The Retirement Decluttering Labyrinth

Whether anyone has done it in real life, or whether it is just a social media myth, Swedish death cleaning holds a certain mystique. The clickbait around Swedish death cleaning would have us believe that, by tidying your house and removing clutter, you can make peace with death. The narrative goes that, in Sweden, everyone has a financially secure retirement. They don’t have financial worries to distract them from the inevitability of death, so they declutter until they make peace with it, and when the time comes, their families inherit a house free of clutter. Here in the DMV, we have plenty of financial worries. In fact, we feel so stuck that we can’t even begin decluttering until we decide whether we want to remain in our houses for as long as our health permits, or whether we would prefer to move to an assisted living facility while we still need relatively little assistance. The decision to move to assisted living or to age in place depends on several factors, including your health prognosis, your family support system, your finances, and whether you have long-term care insurance. Emotions play a role in the decision, too, and decluttering can help you tap into them. You can make an informed decision, and then let your emotions cast the tie-breaking vote, if you contact a Washington, D.C. estate planning lawyer.

Can You Declutter Your Way to Clarity About Aging in Place or Moving to an Assisted Living Facility?

Some medieval cathedrals include labyrinth patterns on the floors, so that the faithful can follow these patterns as they trace their steps toward the center. The goal is to get lost in contemplation and eventually arrive at a spiritual truth. Decluttering can serve a similar purpose. Like navigating a labyrinth, decluttering involves hundreds of micro decisions; if you make enough of these tiny decisions, you eventually start to see the big picture.

When you remove one item of clutter, and when you decide on new places for the remaining items after the clutter is gone, you might find that a clearer vision of your future comes into view. You might get the feeling that, at your age, living in a house with so many rooms, with or without the extraneous stuff, is exhausting, or even scary. Being in a smaller apartment where there is always someone nearby to help may feel safer and more practical. By contrast, you might find that decluttering only increases your emotional attachment to the house where you have lived. You might find that, even after all the clutter is gone, there is no place like home, and you cannot bear to leave, so aging in place is your decision.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Listening to Your Heart About Long-Term Care

A Washington, D.C. estate planning attorney can help you strategize about whether to move to an assisted living facility or to modify your house for aging in place.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C.  in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/i-m-81-and-decluttering-my-house-so-that-my-kids-don-t-have-to-deal-with-the-mess-when-i-die-it-s-a-strange-but-important-task/ar-AA1VnMP4?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=697e699277ce45b284c7bafbbea9e87f&ei=34