Susan - Having just spent the last 3 years helping my mom with this task, and then, when she died two weeks ago completing it on my own, I know how important this is. It took me and my daughter a week to clear out the rest of Mom's things even after Mom and I had been working on it steadily for years. What would it have been like if we hadn't been doing that?

Now I am faced with deciding what of her belongings to keep and where to put them in our small house. It is a process that will take a while as I process the grief of losing her, but I know eventually I will be left with just a few things that will be precious to me.

And you're right - I don't want my daughter to have to spend a lot of time figuring out what to do with things I should have gotten rid of long ago.