I was listening to a very wonderful radio show on NPR the other day, and let's face it, what NPR show isn't wonderful? Anyways, it was all about how we tend to accumulate many many things over our lifetime, especially when a family member passes on. Suddenly, we have the cherished possessions from several deceased family members and are just unable to sort through them all either due to not wanting to get rid of something said family member treasured, or because the idea of sorting through rooms full of things feels unbelievable overwhelming.

The hostess of the radio show said that the sense of being overwhelmed is what causes us to not sort through things, and we just throw more and more onto the pile until the house is fit to bursting. Sometimes it's also deeply psychological for people to want to hold onto every last item because it may serve some sort of use later on. Sometimes it not only takes a team of folks to clear and sort through items, but it also takes a psychologist to help the person sort through whatever they are going through, usually some sort of compulsion to collect or hoard items for later use. Other times, simply cleaning out the home and helping the homeowner to tackle the seemingly overwhelming task is all that's needed.

The majority of things we accumulate are treasures of deceased family members. A piece of furniture a mother loved and cherished. A wooden box made by an uncle. Sometimes these items aren't necessarily our favorites or cherished by us, but we hold onto them because they family member who previously owned them valued them greatly. It's like there has to be permission granted or something to allow us to let go of the items we don't necessarily want or love, but hold onto to because it was Dear Great Auntie Mabel's favorite dresser.

The hostess proposed that in such a case, perhaps taking pictures of the items, and storing them in a photo album should be done. That way, you can still look at the items, remember the person they once belonged to and were cherished by, and the photo album will take up less room than a whole bunch of accumulated items.

Just a suggestion if you're struggling to go through and part with items you don't necessarily like, but don't feel you're unable to get rid of because they belonged to departed family members.