Toss Your Junk
While You Still Can
Reprinted
from
The Indianapolis Star
10/10/01
If
you have junk, you may want to hear what I have to say.
Because, although this may sound morbid, I must warn you,
we all go sometime. The
question here is, who is going to see our junk when we're gone?
Junk
is anything that becomes clutter.
When we have lots of junk lying around or hidden in
forgotten drawers, cabinets, closets, or garages, it is subjected
to be closely scrutinized eventually.
And, it can be frightening when you ask yourself, "Who
might see it?" And,
"What are they going to see?"
There
are burdensome factors associated with junk.
Let's think a moment.
What happens to your stuff when you're gone?
Who are you saving the stuff for?
There
was one instance where a deceased
compulsive shopper had twenty of the same shirt with the
tags still on. Her
grieving niece went through mounds of other clothes with tags
still on them upset about how long her aunt had had this problem.
Whether
we realize it or not, the fact is that someday someone will have
to go through all the personal items you left stashed away.
Do you really want them to wade through mounds of your
belongings which could only be appreciated by you?
If it's your desired hand-me-down treasures, these will
only become their clutter. Spare them now, while you can.
Going
through a loved one's personal belongings after they are gone is
an overwhelming task when there are huge volumes of stuff to go
through.
Another
family survivor was already suffering the loss of his mother when
he had to go deal with the mounds of stuff left in her home.
Sifting through the rubble and forgotten cabinets just to
find the special things she left for him and other family members
was an incredibly burdensome task.
It's
probable that a person is not even aware that they have much junk.
They've done such a good job over the years keeping them
hidden away that they don't even think of those items anymore.
When
people acquire too much stuff around the house, the solution many
of them often resort to is to hide it away somewhere.
They
think if it's hidden away, it isn't there.
In their mind, they've gotten rid of it.
This temporary fix is only a good idea at the time.
Someday, the solution becomes the problem.
Hoarding
stuff has its own logic. By keeping something you think has value, or will have value,
enables you to have a certain peace of mind.
Just knowing that it will always be there in case you ever
need it saves you a lifetime of worry.
And, no doubt, when you're gone, the family will be bowled
over when they see the project of weeding through the things
they've inherited. Revenge,
or love?
An
avid collector of anything and everything left so much stuff in
the house after he was gone that his family actually had to end up
going to the estate sale to bid on the things they wanted.
It was the only way they could see things after the
auctioneer sorted through it all.
I
will spell it out. Use
it or give it away now. If
we don't like people going through our personal and private things
now, why would we want them to do it after we're gone?
The fact is, we don't need to keep junk.
Go
through your stuff now and cleanse yourself of the things that no
longer serve a purpose. You'll
leave this world parting nice memories of you, not future tasks
because of you. Do
this, if not for you, for others you care about.
Sorry to be so gruesome.
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