Successful Living Takes Courage

“Editing” a home from decades of accumulating furniture, bedding, dishes, artwork and family pictures takes courage. It is a daunting task to decide what to keep, what to donate or even let go to the dump. Dump, what a rude four-letter word. Begin letting go as soon as possible: whittle everything down to what is still used and needed for living in the home along with meaningful decorations and family photos.

Avoiding or delaying this process burdens loved ones who must make all the decisions. My current clients are all dealing with serious editing of their home’s contents for several reasons:

• An awful health challenge requiring assisted living for a gentleman under 55.
• A woman’s older brother and his wife died, and no one had been in their home for over forty years! It was the most densely packed and crammed home I have ever seen. Yes, it is called “hoarding.”
• Finally, adult children are clearing their parent’s home with decades of memories/contents, and it is a daunting task.

NOW is the best time to edit the contents of your home so it could be listed on the market in 30 days, if it became necessary. Setting this goal helps reduce the stress and energy that would be needed if a home HAD to be listed for a sudden move to less square footage, for instance.

AND that is not an easy conversation with spouses or older parents that have accumulated a lot of stuff. Here are a few tips for that conversation:

• Thank and praise the loved one for all the good memories and let them know your concern for what most likely lies in the future: change.
• The potential need for less square footage or even assisted care is real.
• Talk about how helpful it would be to begin the process together now and enjoy it as you work through it.
• Set a time, possibly the first weekend of every month, to get together and look at each item and ask lots of questions: from where, when, why? Enjoy the memory and time together.
• Ask to whom it would go to upon their passing and document that on paper. Your time together will be a treasure.

For over a decade before my mother’s passing, she asked each of us six daughters what we wanted in the home when she died. Near the end of her life, all of us had identified and marked what we’d like. Much of the 60’s furniture was not marked so I asked her where she wanted the proceeds to go when the items were sold. We girls were able to honor her wishes and that was rewarding to all of us. The process of clearing out her home was so much simpler with her involvement in the process.

I am calling each reader to age courageously and begin the process of whittling down the contents of your home now.

LifeSkills Academy educators are business professionals, some with academic backgrounds, and all have proven success in the world of commerce.

LifeSkills Academy features online group learning including Cooking, Etiquette/Social Intelligence, Financial Skills, Personal Organization, and Relationship Science. Join our website to receive class details/notices: https://www.lifeskillsacademy.expert 

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• Chest Congestion
  • Add sliced or chopped onion to water – just to cover - in a pan on the stove. When it begins to heat up, stand over the sulphuric acid-releasing steam to break up mucus and breathe easier!

• Tear-free Onion Chopping
  • Toss onion in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting, or
  • Coat and rub your knife blade with cooking oil (olive or canola) before cutting onions
  • Save those tears for some good holiday movies.

LifeSkills Academy educators are business professionals, some with academic backgrounds, and all have proven success in the world of commerce.

LifeSkills Academy features online group learning including Cooking, Etiquette/Social Intelligence, Financial Skills, Personal Organization, and Relationship Science. Join our website to receive class details/notices: https://www.lifeskillsacademy.expert 

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Each year on the fourth Thursday of November, families and friends gather together to give thanks for their blessings. In recent times, we have endured fires, floods, hurricanes, a world-wide pandemic and financial upheaval. From The Corner Home Office presents THANKFUL THURSDAYS several times during the year with reasons to give thanks all year long.

November is a month dedicated to honoring our veterans. From the beginning of this country, we have had wars in many lands and for many purposes. The brave service people who survived those wars did so often at a great personal expense.

Some lost limbs. Some lost mental acuity or memory altogether. Some lost the ability to interact with their loved ones.

We have benefitted from their actions.It is imperative that we maintain gratitude for their sacrifices. Honor them. Thank them. Respect them. We might not always agree with the government’s reasons for war, but we still have the debt to honor and remember those who served for us. Veterans Day, on November 11, is to honor those who are still here, not the ones we have lost. We should revere not ignore them or become oblivious to them.

On the fourth Thursday of November, we celebrate the Federal holiday of Thanksgiving. Many myths have circulated about the origin of this holiday.

William Bradford was from England. He came to America on the Mayflower, becoming governor of Plymouth, Massachusetts. He wrote Of Plymouth Plantation beginning in 1630 about the early settlers from 1620-1646. By 1780, his journal had disappeared. It was eventually returned to Massachusetts about 1897.

Sarah Josepha Hale was a writer, activist for women’s issues and influential editor. She was the author of Mary Had A Little Lamb. She discovered Bradford’s journal learning of the various fall harvest celebrations of the early settlers. At that time, there were celebrations in several states varying from October through January. In 1846, she began writing presidents lobbying for a unified federal holiday to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Hale wrote Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and finally Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln saw fit to establish this Federal holiday as a way to bring the nation together following the Civil War. He established the holiday in 1863 to take place on the last Thursday in November. In 1941, President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt altered the day to the fourth Thursday in November. This was to spare any confusion during the years there were five Thursdays in November.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, we have plenty of time to confront negative forces and situations. By taking just a few minutes each Thursday to be thankful for the many blessings that are bestowed upon us, we lend a bit of balance to our lives. We need to show our youth as well that there is good and bad, happy and sad, challenges and blessings.

Watch for future blogs regarding THANKFUL THURSDAYS. Explore our website at https://www.lifeskillsacademy.expert
We welcome your comments, questions and interests as we all try Mastering The Game Of Life.

LifeSkills Academy educators are business professionals, some with academic backgrounds, and all have proven success in the world of commerce.

LifeSkills Academy features online group learning including Etiquette/Social Intelligence, Financial Skills, Personal Organization, and Relationship Science. Join our website to receive class details/notices: https://www.lifeskillsacademy.expert 

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