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Guides 8

• Before you recycle a computer or phone

  A drive you did not wipe is a copy of your life in somebody else's hands. Deleting files is not wiping.

• Identifying china before you sell it

  The backstamp tells you the maker and the pattern. Without it, a set of plates is just a set of plates.

• Clearing an estate: the first few days

  What to do before anything is sold, donated or thrown out, and why the order matters more than the speed.

• Dividing a parent's belongings with your siblings

  The argument is usually about a chair, not money. Agree on what's already promised, photograph the house before anything moves, and keep the sentimental list separate from the valuable one.

• Going through a parent's paperwork

  A file cabinet is mostly junk mail and a few documents that are hard to replace. Pull the legal and financial papers first, keep the original order, and don't shred anything until you've seen the whole folder.

• Sorting a record collection: the fast pass

  Most of a collection is worth very little and a few records are worth a lot. The skill is separating them without listening to all of them.

• What to do with a mattress nobody will take

  Most charities won't take a used mattress and most haulers won't pick one up without a call first. Work through the store, the hauler and the donation desk before it ends up in the alley.

• Where to start when there is too much stuff

  A house full of possessions is not one job, it is a few hundred small decisions. This is the order that keeps you from making them twice.