A $1200 exercise bike nobody wants to buy. Weights. A belt sander I don’t know works or not. A gross vacuum but it still does the job-but I don’t need another vacuum. Brake drums. A crockpot. In other words, a list of all the stuff at the farm still at the farm, minus two armoires/entertainment centers nobody…not fb marketplace, not Trosa or Restore, will take.
Three 15’ dumpsters of stuff thrown away
Furniture being sold and donated for months.
Piles of things burned.
And this is AFTER our family was here cleaning the place from sunup to sun down in the winter.
Here’s my point: do your Swedish Death Cleaning NOW. Do not leave your sh*t for your kids and loved ones to have to wade through. Get rid of everything you don’t actively use or need. Keep *maybe* one or two containers of nostalgic stuff but I promise you nobody needs your drawings from kindergarten, or your high school art project (unless it’s really good) or the appliances you don’t use. Or any of it, really.
I threw away someone’s grandmas coverlet. It reminded me of my Aunt Aileen’s decor from when I was little. Smelled the same, too. But who would want that now? I had no connection. It was probably 80 years old. It was probably loved. But I don’t love it, need it, and can’t donate it. How sad.
This is the most painful, gutting part to date: the part where the initial adrenaline rush of illness and death and the immediate need to take care of all the things wears off and you’re left drained, staring at the remnants of a life well lived, but left unfinished nonetheless.