We are terrible at talking about the ends of our life in our culture.
We’ll discuss cholesterol, politics, suspicious casserole ingredients, and whether Costco is too crowded on a Saturday… but ask people where the will is and suddenly everyone needs a cup of tea and an emotional support biscuit.
Honestly, I understand why. We all want to squeeze as much joy as possible out of this wonderful, messy, complicated life. There's no time to plan for a grand finale.
But over the last few years, our family has experienced a great deal of loss, and one thing I have learned is this:
Settling an estate while grieving is hard enough.
Settling a disorganized estate while grieving is something else entirely.
There are passwords nobody can find.
Accounts nobody knew existed.
Storage units full of mystery bins.
Collections with no instructions.
Creative projects people are afraid to touch because they don’t know what mattered.
Years ago, when my siblings and I encouraged our parents to get organized, we were given one of those basic legal checklists from a lawyer’s office. It covered the essentials for the time, but it belonged to another era entirely—before cloud storage, multiple email accounts, online banking, social media, digital photos, subscription services, and enough passwords to qualify as a part-time career.
So I created something better.
Essential Estate Organizing for VIPs
(Very Important Paperwork, obviously.)
This workbook is designed for real people living real modern lives.
Yes, it helps organize the practical details:
accounts
insurance
contacts
passwords
legal information
and final wishes.
But it also goes further, because life is more than paperwork. This workbook includes space to document:
creative projects
collections
family stories
unfinished quilts
tools
manuscripts
artwork
heirlooms
and the things that carry meaning beyond their dollar value.
Maybe your children don’t want twelve boxes of decorative china, but they may deeply treasure the story behind one teacup.
Perhaps your executor doesn’t need every receipt from 1994, but they absolutely need to know where the life insurance papers are.
This workbook is not about death.
It’s about kindness.
It’s about reducing stress for the people you love.
It’s about making sure your life’s work and memories are handled the way you hoped they would be.
Because the greatest gift is not leaving people more things to sort out. It’s leaving them love, stories, and a little less chaos.
The workbook is available now for:
$40 CAD
or
$35 CAD for members here on Buy Me a Coffee.
You can order yours here: buymeacoffee.com/rivetingstudios/e/539908
