Skip to main content

Inheriting Clutter

Image
By

This book stood out on the library shelf. Massive clutter can create anxiety at any time, let alone when it has to be dealt with during one of the toughest points of life.

Author Julie Hall deals with estates for a living. Her book covers the nitty-gritty of dealing with all that stuff. It also covers caring for parents while they are here and what to do to make life easier for them, your siblings and you.


Parent Logic

We may wonder why parents keep so much stuff. Julie explains that our parents (having grown up in a different time) have their reasons. Often they had to 'go without' as kids and so don't want to 'go without' again. Sometimes they think items will become valuable with age. 

Also there's the thought "the more I leave the kids the more they will have". This is obviously mathematically true - but whether that's a good thing is questionable.

Ironically, this admirable quality of aversion to waste often ends up causing waste. Items get stored for years and then discarded because they have decayed beyond use. Or because they are part of a massive estate that has to be dealt with quickly.

It's not just them

While it's easy to point the finger, we all have too much clutter, says Julie. Our parents' passing starts a chain reaction because our homes are already bursting at the seams with our own plethora of stuff.

While 1 in 10 Americans have off-site storage, it's not our parents renting those storage units.

"I will never do this to my kids"

In theory the process of having to deal with a parent's estate should give us the resolve to live with less stuff. But if not, Julie gives five more reasons to get rid of your own stuff.

  • Less anxiety and worry about the stuff we seldom use
  • Spend less time searching for things (the average American spends 2.5 days per year)
  • Helping people in need (by donating or selling items)
  • More time to do what you love doing (rather than maintaining stuff)
  • Finding things you forgot you owned

So why do we have so much stuff?

It seems so obvious that living with less is better, so why do we have all this junk? Julie says that advertising screams at us "you need to buy this to be happy". And there's peer-pressure (even though we're not teenagers anymore). And we can afford it (or we put it on credit card if we can't).

"The benefits of getting rid of excess property begin immediately, allowing you to enjoy life more and worry less. So what's stopping you?"

Interesting Stats

From her experience with estates, only about 25% of stuff gets thrown away. The rest can be sold, donated or recycled.

We only use about 20% of what we own. To put it another way, 80 percent of what we keep, we never use.

Each year the average American buys 68 items of clothing. Again 80% are seldom worn.

The US has more than 50,000 storage facilities.

In short

Grab a copy from your library. It may help inspire you to declutter, and it may also help one of the toughest times in your life a lot less stressful.

Related Reading

If you like the sounds of this, then you might also want to check out Let It Go.

See my other reviews or subscribe to my monthly email for future ones.

Read more about:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Latte Factor

By
For the first time ever I'm reviewing a novel. Latte Factor is a short story  - around 120 pages - and is equal parts of inspirational story and financial education. The combination of the two is quite rare, and done quite nicely. The story is about Zoey Daniels, associate editor for a travel magazine. Although she's never been outside the USA  - "a travel editor who's never travelled". She struggles with money and is considering a higher-paying job at the company her friend Jessica works for. The job would provide more income, but would also be more stressful and demanding. She already has a nightmare about being on an increasingly-fast treadmill that she struggles to stay on. Her current boss Barbara - aware only of the money situation - suggests she talk to Henry at the coffee shop. This peculiar suggestion is where Zoey's life begins to turn a corner. Spoiler Alert Being a book of fiction, I don't want to spoil the story for you. It's a book you ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dollars and Sense

By
Dan Ariely is an expert on human psychology and decisions. His book  Dollars and Sense is focussed on how to avoid "money mishaps" . That can include paying too much for something; buying something that doesn't provide value; or in some cases not buying something that we really should buy. We can be better spenders of money by avoiding money mishaps. We can get more value for our money - or get the same value for less money. So what are the mishaps? Here are some highlights. Opportunity Cost This is the idea of thinking about what else we could do with money - and whether that's better value.  In one experiment, people were given the option of (A) a $1000 stereo or (B) a $700 stereo and $300 cash. People chose option A. Then people where given the option of (A) a $1000 stereo or (B) a $700 stereo and $300 worth of music. Now they chose option B. In the first choice, people gave up the $300 because they wanted the more expensive stereo. But when forced to think of some...
Post a Comment
Read more

Monopoly, money and you

By
One of the most well-known board games can also be a great way to learn about money and investing - according to this book. Perhaps one way to teach kids (and maybe ourselves) about finance is to play a board game. In so many ways, the game parallels our own financial life - and we can practice financial decision-making without losing any real money. Is monopoly like life? Yes and no. We manage our cash, negotiate, make deals, make choices, go through tough times, make investments, pay tax and reap rewards. To do well we have to make investments. It's very hard to win just by collecting $200 each time you pass go. There are rules, and wise moves. The better we know them, the better we do. However, in real life, you can win without forcing others into bankruptcy. Principles that work in the game and life Diversify. You might have hotels on the two most expensive properties on the board, but if no-one lands on them, you still might lose. Investments have a price and a value. They are...
Post a Comment
Read more