Two WESTconsin Credit Union locations get new look at two of its locations
Packers Athletic Club to become newest addition to Titletown
August 18, 2025
CHIPPEWA VALLEY – As life evolves, especially with age, the process of moving and letting go of cherished items, Erin Swoboda – owner of Caring Transitions of the Chippewa Valley – said, can oftentimes raise a difficult question: where do I even start?
That’s where Caring Transitions, Swoboda said, comes in – helping ease the burden by creating personalized plans tailored to each individual and family, making the transition smoother, less stressful and more manageable.
A franchise of the Caring Transitions® nationwide network, Swoboda Caring Transitions of the Chippewa Valley is made up of specially-trained professionals who handle decluttering, organizing, packing, moving, resettling, in-home estate sales and online auctions, liquidations and preparing homes for sale.
“If someone is overwhelmed with stuff in their house and… they want to get rid of the clutter, I can assign a person to sit down and be one-on-one with that person,” she said. “That individual can help make decisions about what they can get rid of and what they want or need to keep. It can go really quickly, and they can get a lot done in an hour’s worth of time, for example.”
Client pool, needs
Though Caring Transitions provides services to anyone, no matter their age, Swoboda said the largest population they work with is seniors.
“That age group is downsizing and often moving to a smaller place,” she said. “I would say about 95% of our clients are seniors. But our services can be used by anybody who needs them to help them downsize, organize, declutter, you name it.”
Sorting, organizing and/or downsizing, Swoboda said, are the key roles Caring Transitions provides.
“Decluttering seems to be one of the biggest issues people use us for,” she said. “If you’re moving, you don’t want to move all the stuff that doesn’t really have necessity or meaning to you any longer. There are a lot of things that are very unnecessary and tend to just fill up space, so then our space tends to become uncomfortable because we’ve got too many things and too much stuff.”
Swoboda said Caring Transitions also helps people age in place – which might mean helping make more space in someone’s current home for a wheelchair or walker.
“That’s another good time to downsize and declutter,” she said. “That makes it less for them to have to maintain.”
However, Swoboda said there are times when a home needs to be decluttered and made ready for sale – which is how she and her realtor husband, Greg, first became acquainted with Caring Transitions and the services it offers.
“In 2022, a lady up the street from us had a major medical emergency and had to be taken out of her home, and unfortunately, didn’t get to go back,” she said. “Her kids were trying to prep the home for sale, but it was just so full of things that they were overwhelmed.”
Swoboda said they tried to spend some weekends over there with them to help out, “and we were overwhelmed, too.”
“It was just four of us trying to get through a situation where there were just so many things and so much stuff,” she said.
Swoboda said Greg found Caring Transitions when he was getting ready to list the house for the woman’s family, and thought it might be a great option for the family to get the place cleaned out and ready for sale.
“We were just amazed at how well this company was able to come in and get through all of the things, all the items and stuff and cleaned out appropriately so it was showing-ready,” she said.
The beginning of a new career
That encounter with Caring Transitions and its then-owner, Roger Liddell, Swoboda said, would soon be life-changing for her and Greg.
In fall 2023, Swoboda said Greg asked Roger if he’d consider a partnership, thinking it might be a great business to invest in.
Instead, she said Roger asked Greg if he’d be interested in buying the business outright.
“We had been talking for a while about what kind of business we could invest in, and we thought this could be a good idea,” she said.
After several conversations and some soul-searching, Swoboda said in January 2024, they decided to pull the trigger, and the business was hers.
Swoboda said there were several steps they had to go through before the sale could become final – including negotiations with the seller and attending a weeklong new-owner training program at the Caring Transitions corporate headquarters last May.
“Because it’s a franchise, we had to go through training at the corporate offices in Cincinnati in preparation for taking over the business in July (2024),” she said. “It helped us understand the corporate perspective about how things had to be reported, royalties, corporate expectations and so forth.”
Swoboda said they also started going on client calls with Roger, “so we were already transitioning even in advance of us taking over ownership of the business.”
Though the business is titled in her name only, Swoboda said Greg goes with her on many consultation appointments.
