Checklist of Things to Prepare Before you Pass.

This may be a slightly unsettling news item, but the problem is that too many people are not prepared for what would happen if the worst occured.  What you do not want to do is leave your loved ones with a mess to clear up after you and worse still, the state grabbing much of what you spent your life building, so be prepared.  As we said in a previous News Item it is never too early to start planning, but too late is exactly that.

Here is the GoneNotGone checklist, if you think it is useful, let us know and we will make it a link on the home page, if there is something I have missed, let me know and I can add it, we want to be more than an after death email service.

1.`Prepare a will with a legal professional.  Do not delay, start the ball rolling today by calling a lawyer.

2. Designate a "Power of Attorney" at the same time as making your will.  You may want more than one power, depending on the use (e.g. one for financial matters, another for health matters).  With this you may want to include what would happen to you if you were on life support, do you want to donate your organs etc.  Remember there is a chance you can give life to many when you lose your life.

3. As above, make sure you are registered as an organ donor if that is your wish.

4.  Pre-plan your funeral and start paying for it, life insurance may not cover these costs.  At the very least make sure those closest to you know if you want to be cremated and what should happen to your ashes.

5. Prepare your funeral service wishes too, who you want there, who you do not want there, a list of contact information and how you want to be remembered (for me, I want people to wear bright colours, tell bad jokes and remember the good things, hopefully laugh).

6. Set up your future memories using gonenotgone.  Do not delay, start today, this can be fun and could be the one most valuable step here.

7.  Make a list of banks, accounts, passwords etc. and make sure your main executor knows where it is.  keep it updated.

8.  Make sure all house deeds, car titles (V5s etc.) are easy to locate.

9.  Ensure all utility contracts are available so there is no problem with the electricity being turned off or similar.

After Death Email - It's not for you?

Before we decided to develop GoneNotGone.com a lot of thought and consultation went into the decision - as with any business decision.  We generally got a very favorable reaction, but two groups of reactions stood out:

  1.  It is not for me, I do not like the sound of my own voice, do not know why anyone would want to hear from me when I am no longer here.

  2.  I had a recording of my Mom left on our answerphone, I would play it over and over again so I could hear her voice again.  Eventually the recording got accidentally erased and I miss it so much.

As you can no doubt see, reaction 2 answers reaction 1.  This is the point of the blog, after death emails or messages are not for you, they are for those who love you and will miss you when you are gone.  They help with the grieving process and can turn a sad day into a happier one.

This is one of the reasons we set up a service to deliver messages on anniversaries.  These are often the days when a loved one is missed, so now a new message can be received on each anniversary and what may be a day dreaded turns into a day of love and remembrance through receiving a message you have never had before.

Imagine a child saying, "I cannot wait for my next Birthday, I am going to get a new message from Dad".

Then like with the answering machine, you can log into the website and playback that message whenever you want, wherever you are.  The only thing you cannot do is access those messages left for the future.

My one dread is the following, someone asking the following, "Did my Mother leave messages for me with your service?" and knowing that her Mother had talked about it, but never got round to it as she believed she was not about to pass and having to tell that person, "No, sorry".

For your children or loved ones (not you), sign up today and set up that first message; may be the best five minutes you have donated to your child ever.

Peter Barrett
www.gonenotgone.com

Organ Donation - Who Knows?

In Texas the process for organ donation is about to change.  Rather than opting-in to donate your organs, when you apply for your Driver's License you will have to opt-out.

The reasons given are that there are not enough organ donations and people are dying who could otherwise live through organ donation.

I am not going to get into the whys of organ donation, that is a personal decision and no one person can really know what may make a person think one way or another.  However there is a far more important point and the the reason for this blog:

    Do those close to you know your wishes?

This is as simple as letting your wife/husband/daughter etc. know that you would or would not like your organs donated.  In particular if you have strong opinions on this, then those close to you should know, so that when it comes to it your wishes are met.

My wife and I both think the same and we both know that, we have discussed it and if/when the time comes we know what to do.  This brings us peace of mind.  It is all part of being prepared for when the end comes.

Of course GoneNotGone is all about helping to prepare for what happens when we pass, please check back to our blog and in the meantime check out www.gonenotgone.com

Peter Barrett