To have to think how you will declutter after a death can be an agonizing thought, especially when the death is someone close to you. But you don’t have to let the clutter keep you stuck in the past–moving forward is the right thing to do. Here are sensitive ways to declutter after a death.
How To Declutter After A Death
When a traumatic event like a death happens, it’s easy to let that event take over your life {and your home}. But it is amazing how well decluttering helps to clear your mind and improve your outlook–even after a death.
How do you know where you should start?
- A big thing to remember is that your loved one is not defined by things, and your feelings about them should not be tied to things.
- Anything that doesn’t provide fond memories of important people in your life should be the first thing to go.
- Stuff that you choose to keep needs to be stuff with a positive feeling attached.
- Your home is not a museum, so choose one or two special items to occupy a special spot in your home. Consider donating the rest.
- Don’t push yourself faster than you’re ready to go. If you can’t seem to let go of some items, keep them and reassess later after more time passes. Sometimes it helps to box them up for a bit, just to clear your psyche before you decide.
More Tips To Declutter Sensitively After a Death
- Did your loved one have items that were tied positively to someone else? Gift things like that to the people who share that positive memory.
- Donate other items you don’t need to causes with meaning to the person who died.
- It’s always possible to take pictures of items you wish you could keep but don’t have room for, and save them digitally.
- Enlist the help of someone who is able to help you think rationally and/or objectively about the clutter and what to do with it. Sometimes this is all you need to kick start a good decluttering session.
As you get ready to declutter after a death, consider the practice of mindful decluttering. It really can help you deal with the process of letting go.
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