The "Get Out Of Your Car!" Fund

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Cousin Rina diied. I need to update my will.

Christmas break started Thursday, December 22. I started off very productive – with a visit to the dental office. Then I began blogging. Sweet.

I expected to declutter my room and storage and really make progress on my side hustle during this 10-day break. Then, sadly, Murphy (you know, the creator of Murphy’s law) came to visit.

What happened was my cousin, Rina, was found dead in her apartment on Thursday afternoon. Congestive heart failure due to pneumonia. Early 40s. Completely unexpected.

So, now I’m helping to pack up her apartment and that got me thinking about my own state of affairs.
I haven’t finished my will. Well, it’s written but not notarized or filed with any attorney. I don’t have a health directive completed. I have asked my aunt to be in charge of my affairs after I die, and I’ve notified my mother that I asked my aunt to do that. However, if it’s not on paper, it didn’t happen. That’s the legal rule of life.

So, today, I’m decluttering my room for a few hours before I return to Rina’s apartment to help pack up hers. I want to have less stuff so that when I go, it will be easy on people. That’s no reflection on Rina, her life seemed very simple and it’s been easy to pack up so far.

However, I have boxes and boxes of books and papers. Sometimes an important piece of paper is mixed in with all the memoirs, old teaching materials, etc. So I need to filter that stuff so family won’t have to throw away something important by accident, or worry that they did.

Fortunately, my financial papers are the one bright spot in my paper-life. Well organized and recognizable.


So, this Christmas eve, I urge you to do like me. Declutter your space and finish your end-of-life documents. Help out those who will be left to finish the job after you. 

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