Four Tips to Ease Your Estate Clean-Out Burden
Whether you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one or it’s simply time for mom and dad to downsize, being tasked with clearing out a home is not an easy job. While previous generations valued the accumulation of belongings—closets stuffed with clothes, cabinets full of fine china, and shelves lined with elegant heirlooms—younger generations have demonstrated that due to a variety of social and economic factors they don’t want to be burdened by things. If you’ve been tapped to sort through decades of a loved one’s belongings—with or without the help of that loved one—you can simplify the estate clean-out process by following a few simple tips.
1. Partner with a Professional
The greatest gift you can give yourself is that of a relationship with a trusted professional partner. Sorting through a home is a big task, and knowing that you’ve got a professional lined up to haul away the items that you need removed at the end of the effort will help set your mind at ease from the project’s outset.
2. Focus on the Feeling
Organization expert Marie Kondo taught us to choose our objects with intention, selecting only items that spark joy in our hearts. As you sort through the items in the home, try to touch each of them, even if just for a brief moment, and focus on the feeling you get from the object. If it’s not one hundred percent a keeper, it’s probably worth letting it go.
3. Snap Photos
For items that you are on the fence about or love but can’t keep for logistical reasons, take a photo and use that as your keepsake instead.
4. Share the Love
Gift items that still have life in them to your community. Things like dishes, vintage clothing and furniture, paintings, and collectibles may your trash but another person’s treasure. Donate these items by bringing them to a neighborhood donation center like Goodwill or by alerting your area to them online via groups like Facebook, Nextdoor, and Craigslist.
At Brown Box Movers, we pride ourselves on being the most skilled and dedicated moving company in North Texas! For clean-out removal services in the Dallas, TX area, contact us for a free quote today.