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How to Clean Out a House after Someone Dies

Cleaning out their house after a loved one dies can feel like a large undertaking. However, if you have a plan in place, know who to contact, and set aside the time, clearing out an estate can turn into a very manageable task.

Handling an estate cleanout

Keep in mind that these steps can absolutely be taken in other situations (e.g., cleaning out the house of an elderly decedent or someone who isn't your parent). Overall, these steps are good to take if you need to clean out a house after a death and are on a tighter timeline.

Step 1: Locate important documents and items.

The first step before you start getting rid of anything is to locate important documents and items. Here's a list of some of the type of documentation you should be searching for:

• Past bills. This may not seem that important at the time, but it can potentially help you to avoid headaches down the line. When closing different bill accounts, you may need access to previous bills and statements. Additionally, keeping old bills will help you determine which companies you need to notify of the death in order to close the accounts.
• Life insurance policies. If you haven't located a life insurance policy or aren't sure if the decedent had one, check their paper documents for evidence of a life insurance policy.
• Identity documents. Identity documents such as Social Security cards, passports, licenses, and other IDs should be located and kept. You'll need to dispose of these (or in some cases, turn them in) after notifying the relevant agencies and organizations. It's also a good idea to locate these to prevent any kind of identity fraud.
• Home insurance, health insurance, and other insurance policies or mortgage statements. You'll need to contact insurance companies and the mortgage holder in order to get assistance with closing or handling accounts.
• Bank account statements. Any bank statements can help you easily locate accounts and will be especially helpful in the event that the decedent had multiple accounts with multiple banks open.
• Documentation on stocks, bonds, and investments. These will help you when it comes time to close the account or transfer investments to a new account.
• Any other documents you find special or noteworthy. Sometimes this can be photos you cherish or even small notes the decedent had left for themselves. It's worth taking the time to go through these to make sure you don't accidentally throw away something important.

Step 2: Tour the property and take an initial inventory.

Touring the property and taking an initial inventory of items is one of the best steps to take after someone has passed away. To start, get a notepad or something to keep track of the inventory. Go through every room and make a mental note or even jot down notes about what you see in your notebook (or on a phone/tablet) if something sparks your interest, appears valuable, or is something you definitely don't want to sell. While you're touring the property, here are some questions to keep in mind:

• What items look valuable or easily sold?
• What items are willed to people?
• What items aren’t willed, but other friends and family members may want?
• Roughly, how many items are there that need to be sold? (If this number is quite high, hiring an estate sale company is a good bet.)
• How many items need to be thrown away, recycled, or donated?
• Are there specific organizations that would be interested in any items?
• Are any items unique?

While walking through the property, it's also a good idea to take pictures of each room. If you have questions about items, taking pictures of these can help you when referencing them in the future. Don't forget to take a look through closets, drawers, the attic, the garage, and other storage spaces.

Step 3: Create a plan

Everyone's situation is going to be unique, so there isn't one single outline to follow. Whether you're a single person cleaning out your deceased parents' home or you're a team of 10 family members cleaning out your elderly parents' house, having a plan in place will help you clean out a house after a death. If you try to approach this project without a plan, you may find the process taking a lot longer than anticipated.

Consider the following questions when creating a plan of next actions:

• Do you have a deadline that you need the house cleaned out by?
• Are you visiting and want to have the house cleaned out before you leave?
• Do you have friends or family that can assist in cleaning out elderly parents' house?
• How large is the estate? Are you going to require help? Will you be holding an estate sale?
• What's your budget for estate services? Cleaning services?
• What's the contact information for local estate and cleaning services?
• If you're not hiring help, do you have the right equipment to properly clean and clear out the entire house? If not, how much will you need to spend purchasing and renting such equipment?
• If you're not going to hire help and you plan on cleaning out the house on your own, how much time do you anticipate each room to take?
• Do you have transportation to help you in recycling, disposing of, and transporting larger items?
• What's an ideal length of time you'd like to have the house cleaned out by? (Factor in for breaks, unexpected occurrences, and time you'll need to spend handling other tasks.)
• Where are the local trash and recycling centers? What are their hours?
• What organizations do you want to consider donating unused items to? Where are the local food banks or community organizations that'd be interested in donations? If you are not in charge of handling the estate or the estate is in probate, keep in mind that you'll be unable to start selling off items or getting rid of property until the estate is settled.

Step 4: Consider hiring help

Hiring professionals can be a huge help when it comes to cleaning out a deceased person's house. Even if you feel like you'd normally be able to tackle such a project, keep in mind that you may find the process a lot harder than anticipated due to the sentimental nature of cleaning out someone's home who was close to you. You may find yourself overwhelmed by other tasks, by grief, or simply exhausted from the emotional toll of losing someone.

