![]() ![]() How to start clearing a house after deathīegin in a room with fewer sentimental items. What do you do with their personal belongings? Here are some practical tips to help you get started. How do you decide what to declutter after a death. How to decide what to do with personal belongings after death It can be challenging to make decisions as you grieve so having someone who can support you and offer perspective can be very helpful. Have trusted family members and/or friends help you through the process. When you are clearing a house after a loved one’s death, don’t go it alone. Ask for help, don’t take on the responsibility alone Ultimately, do your part to maintain peace if possible and also realize that everyone deals with loss in different ways. Try to respond in a way that you can feel good about regardless of how other people are behaving. Sadly this can be a time when family members struggle to agree on when and how to deal with things.Īlways keep in mind the only person you can control is you. If you are in a situation where you and siblings have a shared responsibility in managing an estate, discuss with the others involved when you plan to go through the belongings. Decide who’s going through the belongings There is no set prescripted time.ĭo what feels right for you, although, I realize sometimes life circumstances force us to deal with things before we feel ready. If you experienced an unexpected tragedy, have grace and patience with yourself as you navigate your journey. If the loss is someone in your household, the timing will vary depending on when you feel emotionally ready to deal with their things. I also wouldn’t suggest moving tons of belongings into a space that is already full as that will also feel like a daily burden you’re surrounding yourself with. It becomes an expensive burden to have to deal with later. ![]() In some cases, I’ve heard about entire households being relocated to storage facilities and that’s not something I would recommend. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer as it depends on your unique circumstances. ![]() If it is a spouse or another family member you live with, that’s a different situation for deciding when to go through things. If the person lived alone, you may need to deal with their belongings rather quickly. There can be quite a variety of circumstances. Figure out when is it time to go through thingsįirst, you’ll need to figure out when the right time is to go through their things. These practical tips will help you walk through how to declutter a loved one’s personal belongings after death. There are logistics to deal with in the midst of this. However, the more we are willing to have these conversations and prepare for what’s to come, the better off we can leave our loved ones.Īfter losing a loved one, there are many emotions to process through. Most people don’t want to talk or think about death in advance. In the U.S., we don’t do a great job at this. Some cultures do a better job than others in being able to openly discuss death as they recognize that it is part of life. How to Handle Getting Rid of a Loved One’s Belongings No matter how you’ve come to be in this situation of dealing with someone else’s items, there are practical steps you can take as you declutter personal belongings after death. And other times, we just assume we have more time than we do. Others simply really enjoyed their things and didn’t want to part with them. Some people don’t declutter because they were in poor health. It can be a great motivator for proactively decluttering your home.īut in many cases, that is not the reality of what happens. The idea is to declutter now not only to enjoy your home more but also to lessen the burden placed on family members after you’re gone. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson was written about this very thing. In an ideal world, everyone would have decluttered their belongings before they passed. So, today I want to offer some tips on how to declutter after the death of a loved one. While this is not the cheeriest of topics, I realize this is a tough situation that everyone will likely face at some point. There is a range of scenarios I’ve had shared with me from spouse to parents to siblings and children. A very common one I hear is the question of how to declutter a loved one’s personal belongings after death. I receive many emails with people sharing with me their decluttering challenges.
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