We all have different abilities. I am useless when it comes to finding my way anywhere. I’d literally be lost without Google Maps. But I have a talent for decluttering. I can even help others do it remotely. (Although I suspect my sister pulled faces at me when the camera was pointed elsewhere.)
So much stuff
My father died a few days after my last post. So the past few weeks have been heartsore. And busy. He was an avid collector of many things – from Wedgwood Jasperware (beautiful pottery) to African masks to Indian art to powder compacts. And lots and lots of books. I’m glad he got so much pleasure from all these things. But it is an overwhelming task to sort them out. My decluttering skills are being stretched way beyond their limits.
The loss of someone we love reminds us that we, too, are mortal. And that someone will have to deal with our personal effects. Unlike my father’s generation, we don’t just have physical stuff. We also have digital stuff.
Digital clutter is still clutter
Physical clutter affects us mentally and emotionally. There is a sense of lightness that comes from sorting out and getting rid of it.
Digital clutter doesn’t take much space, but it still has that mental price tag. All those emails going back years in your inbox. The 23,000 odd photos on your phone. And the contacts you can’t remember. (I wish WhatsApp let me send a message without creating a contact. If I don’t delete the contact immediately, I forget why it’s there.)
Cleaning up digital clutter is time-consuming and difficult. It’s easy to give away mugs you don’t use, because you can buy other mugs. But if you delete something, that’s it (apart from all those unsorted backups). Few of us have time for the great digital clean-up. But we can spend 5 or 10 minutes a day deleting a few emails or re-organising a folder.
Create a file
I’m a great believer in “The File”. That’s a document that contains information about bank accounts, policies, and other information someone will need if I die or am incapacitated. (Which can happen to anyone, regardless of age.)
In the digital age, that also means you might want someone to be able to access your online accounts. That’s tricky, given the need for password hygiene. My current solution is to ensure that my husband has the password to my password manager in his password manager. Now I just need to declutter my password manager.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments.