Areavoices: Organizing Your Parents

Areavoices blogger Melissa Schmalenberger (MS. Simplicity) offers tips to readers who may be helping aging parents simplify their belongings and organize important files.

MS. Simplicity offers tips on how to approach this difficult task with the best mindset - how to "come from a place of love, not judgment," as she says.

In Part 1, she talks about understanding the reasons why people hold on to items and how to help parents sort through and organize their belongings.

Part 2 covers the tasks of recording memories and actually getting rid of items.

Part 3 is about the importance of collecting and storing important documents - wills, keys for safety deposit boxes, titles/deeds, IRA/bank/insurance information, and more - in one or two safe places.

Check out her three part series:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Tags: areavoices, family, updates