Why Spring Clearing?
Springtime is a time of renewal and growth; the days are getting longer and many of us enjoy an increase in energy levels and have a spring in our step! It’s a great chance to take stock of what you want to do and achieve in the coming year. It’s a good time to focus on whether your environment is really helping you to achieve any goals you may have set since the beginning of the year and now when so many of us find ourselves at home more and more, a review of our immediate environment will be more valuable than ever.
Launched in 2018, Spring Clearing Week is APDO’s (Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers) annual initiative. APDO’s members across the UK and beyond will be advising and encouraging you to clear your home and spaces to create a calmer environment. The theme for this year’s Spring Clearing Week is ‘Your Legacy’. As a member of APDO and starting a business with this very topic at its core, it is a great way to launch myself into the community. We learn that thoughtful and careful planning can help us live a more organised life now, whatever age we are, whilst also gently preparing for when we are no longer here. These are topics that I am keen to address in an honest, empathetic and practical manner.
I will be looking at the things we inherit and how we can simplify and manage the process of ‘legacy’ decluttering. We need to consider what is valuable and what is of sentimental importance to us. It is in passing this information on to our loved ones that the real work is done. The burden of decluttering after a death can be eased slightly with this knowledge.
Looking at the effects of a physical, digital or photographic legacy, as well as discussing ways to ‘pass on life skills for future generations’ and ‘living with intention’ are great areas to start.
The more sensitive but vital topic of estate planning is one people shy away from but really it is a gift for our loved ones to have this all in order when we die. Even if we can’t discuss our decisions around it, letting loved ones know where to find the information, and that it is has been thought about can be our greatest legacy.
I was fortunate that my parents, especially my dad, had the ‘estate planning’ sorted before they died. Even with that, the process in Ireland can be exhausting and protracted. However, they were less organised in how they processed their possessions. Even though they had down sized several years before their deaths there was a huge amount of items to be looked at and moved along.
The conversations can be hard, challenging and extremely emotional. The consequence of this sharing of information can transform some ones life in the aftermath of a death. Let’s get talking….
Kindred Sorting 