back and sort the rest....once he has seen he can live without it he can let it go more easily.

Previous posters have given good advice. When I moved my Mum we just took the basics that she needed to live, and boxed up the rest. Over the weeks she would write down if she really wanted something out of the boxes. When I went to get the stuff out of the boxes , she realised that most of it was no longer needed and she was happy to just take the things she really needed / wanted. Then it was quite easy to take the rest to the op shop.

Will your DF need to pay council tax on the empty property, utility bills, insurance?

This is a good point. DF's buildings insurance requires a documented fortnightly visit to the property, and contents insurance requires a weekly visit.

Yes he will have to pay council tax etc. We're looking into empty property insurance, as his current buildings & contents insurance only allows the house to be empty for a limited time. He's able to cover the costs for a while and recognises that the house will need to be sold at some point fairly soon. But doing it this way helped him to accept the idea of moving, as it's a bit more "one step at a time".

I like the idea of initially planning for what he needs in the first six weeks. That does feel more manageable.