Do Your Heirs a Favor - Clean Out and Identify Your Possessions Now

Fall cleaning, spring house cleaning, post-holiday cleaning, and resolutions to organize for the New Year are good intentions. However, not until you actually help clear out a house after the death of a loved one, will you understand the enormity and importance of maintaining a constant cleanout through the years. It does not matter if you are a packrat or not. We all accumulate far too many boxes of items that have no meaning for anyone other than ourselves. Thus, here are some ideas to help you with any current seniors in your life, and to better prepare you from making some of the same hoarding mistakes.

First, if there are any important family heirlooms that should not leave the family, be sure to list them in writing with your wishes as to who inherits them. These items may not be valuable per se or instantly recognizable as a piece of family history. However, if you put the significance or the story of the items in writing, the pieces will be appreciated by future generations. Also, make the family stories known. For what I consider a fairly closed knit family, the grandchildren learned at the funeral of a beloved grandfather that he played the harmonica. Or we learned recently about a late grandmother who loved to go dancing. I am sure you will be amazed at what you do not know about a loved one.

We visit and move on during holidays. Instead delve into senior memories, and you will have a better appreciation of their boxes of mementos. Have them go through pictures and write down places and dates and people's names. We are all guilty of dumping photos into a box with no thought to their history. Think about the sadness of unmarked pictures at a second hand store - unknown folks from the past who had a life or story to tell. Encourage seniors to pass on memorable items while they are living. They can tell the story and be sure that the item is appreciated. It is sad to clean out a closet and pull out items that were kept for a reason and yet have no known significance. These are relegated to the trash or giveaway pile.

Whether it is for you or an older relative, periodically comb through kitchen cabinets and check dates on products. We all have that one can that drifts into the dark corners and petrifies. Recently in cleaning out a house, we threw away a bag of cans and food that was out of date. Bathroom cupboards yield an enormous amount of throwaways and Hazmat clutter. Old medicines, dried up tubes, non-sticky medical tape or bandages, etc. should be disposed of monthly. The bathroom is an area that can get out of hand quickly.

No matter how many times you think you have cleaned up a garage or tool shed, there is room for improvement. Get rid of broken tools. If a senior is no longer maintaining his or her own yard, then sell or pass along equipment while it is in working shape. Hanging on hooks to rust, unused equipment is a dollar drain.

However, do not assume that a dusty box on a garage shelf is junk. A week after the funeral, poking around a shed yielded a boxed set of tarnished silver. I am sure it had been hidden away for "safety reasons". Money in a cookie jar for safekeeping is often a joke in movies. Yet it is true that in cleaning out a house, every jar, every pocket, and even packages in the freezer could yield some cash. A group of us were "treated" to a burger lunch by our late grandmother. Dollars were stuffed in surprising corners of her house, and the search continues.

Cleaning out a house after the death of a loved one can be bittersweet. It is best to attack the job with a group of relatives and consider it a celebration of a life. Stories and memories abound and hopefully not too much is thrown into the trash. Donate clothes or unwanted goods to a church or other charitable organization. Return home with a keen eye to your future, and slash through home closets with renewed zeal. Organize, label, and throw away unnecessary junk. You will look at your "treasures" with a jaundiced eye and can part with them with no regret. Maintaining a constant clean out through the years helps you now, and keeps your loved ones from dealing with piles of unknown goods when you are gone.