By Rita Wilkins
The Downsizing Designer

If you have lost your parents or a significant other, you may have had to deal with not only cleaning out their home and all of the things they’ve collected and accumulated over many years, but you may have also had to prepare their home for sale.

All of this, while at the same time, you were still mourning their loss, managing your own household, children, business, and life.

Cleaning out a loved one’s home and possessions is not easy. It’s emotional. It’s hard to throw things out that you know meant a lot to them. You felt guilty, overwhelmed, and you might have felt their loss even more as you sorted through their many things.

So how can you prevent your kids, your loved ones, from having the same heartache and overwhelm that you may have experienced yourself while cleaning out your parents or loved one’s home?

If you are in midlife, you’ve heard how important it is to “get your affairs in order”, meaning your finances, insurances, wills, etc.

Getting your home and your “stuff” in order is equally as important, yet it is one of those things that is often overlooked or put off to “one day” … one day you’ll get around to it.

I would encourage you to consider organizing and decluttering your belongings sooner than later while you are still able, and before it’s too late. Before something happens to you and your kids end up having to clean out your stuff… just like you might have had to do for your own parents.

Perhaps you have heard of the book “The Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” by Margareta Magnusson. I know, it’s an awful title but her method of decluttering possessions before you die is actually an extremely compassionate way of intentionally letting go of your belongings that may have been important to you at one point in your life, but no longer have meaning, or you don’t want or use them anymore.

Check out Rita’s Top Decluttering and Organizing Book Recommendation

There are a number of reasons why you should start decluttering and organizing your possessions now versus waiting.

  • You have an opportunity to ask your children and your family what they want or don’t want.
  • They have an opportunity to say “yes” to things they want or “No” to the things they don’t want.

Our kids do not want our stuff! 

Here are some additional Amazon resources that can assist you in learning more about the decluttering process, including Rita’s Top Decluttering Book Recommendations.

As baby boomers, our harsh reality is that our kids are living in smaller spaces and they will likely never consume or collect the same way we once did. So as hard as it may be to accept, our kids really do not want our stuff!

  • Isn’t it better to ask, to give them the opportunity to say yes or no?
  • Isn’t it better for you to know what they want or don’t want so that you can begin to let go of stuff they might throw out after you’re gone?
  • Isn’t it worth the joy of knowing that pieces you cared about will be wanted and used by them after you’re gone?

Knowing that someone or something that was meaningful to you at one point in your life is now being used in someone else’s home helps keeps those memories of you alive. I recently gave our mother’s beautiful nativity set to my niece who now proudly displays it in their own home, carrying on a family tradition. Knowing how much she appreciates it, makes me happy. I know that she will continue enjoying it for many years to come.

Letting go of your unwanted and unneeded possessions is actually a gift that you can give, not just to yourself but to those you leave behind.

Benefits of deciding to declutter, organize,

and get your affairs in order now.

  • It is a compassionate way to save them the hard work and heartache after you are no longer here.
  • It allows you to enjoy lightening up, living with less, so you can have a less cluttered, and less stressful life.
  • It allows you to focus more on what matters most to you rather than managing and caring for the “excess stuff” that you keep holding on to, assuming your children and family would want your stuff.

Why not give yourself permission to let go now so you can live a simpler more abundant life with less?

RITA WILKINS
THE DOWNSIZING DESIGNER

rwilkins@designservicesltd.com

 

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