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Family history is important to people. There are elder assistants and guides that can help plan and catalogue the items that your family would like to auction off and curate. You can also consider storing it temporarily until you decide what you would like to have done with the mementos. Or you can donate items to charitable organizations and people in need as you see necessary. Best wishes with your planning and preparations. There are also support groups for parents and seniors going through these types of situations and learning how to down size.
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Reply to Senior8
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Hire a professional home organizer or downsizing specialist who can also handle photographic archiving. Give them a general list of what to preserve, and ask them to use their judgment to also set aside anything that may appear valuable, very old, sentimental, etc., for you to go through (like a few boxes, not a whole roomful).
Anything that's 2D, have someone take photographs and scans and name/arrange them logically. I have a phone app called vFlat Scan that automatically captures and straightens docs that I photograph so they can be saved as clean-page PDFs, it's a good way to get rid of paperwork that *may* be needed/useful in future.
This should all be paid for by your folks' accounts via their POA -- the work of organizing their belongings is a job they were responsible for and left undone, not something you are responsible for.
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Reply to DaughterByLaw
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None of it is important anymore. She will not go back there - she will never know. I told my mom we donated things and other people took things, etc … short while later she’s never asked again and she doesn’t have dementia. Out of sight, out of mind. Tell her you put it in storage if you want. If you don’t know what’s there you don’t know what you are missing. Just let it go. Auction company can probably get rid of everything left when they’re done.
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Reply to Lmkcbz
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