Comments on: How Organizing Later in Life is Different From When You Were Younger

By: Neena Nandagopal

Neena Nandagopal — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:46:23 +0000

Hi Liz,
Thank you for sharing your story – and you are most definitely not alone. I think we all struggle with all the same issues at different levels – and the items that evoke memories are the hardest to deal with. You obviously care a lot about your family and their legacy. One thing that helps me get through stuff like that is asking my kids what things from our family history they might want to have one day. The reality is that they don’t want a lot.

I haven’t tackled all my family photos yet – and that is a big project.

To keep your momentum going and help with distraction, perhaps you set aside half an hour at the end of each of your organizing sessions to read and enjoy some of the items that you have sorted instead of doing it while you organize.

Be sure to appreciate your own efforts – it’s a tough job and it sounds like you are making good progress!

By: Liz Devine

Liz Devine — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 02:48:59 +0000

At 64 yo and disabled, I too am going through the house of 22 years and finding so much I must donate. I still find a pair of sox that are completely good in the donate box and say I may need those one day and pull them out again and put them away. I HATE IT! My mother and Grandmother both had pictures from family and I seem to have gotten those in my possesion as well as my husbands’ mother’s photos. I don’t even KNOW those people and have no idea of what to keep and or toss.
The pictures are second to only the paperwork. Yes, I am trying to put them all on the computer. I have all my mother’s (she passed 2 years ago) paper work and hers is twice as bad as mine. She has so many notes written about life in the middle of other stuff that I find I have to go thru all the pages in case I might miss something dear. I then start reading and not sorting and… and, and. I never finish anything due to the large amount of work and the fact that my disability will not allow me to last “through the night” as I did when younger. I just finished what I was doing even if it DID take all night. Oh to be that young again!
I continue to call Red Cross and the Vets to pick up items and continue to struggle through the clothes of my Grandmother and mother, trying not to keep them because they bring back memories. I am going to finish those papers in my scanner and I am going to have my house back. It was inspiring to read your information about our generation and realize that it is not my family, but my generation of families and I am not alone. I look forward to reading more about this and learning more about pushing through the items and having a clean house I can enjoy and not feel guilty if I want to have fun vs working on the sorting projects.
Thanks again, look forward to more help from your work.

By: Neena Nandagopal

Neena Nandagopal — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 02:08:51 +0000

In reply to Susan.

Hi Susan,
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment.
I know from experience that the struggle to stay organized is real – and it always amazes me when I see people who have seemingly conquered all their clutter.
But remember that “comparison is the thief of joy”. Every single one of us is going to have a different path and we need to celebrate our own progress., because it is a big deal. So, kudos to you for getting that scanner and tackling the project! And thank you for sharing your journey with me.

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 13:54:25 +0000

I certainly resonated with your newsletter above. Jim and I are 75, and in that crazy place of knowing about what our new priorities ‘should’ be (exercise, growing in different ways, etc) but somehow we have issues with both our schedule and our stuff. This shouldn’t be, as we moved to TX from MI almost 5 years ago and technically left most of our ‘stuff’ in MI as it would never even fit in our TX downsized house w/o a basement. Yet we (well, I) know at least 25% of the stuff in this place needs to go.
Paperwork is the worst — piles of it. From your wonderful video at the org conference, I finally learned how to organize files on my computer and am in the process of slogging through those — then I bought a high-speed scanner and will tackle the office. So, I have hope. Thank you for your understanding of people at ‘this stage’ of life — our daughter, SIL, 3 teen grands live 10 minutes away but in another ‘world’; they are always lovely and nice but . . . clearly can’t imagine that we have 1/3 the energy we used to and of course, more ‘stuff’ from our earlier life stages. And their house is the minimalist look, always completely tidy, NO paper-mess, etc. Sigh.