Oh my, I can tell you lived what I am living. (The ironing and folding of the used tissue paper collection--that image is crying out for its own short story or something--so true, so sad.)

Personally I love giving away my possessions (although I still keep more books than I should, but I am also in my 40s, not truly elderly) and trying to keep things as streamlined as possible, so this KEEP EVERYTHING attitude is very confusing to me. But you're right. It's going to create a lot of bad feelings and take a lot of time to resolve for most of us an our families.