A dear friend, who has lost both of his parents in the past year, was lamenting over all "the junk" that he and his sister have to clean out of his parents’ house, recently put on the real estate market. This is not an unusual scenario, I’m sure everyone can relate to it.
As another example, my ex in-laws lived through the "great depression," and consequently developed pack rat syndrome. Needless to say, they were both pack rats of the highest level. My ex-mother-in-law passed last December and all I could think about was the enormous job of cleaning out their house and garage. My ex-father-in-law remains alone, overwhelmed, not knowing where or how to begin cleaning. Of course, it may be a little too meddling of me to suggest that someone begin helping him, yet I know the sooner the better it would be for him.
Thank goodness my parents moved in with my sister and her family years ago, else my mother and we would be faced with the same situation. When my father passed, my mother needed only to clean out their closet of his clothing. This is not to say that after they sold their home to my younger brother and his wife, it still took them years to release their attachments.
I see a similar situation in nearly every home I visit. There’s stuff, lots of stuff everywhere in every home. It’s all good for dust collecting and little else. Childhood trophies, white elephant knick-knacks received as forgettable gifts, clocks that no longer work, books one will never read, you catch my drift. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.... as without, so within. One’s exterior environment is usually similar to one’s interior environment. Where is it written, I would like to know, that says one shouldn’t get rid of old clutter?
