Living in a home where possessions from a lifetime of ordinary family life, traveling, and more have easily filled your closets, attics and garages can be overwhelming as you get older. And, can start making your children a bit anxious as you get older.

Do you really want your children to have to dig through your stuff when you are gone and make those hard decisions about whether to keep, toss or donate – all while they are still deeply grieving your loss?

And there’s another element to those possessions that I would like to bring to mind for you. Many of those things have memories connected to them. Does your daughter know why you kept seemingly insignificant bits and pieces of stuff from your 1970s university freshmen orientation week? Have you ever told her what that week meant to you and how you treasure those memories?

What about the old sweater on the shelf in the hall closet? I bet your children don’t know that it belonged to your dad and your mom thought you might want it after he died. You still remember him wearing it and it makes him feel close again. But do you want one of them to also keep it as a family heirloom or just give it away?

A CHALLENGE THAT WILL LEAD TO SOMETHING AMAZING

I would like to challenge you to establish a lifestyle of regularly paring down your household possessions while also securing the unexpected memories that they hold. I’m actively working on this now in my own home and I’m hoping that a lot of you will begin doing the same.

To help you, I’ve developed a simple action plan to get you through this process because it can be messy and we all might be tempted to give up too soon. 

I have a whole series of articles available here on my website that will get you started. 

But wait! Before you go, I want to encourage you by showing you all the ways you can be transformed by taking the time to go through this process.

Check these out!  ⬇️

TRANSFORMATION IS NEAR

Piece of mind
The piece of mind that comes from knowing that you’ve put into place a plan that has both preserved your precious memories and stories connected to possessions while also making life easier for your survivors when you are gone.

Joy and delight of discovery of hidden treasures
There’s an unexpected side effect to digging through your possessions with the intention of curating memories and, in some cases, letting go of some stuff. That side effect is the joy and delight of discovering something you hadn’t seen in years! And, of course, there are probably memories attached. 

Opportunities for sparking new conversations with family members 
As you dig out junk and rediscover long lost memories, don’t miss the opportunity to share them now, while you are still around to enjoy the reactions of your family and friends. More importantly, it will be very special for them to hear these memories directly from you and see and feel your laughter, joy or remorse first hand. 

Finding resolution and closure to difficult memories
Oftentimes we hang onto something for no other reason than we don’t want to resolve the memories connected to it. Consider the value of facing memories from a difficult time in your life that are connected to something still tucked away in your home. Maybe photographing it, jotting down some memories and then letting go can be the closure you need. 

Creating a more intentional home and future plan for possessions
On top of the piece of mind from having a plan in place for your possessions when you’re no longer around, working through the process of establishing that plan will result in an intentional home. Imagine knowing that each item you’re either displaying or storing has been thoughtfully chosen to stay in your home. And that spills over to the new things you’re thinking about bringing home.

Now that you’ve gotten a taste of how a few days of intentionally working through your household possessions can be transforming, I hope you’ll jump into the decluttering articles and get started.

Here’s the link again to help you get started.

Happy memory collecting and cheers to a more intentional home.