“It’s nice to have a second set of eyes when we’re doing a consult,” she said. “And, he has a lot of experience with antiques and old furniture, so he’s going to pick up on things of value way more than I do.”
Swoboda said her role is to help explain the services they offer to potential clients.
Breathing new life into the business
In the year since buying the business, Swoboda said she has been doing presentations at assisted living facilities and elsewhere, explaining to seniors the art of downsizing.
“I’m enhancing my presence in the community by doing more education, especially with seniors, because one of the things I’ve noticed is when somebody is preparing to move – whether it’s to senior apartments or assisted living, or just downsizing in general – there’s a very negative connotation about that,” she said. “I’m trying to help educate folks that this is a new adventure, and they shouldn’t look at it as a negative thing or a means to an end. Instead, look at it as the next step in their life.”
Swoboda said she is also building relationships with real estate agents, letting them know they can partner with Caring Transitions to get homes ready for show.
“Even though Greg’s career is in real estate, there’s no conflict in how Caring Transitions of Chippewa Valley operates alongside other realtors,” she said. “My focus is on providing compassionate, stress-free transitions for families, ensuring their needs are met without disrupting the real estate process. I strive to make life transitions as smooth as possible, helping clients move forward with confidence and peace of mind.”
Increasing the types of move options the company specializes in – including full-service moves – Swoboda said, has sparked steady growth.
“Our moves are full, white-glove service with a full resettle service,” she said. “By the time we’re done moving somebody, their bed is made, their towels are in place… so they can just sit down and take in their new space and help familiarize themselves with where things are.”
This hands-on, full-service focus, Swoboda said, helps take away the stress of a move.
“If we’re getting a house ready to be sold, by the time we’re done, we do a full vacuum and broom-sweep of the house,” she said. “We wipe down countertops, we knock down the cobwebs – so it’s showing-ready for the realtor. We’re not going to fix things or deep-clean toilets, sinks and ovens, but it is showing-ready.”
If a house needs repairs or deep cleaning, Swoboda said they have many resources and connections they can contract with for those services.
Furthermore, Swoboda said they enhanced Caring Transitions’ online auction website, CTBids, making this service one that is used more frequently.
Overseen by the Caring Transitions corporate office, Swoboda said CTBids first brought estate sales online 10 years ago, as a great way for the owner to make some money, perhaps to offset the move itself.
She said it allows bidders to find unique and everyday treasures for a great value, while client-owners who are downsizing or moving benefit from a broader audience interested in purchasing their items.
“We also have a warehouse, so we can be more creative when it comes to doing a cleanout,” she said. “We can actually house something until we can sell a handful of items if there’s not a lot that’s appropriate for an estate sale.”
Swoboda said if it’s determined by the client and Caring Transitions that there are items to be donated, Caring Transitions has several donation partners it works with in the area.
“The donation piece is important because many people think we’re just going to get rid of their stuff, but that’s not the case at all,” she said. “It all goes to donation partners and is repurposed for use elsewhere.”
Passion for business
When they purchased the business a year ago, Swoboda said she inherited 15 of the 16 people who worked for Liddell – and has since added employees, with staff now totaling 24, plus the two of them.
Because the majority of her team is 55-plus and retired, Swoboda said she sub-contracts large moves with a moving company – “I want to make sure I’m saving on the wear and tear of my team members’ bodies.”
“We do the pack-up and then oversee the entire move,” she said. “We also oversee them bringing things into the new place, and we do the full resettling.”
Swoboda said her crew loves to do this kind of work.
The difference between Caring Transition professionals going through things in someone’s home and a family doing it on their own, Swoboda said, is the staff doesn’t get caught up in the emotion of it, which can easily slow someone down.
“There’s no emotional attachment for our crew,” she said. “They can recognize what does have value for sale and what doesn’t. If we come across personal documents or photos or things we can tell are definitely personal in nature and need to be kept, we separate those things.”
Caring Transitions of the Chippewa Valley serves Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Menomonie and surrounding areas.
Visit caringtransitionschippewavalley.com for more details.
