Clearing out an estate can be time-consuming, physically demanding, overwhelming, and emotionally fraught. While you’re dealing with grief and the emotionality of your loss, the thought of having to determine what to keep, sell, donate, or toss can feel really overwhelming.
That’s where we come in!
We help sort and organize everything in the home, connect you with estate sale professionals, appraisers, antique dealers, and other sale options. For items that cannot be sold, we can arrange for donation pick-up/drop-off, recycling, or hauling services. We treat all property with care and respect.
Our services allow you to maintain control as the Executor/Personal Representative/Administrator while delegating all those overwhelming, time-consuming tasks to a Certified Professional Organizer®.
Some of the services we offer include:
- Locate assets and debts
- Find vital documents and other important paperwork
- Create a comprehensive home inventory summary
- Arrange for the cancellation of repeating charges on the decedent’s credit card
- Arrange for cancellation of service providers, as needed
- Arrange for an online auction or on-site house sale
- Arrange to ship items to beneficiaries
- Sort/organize paperwork and identify vital documents
- Coordinate with necessary professionals such as realtors, cleaning services, shredding services, and household handyman repairs
We can work side by side with you to help you navigate the process or, if you live out of the area, but the home in need of estate organizing or prep is in our service area, we can work onsite without you, communicating with you frequently by phone, text, email, or Facetime.
When I was told that I would be moving from my office of 10 years to a cubicle I have to admit I felt a little overwhelmed! I had files upon files and a long history of event scripts, contracts, agendas, ad journals, programs, invoices etc. I didn’t know where to begin. Deborah helped me every step of the way! I didn’t realize how much I had kept that was not necessary. Now I have a sense of peace and feel clutter-free. She is fantastic and pleasant and easy to work with. I never knew how much I needed this help until we started the process. We worked together side by side and not once did she ever judge or criticize. She was patient and sensitive… I highly recommend her!! She came in with a fresh perspective on how to put and keep things in order!! She even inspired me to organize my home files!!!
– Alyssa Bolivar – Events Coordinator, Morris County Chamber of Commerce
Legacy Organizing
Filing cabinets are becoming extinct as more files are stored in the cloud than in offices. Many of us of a certain age had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood. Having a summary of your digital files is essential for your heirs.
Several years ago, I got a call from a client who said, “I’m turning 79 next week and it occurred to me that I might die.” Her goal was to create a comprehensive spreadsheet for her adult child containing all of her logins and passwords for her banking and investments, a list of key contacts, and the location of vital documents and important paperwork. After the spreadsheet was complete, it was put in a file for her adult child to access when necessary.
Your digital estate includes any digital account, document, or digital device. This includes cell phones, laptops, social media accounts, email accounts, paperless billing statements, airline miles, credit card points, digital photos/videos, eBooks, cryptocurrency, digital copies of important documents, as well as online accounts for banking, shopping, and media. The average household estimates the value of their digital estate to be in excess of $50K, so it’s important to know what you have and ensure that family members and heirs also know. Make sure to also document your desires about your social media accounts (delete, convert to a legacy account, etc.)
Some of the legacy organizing services we provide include:
- capturing memories for family photobooks, and preserving the story or history behind the stuff, so that your heirs will know and appreciate the item’s importance
- creating a comprehensive financial summary – accounts, expenses, investments, safe deposit box (bank location and key location), insurance policies, and more
- capturing any final wishes and desires about funeral/memorial service, cremation/burial desires, religious vs secular commemoration, feelings on engaging hospice or a death doula
Ready to dig in? Connect with us today via our contact page.