Clutter and disorganization are real issues. And while it might seem that the clutter inside our homes is our business (nothing for others to be concerned with), there are too many situations when the clutter in our homes could become someone else’s problem.
Disasters can strike at any time – often without warning. Whether it’s a natural disaster, power outage, freak accident, unexpected death, or unforeseen health crisis, being prepared can make all the difference.
Taking initiative to get more organized now will give you peace of mind, knowing your loved ones won’t be burdened with your excess stuff in the event they need to step in and care for your home, your children, your finances, etc.
Are You Organized for the Unexpected?
The following is an email from a reader, shared with her permission.
A few years ago, the father of a dear friend died unexpectedly. In an attempt to bless this family, several of us decided to clean her home while she was out of town for the visitation, funeral, etc.
When we opened the front door, it looked like a tornado had hit, and not just a tornado that had happened in the 24 hours since her dad died and they left town, but really just a way of life.
I literally picked up 27 loads of laundry off the floor between the upstairs and downstairs. There was no way of knowing what was clean and what was dirty, so I washed, dried, and folded all of it. Someone else cleaned the bathrooms, two others did the kids’ rooms, a few worked on the kitchen.
We were there for 3 hours with 10 people, and it was just starting to look “picked up”, but not spotless or deep cleaned (I took all the laundry home and brought it back later.)
More recently, my daughter and I babysat for a family with a newborn in critical condition and 4 other children at home. We took them a meal, but we had to move things on the counter and in the refrigerator just to fit anything in. The house was a disaster — and again, not a disaster that just happened, but a permanent disaster.
They had a filing cabinet with every drawer labeled “STUFF”. The mailman had to bring the mail to the door because their box was too full and no one could find the key to open their box. There was a Social Security card somewhere in their too-full, un-openable mailbox for their baby, which they needed to sign up for Medicaid!
Why am I saying all this?
Because you never know when your life is going to change and someone else will need to take over paying bills, getting your mail, watching your kids, doing your laundry, making your meals, or living in your house.
These two experiences have made me more aware of how being disorganized doesn’t just affect you, but so many others as well — especially when no one can figure out your system or find anything in your house.
I just think that sometimes we live self-absorbed lives and think, “Who cares, it is my mess.” But in reality, as I have personally seen, it DOES affect others and is something to consider in the way we keep our homes.
Wow! What a story!
The intent of sharing this is not to cause unnecessary guilt or angst.
Rather, I hope to encourage you to honestly evaluate your home and life from the perspective of an outsider stepping in to run things without your help. Maybe an adult child, a neighbor, a friend, or another relative.
Would it be possible? Or would they be so overwhelmed they wouldn’t know where to start?
This is not to say our motivation for keeping our homes neat and orderly is to appease someone else… but if you can’t get motivated to keep a neat home for yourself, this could be the kick in the pants you need to get started!
We all think “it could never happen to us,” but it does happen… and it could happen to you or me.
How to Prepare for The Unexpected
Honestly, we can’t be fully prepared for the unexpected, nor do I think we should constantly worry about the “what ifs” in life.
However, these are 3 things I’d encourage you to do to make an unexpected disaster less burdensome for your loved ones.
1. Gather your Important Documents
Passwords and logins, banking and bill paying information, driver’s license and social security numbers, addresses and phone numbers. These are all things someone might need in the event of a disaster, and it’s super helpful to have them all in one place.
If you’re curious how I do this for our family, this post walks you through every detail of our Family Emergency Binder.
You may also download my free template here to get started on your own Emergency Binder.
2. Create a Living Trust
This will cost money, it will take time, and the process could be annoyingly frustrating at times… but it’s worth it.
Get your ducks in a row, set up a power of attorney for your financial and medical needs, assign a guardian for your children, and breathe a sigh of relief knowing they won’t be handed over to the court.
Here’s the process we went through to set this all up when Nora was born.
3. Start Decluttering
You don’t need to finish any time soon… just get started.
Pick one room, one closet, one shelf, and declutter it today. Then do another shelf or drawer or closet tomorrow.
It will take time. You will want to quit. But just keep going.
In the event that nothing unexpected ever happens, you can enjoy living a more organized life in a more organized home!
Peg Veregge says
With all my thanks to you, Andrea, I feel much better about compiling all this important information. Yes, it took a long while to thoroughly catch everything. Yet, in the process I learned that we have insurance on items we no longer have, our passports have expired, and husband’s business credit card is connected with airline rewards program, with TWO redeemable tickets available! Your blog has inspired many many other good ideas for my busy family. You’re simply awesome! Big thanks. Peg
Andrea says
This is SO great to hear Peg! I’m thrilled my posts and information have been helpful for you!
and yay for free airline tickets!!
