How to Begin Decluttering, Part 4

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following podcast is provided by care partners living and answers for elders radio, and welcome back everyone to answer this for elders radio network. And we are here with a wonderful Kelly Smith from care partner senior living, and we’ve been talking about decollettering, downsizing. How do you get things ready to move forward, and I know so many families right now are in that process. How do we even begin? And so we talked a little bit and our first segment about setting up a sorting section. We’re going to talk of this last segment about three piles that you need to make. And so, Kelly, welcome back and let’s talk about that. Those three Polos are going to be very important. Once you get mom Sotal Weld, you still got to go back and deal with her house. Know what? Yeah, so you should have what do we talk about? So don’tly fresh. Yes, those are the last three bins. And by the way, I’m going to have mike put up on the website a wonderful infographic that’s going to cover our conversation today, so you’ll be able to hear when Mike puts up Kelly’s her her segment. So we can certainly talk about that. But the first one is what do you want to sell? That’s your first bucket. So talk a little bit about how to do that. Well, it’s mom is decided she no longer wants that China. The first thing I would do is get online. Get people to we get online, mic on Ebay, for example, and who can see if there’s any of that China on there already? It is knowing is selling it. Are people buying that kind of stuff online? And if the answers know that maybe filling. Yeah, yeah, if the answers oh good, Mord I didn’t realize those coffee cups mom got, you know, back in one thousand nine hundred and sixty two, or actually worth ten dollars of peace. So money. They sell them? Yeah, but there’s lots of the market place. There’s lots of different places you can sell things and items. I’m you can also happen a state sale and just have everything marked and have people commit in buse things, if that’s what you want to do at the absolutely. And then organizations that will actually do that for you know, you can on college. We’ve had an organization called beat organized on our show and they are awesome. They will come in and help you figure all of these pieces out. So if you’re if you’re looking at specifically, you know, how do you specifically look at where to sell something? I don’t even know where to begin. This is some ways in which you can do it. Now, jewelry. I would go to an estate jewelry organization, are ore a jewelry store and first and foremost you need to get whatever you’re going to sell a price. You need to understand, and I’m going to warn people about this right now. Yes, when you can keep places online the go. We buy gold, we buy stuff. Don’t do it, not the wine that is going away at a tenth of what it’s worth. Care actually to family who bought a seventh. Their mother’s wedding ring was were seven brand, but none of the kids want it. But they didn’t do the research and they got seven hundred dollars because they got taken because they went to one of those plates and Pine Sid Yeah, don’t. You don’t want to get that or these off the wall places that buy gold. Make sure that you really do find a reputable and team jeweler that’s going to be honest with you about what crash stuff’s worth and there’s one almost every town, every place he’s got one. I think Kirkland has two, Redman’s got one, Beldie’s got several, and they’re honest, good people that you know. They’re going to tell you what it’s worth and what they’re willing. They’re willing to say order where you can sell it. So most of them really good information for you as well to follow through. But you’re going to run across other things. You need to keep mom’s kids. Yeah, the tennis shoes she wore out in the garage for you know that she only did gardening in that she wore for twenty years coming off. Why? For All the way. You know, you also have to be realistic about what’s important to keep and what’s not right. Right. So in looking at like you talked about the China and maybe it’s not going to sell an Ebay. Then you look at donation correct and and again with donation you have to understand too, is this going to be a donated Ivan and that you’re going to get feelings hurt you go into salvation army or or value village and its shitting on a counter or in a special thing, asking a hundred dollars for you going to be mad, and if you’re not going to be mad, then don’t worry about it. Don’t it those kind of places. But there’s also other chariteach. There’s a place right now that’s helping a lot of immigrants that come over here from other countries. It don’t have anything but the shirt off their back. If you’re going to give it away, maybe there’s some items that someone else could use and be very grateful to have. So with things like that, if you’re not going to make any money on it, it’s not a family heirloom or something nobody else wants, also do a kind act and benefit someone else. Yes, I would say that that’s true, and also just keep in mind that, you know, there might be two ethnic charities. Like, for example, my mom has a bunch of Swedish Crystal Right Order Force, and we bought that when we were in Sweden, and so one of the things that I know is her sweetish heritage. Some day she probably won’t I won’t be able to sell it for what it’s worth and I would probably be offended if somebody, you know, wanted to get, you know, hundred and fifty dollars for the set because it’s not worth that. But what I would probably do is go to a Scandinavian society or something like that that would appreciate it and let them, you know, have it, you know, for other families that are that ethnic culture. Those are the kind of things that we can look at. How do you do that? To donate? And then, of course, the other thing is is if it’s a chair the situation, they should be able to give you a tax deduction receipt or things of value, so you still get something out of it if you donate it in that almost might be better for you rather than doing a, you know, actual sale process, especially with your selling a house and selling all these things, you’re going to have some capital gains, so having a bunch of donation receipt certainly helps you. On the pack slayability site as well, you’ve been and again it’s always good to do a little bit of research to you know you can, but for the folks that don’t have time, if