Sorting personal possessions

[Lou898]

In less than 12 months I have lost my mum and dad. Mum died in Dec and I haven’t been able to go and sort the house out. The house is owned so no rush but I know it has to be done. What do people do with everything? It breaks my heart to think of giving away all their worldly possessions but i haven’t the time to sort selling a lot of it (maybe some of the bigger items and the car)
I feel those house clearance people are also a no go too for me emotionally.
Mum had some lovely furniture and good make clothes but I have my own furniture and apart from a few items do not want or need it.
Any suggestions or advice?

It's soul destroying. I began by getting rid of everything that was broken. That seemed to use up any resources I had left. I then coped by boxing and storing everything until I was ready to do it. I wouldn't advise coping this way as it was also awful.

First the family took what they wanted.
I contacted a Dementia charity and they took most of the furniture, it was all in excellent condition.
I wont lie it was really upsetting we had all grownup in that house.
I actually took boxes to my house because I couldn't part with the personal things at the time. 6yrs later they were still there untouched. One day I opened them all up and most of it went to the charity shop.
Good luck

Thank you for your replies it’s very much appreciated. It distresses me just thinking about it but I know it’s got to be done.

When DF died, DM moved to a smaller flat and we put some of the things that we hadn’t had time to sort out in a storage container to sort out in our leisure. They are still there 2 years later. Just getting round to sorting it now. Should have done it sooner but kept putting it off.

I am sorry for your loss OP

We asked Mum's friends if there was anything they wanted. We freecycled a lot. We took most of her sewing stuff to a local craft centre that takes that sort of donations. A lot of bedding and kitchen stuff went to the local women's refuge. I could not have used a house clearance company, either.

I am very sorry for your loss. Xx
I have lost both my parents. Dad then mum. After my mother's death my sister and I shared out her possessions and any furniture we could take.
I live abroad and had my half professionally packed and delivered to me inc some furniture.
The boxes stayed in my garage and I opened them bit by bit, say one a month and it was sad but a real pleasure to rediscover the memories.
I then kept things or donated.
I would always recommend boxing things up and saving for later.
It's so raw when they have died, but months even years after it's so comforting to have some of their possessions.
Keeping the things in boxes like that was one of the best things I have ever done.

We had no time to do this at leisure as it was overseas, we had to fly out there and quickly bring back what we could and then house clearance for the rest

You don’t have to make any decisions straight away. Put everything that isn’t broken / rubbish into storage, then come back to it in a few months. Mum threw out a lot of my grandparents’ stuff while in a daze and years later she regretted rushing it as she lost a lot of stuff she wanted to keep.