It's Hard to Let Go of a Deceased Parents' Things
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Thanks for listening to my call of the day podcast. You can hear my live radio program Monday through Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Sirius XM Triumph 111. Lori, welcome to the program. Hi, Dr. Laura. What can I help you with? I need you...

I need you to help me stop being so indecisive about getting rid of material items that were mine when I was a child or things that my mother had accumulated for me as a child. She had passed away seven months ago, and I'm the only child, and I need to get rid of these things. Why do you need to get rid of these things? What's the urgency to get rid of these things? Just because...

I don't need another household full of items, I'll call them. They're just... It's just stuff. I know it's all just stuff, and I've been saying that. I'm going to have... Well, no, it's not just... Why are you saying it's just stuff? These are all memories. But I can't keep all these things more and more for a long time. Like, what would I do with them? I'm 60 years old. I don't need dolls. I don't need...

It's not a matter of need. You keep them because they're beautiful memories of your life with your mother. I mean, they have what we call sentimental value. But there's just too much. There's too many things and items. How many of them is too much? She's got a lot of stuff.

There are certain things that I did want, that I do have in my possession, but then there are like doll collections. Okay. Do you have children and grandchildren and friends who have children and grandchildren and stuff like that? Yes, I have children and no grandchildren. Do you anticipate that you might have grandchildren in the future? Are they interested? No. I have no idea, to be honest with you.

Would you like somebody else to make the decision of what to get rid of? Oh, I don't know. I hadn't thought of that. Well, take a moment. Take a moment on me. Take a moment out. Well, I'm not talking backwards. I'm talking forwards. So what happened backwards is not what I'm asking you. Would you like at this point someone else to make the decision? Did you know that skin care can start in the laundry room?

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It might be beneficial. Okay, I need a yes or a no. I don't work with mics. Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am. I need a yes or a no. You can say no, but give me a yes or a no. I'm thinking more in the yes. Well, tell me when you're 100% yes. I'll just wait. I'll breathe slowly. See, that's the thing. I'm being so indecisive.

I'm asking you to answer me one question. Does it mean something has to happen? I'm not asking you to do or not do anything. I'm just saying, would it be easier on you if somebody else made the decision? I'm thinking that it would. Okay. I think that it would be easier on me. Then we have an option. You can get somebody to come and carefully. There are companies that do this. I had them do this with some things that I had that I didn't want to...

Didn't want to get rid of and I didn't want to keep in my house. So I had a company, but you can have friends or do it yourself, come and pack up all this stuff, label it and put it in boxes and put it in storage. And my best guess is I will never make the decision, but I'm leaving it to my family when and if I'm not on the planet anymore. If to do something with it. But meanwhile, I have not gotten rid of it. It's clean, organized and put away.

And I have not gotten rid of it, but it's in storage, labeled nicely. And in the future, if your kids want to go through all the boxes, and they probably would at some point, and they may give the dolls away to, my gosh, there are places that have dolls that are hundreds of years old, might add like museum pieces. So all I'm saying is one option you have is have the things that you can't figure out if you want to keep or not.

Let's not make the decision. Let's not make the decision. Since you don't want to make a decision, I'm supporting you. Don't have the stuff packed up nicely, put in storage for the next generation. Yeah, I'm not sure if that would work for my case. I've had my children involved going through these items, and they've expressed that they don't want them either. That's correct. At this point, they don't want them. But once you pass...

They might do things like give them to charity, sell them because some of the things might be antique-y. And people like all sorts of stuff. They could have an estate sale. They could do all sorts of things. But right now, working with you is too frustrating for them, and they really don't want to be bothered. So you don't have to make a decision. They don't have to make a decision. Pack it up. Okay. That way...

You're good. No decision is made. My number 1-800-375-2872. Check out my social media on Facebook and Instagram. I post stories, photos, and videos seven days a week and feature some of what you've sent me to. There's always something interesting going on there. You can find me at facebook.com slash drlaura and instagram.com slash drlauraprogram.

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