Should you have a clear-out to help your family?

SUGGESTING elderly people should clear out their possessions well before they die (Mail) is nonsense. If I look at the small shelf above my sink, it contains a few little things that remind me of eight friends and what they mean to me. If I were to have a major clear-out, I would get into trouble with my family for throwing out things that perhaps I was unaware hold memories for them. And what a bleak prospect of living your final years in a cleaned-out house rather than being surrounded by books and all the happy memories of friends and events in my life. I had to clear out my parents’ house after they died, which enabled me to give some of their friends a memento to remember them by. Clearing out their home was the least I could do after all my parents had done for me.

JUNE WARD, Bath.

I AGREE that we should all clear out our belongings rather than leaving this task to our family after we die. I had to clear the home where my parents had lived for 56 years. When my husband died suddenly, I was left alone in the house we had shared for 40 years and where we had raised our children. It took me a year before, room by room, I slowly got rid of three-quarters of my possessions. Then I bought a mobile home — the best decision I have ever made as it has helped me make so many new friends. I used to be the manager of a residential home for 60 people and many of the ladies were not happy at giving up their home. If they had cleared out their belongings and downsized, perhaps they could still have had their independence. I keep my possessions to a minimum and it makes life so much easier.

Mrs J. L. LOTE, St Albans, Herts.