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Reply by jaindough

09 Oct 2014, 2:33 PM

Here's an update!

We got two offers this past Sunday and accepted one that was ABOVE the asking price! My husband and I were blown away. The buyers also want to keep all the furniture which makes our lives so much easier. The house was only up on the website since Tuesday. It sold in 5 or 6 days. We couldn't believe it.

We are now waiting for the financing to be approved. The house inspection is today.

We also sold the car for several hundred dollars, which we were surprised about. We were simply going to donate it to the kidney foundation but neighbors found a teenager buyer for us, which is great.

All of these things are pending final signatures and transfers so lets hope for the best.

FINGERS CROSSED!

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Reply by KathCull_admin

09 Oct 2014, 5:39 PM

Wonderful but I will wait to bring out the champagne until you say the word!
Katherine

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Reply by jaindough

21 Oct 2014, 2:49 PM

The car has sold! I did a quick round trip this weekend and settled a few matters on Monday.

The mortgage for the buyers has been approved so, if all goes well, we will be signing the close next Monday.

Fingers still crossed...

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Reply by jaindough

29 Oct 2014, 12:25 AM

The house has officially sold. I signed the papers yesterday, handed over my key to the new owners and started the long drive home, with my car full of old photos and mementos.

It felt very strange saying goodbye to my house, but I strongly feel this is the biggest step in my healing process. This is the way to closure.

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Reply by jorola

29 Oct 2014, 2:05 AM

I am happy to hear that things are coming together for you and as you say taking a big step towards healing. Remember, you will always have memories in your heart.

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Reply by KathCull_admin

13 Jul 2015, 9:38 PM

Hello everyone,

WhippleDaughter has posted to My mom is a Whipple Warrior. this afternoon. She is in the process of cleaning her mother's apartment and I thought those of you on this thread have an understanding of how difficult it is.

Could I ask you to consider responding to her post?

Thanks for thinking about it.

Katherine

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Reply by KathCull_admin

08 Jul 2016, 9:40 PM

Hi
It's been a little while since this thread was active but I thought of it while I was reading a book by Plum Johnson - called "They left us everything". It made me think of you JD.

Katherine

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Reply by elly01

02 Mar 2017, 4:23 AM

I can understand how it feels. But you have to go through it. Or may be you could get someone's help.

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Reply by LiveWell

30 Sep 2017, 7:14 PM

I know this is late but I helped an elderly couple put together a plan before moving their lives from a large 3 storey character home to a 2 bedroom seniors apartment.

Because their items hold so many emotions, I decided to remove the items but maintain the memories. To achieve this we took photos of all items and captioned them, then wrote the story behind the history of each item and the feelings these memories evoked.

The other strategy we implemented was items not donated or sold were to be stored in a locker and a monthly bill would need to be paid for these items. Of course these items were photographed and catalogued also. The idea behind this was to provide a gradual separation from emotionally charged items. After the first 6 months the catalogue would be reviewed and those items could be changed out with items already in the apartment if desireable. The monthly storage invoice would serve as a reminder that these items have a constant cost financially to maintain. As well, help seniors monthly review of the items' revisit thevalue of each item.

My couple found the above empowering because it gave them the right amount of control they needed given their frail physical and emotional health.

Comments or questions are welcome.

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Reply by jaindough

30 Sep 2017, 8:30 PM

Hi Livewell and thanks for your reply. I thought I would comment as I've had a great deal of time to reflect on how I cleared out my family home and I think many of your suggestions are wonderful.

I made sure to take photos of many items I was donating but that I still felt emotionally attached to. Unfortunately, the clear out and sale had to be done quickly as where I live was a good 8 hour drive away and my family home was in the north. With the winter approaching I felt tremendous pressure to get things done quickly as I didn't want to have to do the long distance driving in bad weather.

I have to say that, though it went very smoothly and efficiently, I felt a tremendous amount of anxiety for several months after the sale of the house. I had nightmares and did not sleep well and I think a great deal of that was due to shifting so many things so rapidly. I was also struggling through the grief I had after the loss of my mother. So many big emotions in such a short timespan.

I don't know that I would have done anything very differently; I didn't really have a plethora of options at my disposal. I actually only recently went through some of the boxes I had brocught back with me and started donating/ clearing some of those items out. I have thousands of photos that were not catalogued or organized. I started clearing out some of those and organizing them as well. What a looooong process. I truly feel that material goods can be a tremendous burden. I sold that house three years ago and I am still dealing with 'stuff', both emotional and physical.

The storage unit is a brilliant idea and, had I had that option, I would have certainly used that. I think my best advice to someone facing the same would be to set goals for yourself. For example: clear out one room per day. Also try to minimize your 'keep' box and ask yourself if you will truly value the items you intend to keep.

It's not an easy process but breaking it down into more manageable chunks would really help.

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