When you’re going through a bereavement, one of the toughest challenges you’ll face is removing items from the home of your deceased loved one. It can be difficult to know where to begin, especially if you’ve never been through the experience before. Here are a few tips to help make things easier.

Don’t begin straight away

While you may feel that sorting through your loved one’s belongings may speed up the grief process, the chances are, it won’t. Giving yourself enough time to come to terms with their death is important, otherwise you run the risk of opening the wound even further. It’s important that you only begin the job when you feel ready to do so.

Bring in some support

Having someone there to help you clear your deceased loved one’s house will not only make the job physically easier, but also emotionally easier. It’s good to have a support network around you – people who you can lean on if you feel as though you are struggling.

Work out the most important items

Before you begin the job, work out a list with your family of the most important items that you want to keep. This will help you avoid the horror of throwing away any unknown sentimental items, as well as giving you a basis to start from. After you have worked through the most important items, you can then get on with removing the more dispensable objects.

Check their will

Before you decide on what to do with the possessions you’ve cleared, it’s important to check your deceased loved one’s will. You don’t want to have thrown away, sold or donated an item that was assigned to a family member or a friend. This could also settle any disputes if multiple family members have their hearts set on taking a specific object from the house.

Be organised

When clearing the home of a deceased loved one, organisation is key. It will help the process run a lot smoother and prevent you from accidentally misplacing important items. Clearly label your boxes with ‘keep’, ‘donate’, ‘sell’ or ‘throw away’ and work out a strategy for each room of the house.

Be ruthless

As difficult as it sounds, you’re going to want to be ruthless during the process of clearing the house. Throwing away the possessions of a loved one isn’t easy, which may lead to you holding onto things that you don’t really need. This is where bringing in a friend, unrelated to the loved one, may be a wise decision.

Hire professional help

If the idea of clearing the home of your deceased loved one is too upsetting, you should think about hiring a professional team to do the job for you. Once you’ve picked out sentimental items that you want to keep, Dean’s Property Services can efficiently handle the house clearance with the care and compassion the job deserves.

We operate throughout the UK, so whether you’re in a rural village or a big city, we can assist you. Don’t go through this alone, start your quote now.