Laura says
I absolutely love your post. Such great advice in your posts! We inmigrated to the US 15 years ago and I am the one dealing with our finances. I also travel for work (not so often as before) and I had a spreadsheet with the websites users and passwords, but was also worried that if my husband ever needed it he may not find it, and he has no clue which banks we deal with or where our investments are. I have a very organized filing cabinet, but he would have to go through all the files. After reading your post I bought the binder that you use, and with your printables I organized all relevant information and documents, not only for my husband if he ever need them but also for the executor of our state. I bought a big enough fire safe and put it there. The only remaining thing is to tell the person we named as executor in case we both die abiut this. Next thing on my list is to do an inventory of our home contents for insurance purposes in case we need it in the future. I read that there are apps for this where you can store photos. Have you done this?
Andrea says
Thanks Laura! Sounds like you really have things organized — good for you!
I personally don’t use an app to log inventory (I looked into this a while back, but they all charged a monthly fee). That said, I will post this as a reader question on my FB Page today and send you the link once I do!
Mary in Maryland says
Unforeseen circumstances…I had a friend who’s house was a disaster–piles everywhere about thigh deep, dirty laundry on most surfaces, months’ worth of dirty dishes and left-overs spread around the house, and two small dogs who hadn’t noticed much difference between indoors and outdoors. And a couple of tweens. Not a problem, we just met elsewhere.
Then she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and wanted me to spring her from the hospital and arrange home hospice. I got a group of friends together and took care of food waste and dog poop. We trashed outdated newspapers and stashed one bedroom with clothes from the floor. (I got friend’s permission for handling whole classes of clutter.) But I still had to do a lot of persuading of the hospice nurse who came to evaluate the house. My thesis was that my friend had been living in the house for twenty years and was probably immune to whatever lurked there. And this was where my she wanted to be.
Linda says
Such a great article, Andrea. My husband and I both had major health issues in the past three years that required my sister and/or mother to come stay at our house and dog sit. I considered it a major victory that the second time my sister stayed, the only thing she couldn’t find was our vegetable steamer. That was after I did some major purging and organizing following my husband’s first health scare. When someone is lying in a hospital bed is not the time to start discussing health care decisions or funeral arrangements. So, as soon as he was well we finally went to a lawyer and got all the appropriate documents done. I then set up a binder that included everything and showed my sister where it is stored. She asked me to set one up for her and her husband and for our parents, which I did. But as I set up our binder I told my husband I included a card in a business card holder for all the appropriate lawyers, financial planner, banker, etc. and included cards that said we do not have a safety deposit box or life insurance (don’t worry…its for good reason, not an oversight). My husband then told me he has two life insurance policies. REALLY? We’ve been married 28 years and I didn’t know about them because they were through employers from before we were married. Now those insurance policies are in the binder, too. The process of setting up the binder forced me to get everything together in one spot and I’m thrilled to have it done and safely stored away. It gives us both a lot of peace of mind.
Andrea says
wow — I’m glad you have your binder ready now. Hopefully you (or your family) won’t need to use it for a long time!
Kelly S says
Such good points. Last year I put together a binder using your template for important papers – thank you!! I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at age 31 with 4 young kids – all 5 and under. Though I am hopeful for my prognosis, it has motivated me to get things in order, especially since we have moved tons in the past few years so are not very stable.
Two additional things I want to mention to add to your list for being organized:
1) complete an advance health care directive. This is a simple document (you can likely find one online, maybe look up “five wishes” for one). It allows you to establish who can make health care decisions on your behalf, like if you are in a coma. I think this is especially important for deciding who would make decisions if your spouse isn’t available, or you aren’t married. I imagine a spouse would be the natural choice for most people, but the “plan b” option is important – would it be your parent? Sibling? Friend? This document allows you to make this choice well in advance. You also can indicate your wishes for being kept on life support, donating organs, etc.
2) jot down funeral wishes. Do you have any favorite songs or Scripture passages/quotes? Want to be buried or cremated? I’ve been a part of planning a few funerals the past year and so wish people would have done this. Even in the case of a prolonged death (like my mom’s from cancer), by the time we knew she was likely going to die, she was too emotionally freaked out to discuss her funeral desires. It would have been much easier to do this before she ever had a diagnosis.
Andrea says
oh my word Kelly — I’m so sorry to hear about this. That’s basically like me (32) with 4 young kids. I can’t even imagine going through all of this at this point in my life.
Thanks so much for sharing your tips and ideas — Dave and I DO have the appropriate medical forms ready to go “just in case” but we have nothing planned for our funerals.
Blessings to you and your family as you move through this difficult season of life.
JJ says
The posibility of an emergency is what normally motivates me to keep things cleaned up!!! Teaching your kids at young ages to have a place for things has helped us! We are still in that process, since they are young. I even cut out and laminated scrapbook paper and used Scotch Removable Mounting Putty for “parking spots” for their water bottles. It was crazy always trying to track them down for meals. Having less makes it easier to keep on top of things. Especially in the winter we purge A LOT!