you just don’t have time at you know, some people are some of our listeners right now listening to this going. You got to be kidding me. I have to do all of the snow. You don’t there are other people that can come in and help and there’s lots of of the companies out there, like you said, the organized is that the name of that company? Yeah, talking at yeah, lovely are wonderful, the kindest people, but you also what I found about her, which she’s very intelligent, she knows what she’s doing. Vary from very good at what she does and but I’m just saying there’s companies out there too. If you thinking about O. Good Lord. I get short to all the stuff. I got to take this nation. I got to put stuff online. Some people are love that kind of stuff, but I keep some busy. Got Something to do. Other people, like I, don’t have time their look online. You can, you can call you, I mean people talk to you and get advice from all the different people you know as well. There’s a lot of companies out there, so it’s too overwhelming. Don’t make yourself crazy. You can hire somebody to come in and see estate sale coming in. And one more resource I will I don’t want to neglect to say, is Fash Oh aren’t play fast. Will do everything from beginning to end. They will help you and they will help the family. They will talk to the family and they do that. They will even give you money up front so that you can move into a community and then they deal with the sale of Your House afterwards, which I’m such a huge fan of their model and think Rebecca is amazing. They’re so amazing. But again, I love them and refer to them quite a bit. But the other thing have to keep in mind this. If you hire somebody to come in and you’s come in their micromlage them and say you can’t donate, that, you can’t sell this, you got to let him do their jobs to exactly actually when you got to do it. So yeah, yeah, take that out of the consideration. And the thing that’s really I would be remissed to say, is that you work in collaboration with organizations that do like what be organized does or what you know, fasts and things like that. You guys are a team and you’ll work as a team with the family. And so finally, when you get the stuff. So one more thing about donation, and I’m just want to touch on before we go to the final piece, is what about friends and family? When you’ve gone through, there’s gonna be stuff in the House that people have forgotten about, that they didn’t realize or anything like that that that was there. I think the next thing to do is have the before you throw anything away or before you donate any way, is bring your close friends and family over that you know, that are accessible to you, and you could also do it through facetime and just see what you could you know if there’s anything that they would like, because I think that would mean a lot to the person that’s you know, whoever’s moving, if you’re moving or your loved one is moving, to know that somebody’s doing that. And I will tell you that, when I said this on the show before, but I’m going to say it again, when I had my mom’s crystal, I don’t care if I would have her over and she was in a wheelchair and it was a lot of effort for me to bring her to my house. But when I did bring her to my house and I’d make her something even silly like macaroni and cheese, I served her on that China. I always she would look at me like, I can’t believe I’m eating macaroni and cheese on China. I go, mom, every day you’re with me, it’s a celebration and we’re going to eat on China every single time and we can really important and it and it made her happy. Just’s like it makes me so happy that my daughter is enjoying, you know things and I think that that’s just so awesome. And that’s the other thing. So let’s talk the last thing about when you throw things away. Okay, there’s different ways to do that. First of all, we want to be sustainable, so obviously making sure that there’s two basically in the final stages, things that can be recycled in recycling, but also things that are actual trash that you can’t recycle, like those tennis shoes right. One of the things I do want to touch on really quick is any sort of paperwork that you’re throwing away old, you know things. Make sure that you get a shredder and you shred everything. We want to make sure that there’s nothing gets into the hands of other people and you know that maybe sorting through the trash or anything like that, and often times are going to a Home Office and we’ll see sacks and files of documents from twenty years ago that was in there that you’re throwing away, but it’s got a social security number on it or it has some sort of a password to a safe deposit box or something like that. We want to make sure that those things are protected. So that’s one thing I’m going to say. Is there any last comment that you have, Kelly, on that? Just also remember there’s a lot of the communities to that you might move into. It might be even opay for mom to bring things, like you said earlier, like rose bushes for her for the garden outside. That would be leaving legacy for her. Those rose bushes will be always be from the sweet lady. We always remember her. Talk to the communities, it’s always says, don’t get rid of anything, assuming it can’t be brought to. Talk to the person who’s helping you coordinate all of this, apple the community, and see what they can do to help you. You might actually be pleasantly surprised that you can accommodate your loved one without killing yourself. Yes, you know, yes, and and still have them have a wonderful time in their new place and get to meet you people and have a good time but also get to share a little who they are. Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome, Kelly. Thank you so much to for being with us this hour and to each and every one of you this next week. Can hear as we are taping it as we speak. Tomorrow and Sunday is our Easter Sunday and we want to wish each and every one of you a happy Easter and I hope you’re spending it with friends and family, as you probably haven’t done for a long time, and we, as we’re coming together post covid so, have a wonderful holiday. Every went into you also, Kelly. Thank you, my friend. I hope you do as well. Thank you for all right, everyone, and thanks so much and until next week, we good to each other. The preceding podcast was provided by care partners living and answers for elders radio. To contact care partners living, go to care partners livingcom