Without A Plan All Is Lost

 

This is a true story. If you can't handle a very sad truth, quit reading right now.

I was walking one day with my Tika (dachshund) a few years ago on my gravel-county road. I came upon some stuff that a yahoo had dumped along the roadside. THAT was bad enough, but this picture, all busted apart, was in that pile of dumped junk. It didn't look recent enough to me to be a jilted girlfriend but somebody's mother or grandmother. And there it was dumped into the weeds along a gravel road.

Picture on the right was taken in a big thrift shop near Sequim. One corner of a big room was filled with stacked picture frames......... and not just frames but PICTURES. Family pictures. Why in the world? How in the world?

Okay, dear readers. A line from an old Kingston Trio song rings in my mind: "This could happen to you!" 

If you do not have a plan for all your family genealogy and photos and memorabilia, the likelihood is 90% that it will go to the dump or Goodwill. (Where do you suppose all those shoeboxes of old photos found in thrift shops comes from??????) 

Your family has their own busy lives and collecting genealogy and family history was YOUR hobby. You must not assume that they'll be as fanatical about it as you've been. 

Please, please know that I "preach" the truth here today. Please start crafting a plan for when you "cross over that Rainbow Bridge." It takes a plan to leave a legacy and not a mess.

Dostadning: Swedish Death Cleaning

Disclaimer: This is not my office but it surely could be.  Is this your office? Kitchen? Pantry? Spare room? Closet? Storage drawers? 

While back, I came upon this little book: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, by Margareta Magnusson. While the title sounds a tad foreboding, the premise is simple and profound: Rid your world of stuff.... stuff you don't want, don't need, never used and never liked and do it now!

My favorite presentation to give to fellow genealogists is "Leave A Legacy and NOT A Mess." I teach that YOU collected all that stuff, and while it means the world to you, it may well not mean a sniff to your descendants (immediate descendants anyway). It is imperative that YOU do something with all that stuff. No excuses. 

This premise 100% applies to your clothes-shoes-Tshirts, your kitchen gadgets, your shelves of unfinished projects, your unused collection of clipped recipes, your 200 books, your dozens of different baking pans that you never use anymore. You get the idea. 

At my age, and facing a domicile move, this is rather uppermost in my mind. And I assert that it might should be in yours too. Be nice to your descendants. Consider it a Pre-Death House Cleaning For the Benefit of Your Children.

And know what? You'll be FREE! No more looking around and being dismayed at all the stuff that's cluttering your life. Free! 

P.S. Does any library or genealogy society want all your genealogy? Those books, binder and boxes of research notes. NO WAY, JOSE. You collected it; it's up to YOU to dispose of it all. And this is 100% true: If you want your family to value your life's work, leave it to them in an organized fashion.... preferably online. 

Serious January Thoughts

 

Why does this joke make us laugh? Aren't we like the disbelieving lady clerk, smirking at the poor fellow's lack of knowledge?

At a recent EWGS Fall Seminar, I chatted with many of our marvelous members. Many of these members would classify themselves as "no longer spring chickens." (Me among them!) But I was dismayed and saddened to chat with more than one senior genealogist who was struggling with "what SHALL I do with all the genealogy stuff I've collected??"

As a group, they offered the usual excuses: Don't know what to do, don't know where to start, don't have time, don't have interested family, not computer literate, "it's just too overwhelming."

I did understand. I was sympathetic. I did offer my one-on-one help. Hopefully some will take me up on that offer.

But bottom line:

• YOU collected the stuff
• YOU must so something with all of the stuff
• Yes, it is terribly sorry that you didn't do this earlier...
• Do you really want all the stuff of your years' work to go to recycling?
• Chances are near 90% sure that if YOU don't do something with all that stuff, nobody else will. 
• No, your gene society doesn't want it; the FamilySearch Library doesn't want it; and your grandchildren surely DO NOT want boxes and binders of papers!!
• And it's patently unfair of YOU to expect that they will. 
• YOU collected the stuff. 

Does this sad scenario have to be inevitable for you?? Don't you want to leave a legacy and not a mess? There is an answer, I promise. Here's how:

• DECIDE to DO something
• MAKE TIME to DO something
• MAKE IT A PRIORITY
• Ask for help.......... your friends, EWGS folks
• Ask me! I'll happily come to you to help you get organized and started...

Started on what, do you ask? Getting all your information from those boxes and binders of paper into a computer database. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY. Believe me, that is the only way to leave your computer-oriented posterity a legacy. 

Think about it.