When you suffer a bereavement, it’s overwhelming. It’s difficult to know what to do first, and dealing with a death in the family comes with so many more responsibilities than simply mourning. The burden of work in sorting the deceased’s possessions and deciding what should be sold, kept and passed on often falls to those who most need the time to process their emotions before being plunged into the stressful work of going through a life’s worth of accumulated possessions from a relative who has passed away.
If you have lost a relative, STORED can offer some vital services to help take the pressure off, and give you some distance before you have to make any difficult choices.
1. Time
It’s important try not to make long term decisions while you are in the midst of serious grief. You won’t be approaching the issues with a cool head and the decisions you come to may not be for the best in the long one.
Feeling rushed into making decisions about what to do with a deceased relative’s house or possessions only increase your level of distress, as you try to make it through a very challenging time.
Putting the items under contention into storage can help to get you the time you need to deal with your feelings, and when you decide how to approach the problem you know you’ll make the best decisions.
STORED storage service offers the best prices in London on long and short term storage, so whether you only need a week or two to hold a deceased relative’s possessions, or longer while complicated probate issues are sorted out, we will be able to lift the worry of caring for those precious items in the interim.
2. Security
Keeping those precious items safe, and in pristine condition is one of your most important considerations at this difficult time. Whether they will ultimately be sold, or passed on to other members of the family, it’s key to your peace of mind that they are safely cared for.
Often keeping them at home is not the best way to keep these possessions in the best condition. Even if you have space free in a shed or attic, the risk of damp affecting them is too high – imagine the feeling when you come back to deal with these items, and finding them damaged.
STORED offer the free rental of 80 litre storage crates so all your items will be kept safely packed in our clean, dry storage units until you’re ready to pick them up and deal with them. We also include free collection by professional movers so you don’t have to worry about the additional work of moving them into storage yourselves.
3. Neutral Ground
It’s an unfortunate truth that emotions can run high in the wake of a bereavement. There doesn’t have to be a large amount of money in contention: after the death of a relative people can find themselves arguing over the smallest item, as long as it has some sentimental value.
If you have the responsibility of deciding what to do with the deceased’s possessions, you need to take into account their wishes, and also weigh up the financial and emotional value of each one before making a judgement, and try to do so in a way that doesn’t create a cause for argument among the grieving family.
One of the best ways to do this is to remove the items to a neutral location. STORED’s facilities are outside London, so once you have everything stored there, the physical items themselves are well out of the way and you can log on to check your inventory. Dealing with the items like this will help to keep discussions cool, and avoid disputes among family members that would only make the grieving process harder and more distressing.
Contact STORED today to discuss your needs, and make sure you’re getting the facilities and service fitted to your specific situation at this difficult time. We have units available from twelve square feet up to more than four hundred, so whatever you have to store, we can accommodate it at a price to suit you.