Hiring help is also a great idea if you're on a deadline and are trying to find out how to clean out your parents' estate in 30 days or less. Professionals are experienced in the common pitfalls one can encounter when clearing out a decedent's home, have the right tools for the job, and have teams of people to help them accomplish the clean out in a short period of time.

Depending on your circumstances, you can also opt to only hire specific services that are relevant to your situation. For example, if you have a relatively small estate and only need help in disposing of the deceased's belongings, try looking into house cleaning after death services. (Note: It's highly recommended that you look into and hire after death cleaning services if the death just occurred or if you need assistance with undiscovered, suicide, or decomposition situations.)

Step 5: Start sorting through items

You can try to tackle this process by going room by room (and clearing out, cleaning, and handling an entire room before moving on to the next room) or by clearing out the entire home's items before getting started with selling, donating, and recycling. This part depends on your timeline, whether or not you have help, the size of the estate, the number of rooms, and the number of items you're working with. Here are some steps to take when sorting through items and rooms:

1. Start with any area with food or items that can spoil, such as the kitchen (with special attention to the fridge, freezer, and pantry). You can consider donating food to a local food bank or charitable organization (same with unopened pet food).
2. Clear out a large space to start sorting items into piles. Designate spots in the room for what you plan to do with the items put there: sell, donate, recycle, keep. It's also a good idea to designate spots for sentimental items or ones you think family members may want. This is a good step to ask for help on, even if family and friends can only come help for a few hours, it'll still speed up the process drastically.
3. If you have help, assign each friend or family member to a different room or different task. (For example, if they're a friend who wouldn't know what items hold sentimentality, consider asking them to load donated / recycled / trashed items into a vehicle and make frequent trips so that the designated spots don't get backed up.)
4. Be sure to take breaks. Limit intense sorting to a few hours and try your best not to take advantage of those who are offering their help. Consider buying lunch or food for those who are volunteering to help.

Step 6: Donate, recycle, keep, or throw items away

Now that you've sorted all the items, it's time to donate, recycle, dispose of, or keep them. If you have family members you know may be interested in certain items, ask them to stop by or send them a pic and ask if they'd like the items. If you have a memorial website, you can offer up any item on the Belongings tab. Depending on the type of item, you may need to find a specific recycling center that handles that type of item. For example, if you have a large number of electronics, you'll likely need to find an electronic recycling center near you. If you've hired help, estate services will help you in pricing items and determining which items hold monetary value. If you have high price items (such as jewelry), hiring estate services or an appraiser can help you make sure you're getting the full price for that item when it comes time to sell it. If you only need to sell a few items or aren't interested in an appraisal or estate services, here are some popular places where you can offer items:

• The belongings tab of your Ever Loved memorial website
• Facebook Marketplace
• eBay
• OfferUp
• NextDoor

Anything you don't want to keep, sell, or donate can be recycled or thrown away. It's also likely worth doing periodic checks of the designated areas if you have friends and family assisting you to ensure that nothing of value or sentimental value is being accidentally marked for donation or disposal.

Step 7: Clean the house

Once you've handled all the items, it's time to clean the house! The easiest way to clean the house is to simply hire a cleaning service. Hiring a cleaning service speeds up the process and allows an unbiased team to come in and handle an otherwise lengthy job. (If you plan on selling the house after it's been cleaned, you'll generally want to consult with your realtor or local cleaning services about different steps they need to take to get the house ready to show.)

If you plan on handling this step on your own (or with the help of a few friends), you may need the following tools:

• Brushes, sponges, cloths, towels, paper towels
• Window cleaner, all-surface cleaner, wood cleaner, grout and tile cleaner, bleach, deodorizer, and other special surface cleaners
• Mops, brooms, dusters, vacuums, steam cleaners
• Gloves, face masks, goggles, buckets, cups, spray bottles

This final step is also a great time to check every room to make sure nothing was left behind that wasn't meant to be left behind. This includes checking behind each door and looking inside every closet, cabinet, and drawer in the house. This can also be a great time to take a tour of the home alone or with family members just as a way to connect over shared memories in a shared space.

Need help with clearing out the decedent's home? Looking for a space to offer belongings? Setting up a memorial website is a great way to get help from your community with important tasks after someone you know has passed away. In addition to offering belongings, you can set up and share event information, publish an obituary, share a timeline of someone's life, and collect memories and donations from anyone visiting the memorial website.

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