Not necessarily lazy children - we don't know what their lives were like, what their Mom owned, or whether meaningful items were shipped home or had already been given to them or others.

We have cleaned out family homes that were "full" but contained nothing of value - chipped dishes, ragged towels and linens, 20 year-old home canned foods, hundreds of saved jars, bottles, cottage cheese and egg cartons, old newspapers and magazines, broken furniture in the attic, 30 year old mattresses... If there were treasures there, we had neither the time nor energy to find them.

Then we have cleaned out homes full of items marked with who was to get them, offered items to family, friends and neighbors, then held a sale or donated the rest.

Most were "in between".

I want to leave as little as possible for my kids to deal with when I go, so am taking the time now to "cull the herd" - keeping only what I need, will truly use or highly value. The rest is given away to family or friends, or donated. What I keep is, I hope, organized in such a way that it will be easy for them to find new homes - lists of fellow quilters, fiber & needle arts and painting companions or organizations.

Now if we could just tackle the garage and workshop, sigh...
Sue