Being in the junk removal business, our teams assist in completing a lot of estate clean out. Estate clean out requires an awareness and an empathy for our customer when completing such services.
Situations vary greatly, most often however, the executor or executrix of the estate is an immediate family member or a close personal friend of the deceased. Cleaning out their personal belongings can be not only a tedious and trying task, but often a very emotional one. As discussed in Compassionately Helping Seniors with Clutter, it is our goal to help people prepare mentally and emotionally to begin parting with unnecessary material items.
While junk removal companies can be of tremendous help with the tedious and overwhelming physical aspect of the clean out, we cannot help with the emotional ups and downs that come with the sorting, sifting, and inevitable flood of memories that come with such an undertaking.
The Process of Emotional Healing during Estate Clean Out
It is important to realize that this range of emotions is a completely normal part of the process of estate clean out. Please don’t rush it. Take the time you need to make yourself comfortable with the idea of having to part with some personal items and build the mental memorial to your lost loved one.
Cherish those moments when the memories come rushing back as you look through an old photo album. Smile when you find Dad’s old pocket knife and chuckle when you find Mom’s secret stash of all your old grade school art projects. This is the best way to work through all the feelings that may swell up and the best process to prepare yourself to begin parting with some of these items as you begin the estate clean out.
Balancing Responsibility & Mourning during Estate Clean Out
As an executrix, executor, or an involved family member for an estate clean out you can feel a lot of pressure to get the estate clean out finished and the sale of the house completed quickly. This feeling of pressure can also be a bit burdensome in and of itself. While everyone realizes the desire yourself, and potentially, other stakeholders to finish the estate clean out portion of the process and find closure, it is not always that simple. Look for the right balance. Watching your loved ones items be hauled away is not an easy endeavor for most, and it will be an easier, smoother process if you have recognized and taken the time to grieve and mourn properly.
This may be the house you grew up in, it may be a place where you have shared triumphs and tribulations. Spent holidays or summer vacations. Work as hard at making yourself at peace with the grieving process as you do at the clean out process and everything will come together at the end.
When You’re Ready for Junk Removal
Our teams here at Barten Bros. (and many other excellent companies like ours) will wait. We’ll be here when you’re ready. Our teams are always working diligently to treat you with empathy and handle your loved ones items with dignity, however we also have an unfair advantage of not having the emotional attachment you do. This is often an unrealized superpower in the estate clean out process, but can be overwhelming for the people dealing with loss if they’re not prepared for it.
Provide yourself the time to make sure you’ve taken the items that are important to you and realize much of the rest may not be as important as you once thought. Early in the process of losing a friend or family member we think the stuff matters tremendously. However over time we come to realize it wasn’t the items per say that we cherished but the memories.
Moving On
Keep those few mementos and keepsakes. The rest: Let it be donated, let it go, and get that home listed for sale. Estate clean out is hard, but there is no greater compliment to your loved ones memory than bringing new light and new life into their home.