Rafael Ibarra
i've cleared 38 houses after a death, one drawer at a time
$42/hour , set by Rafael Ibarra.
My father kept everything. When he died in 2015 it took my sister and me eleven months to empty the house in Tucson, and we stopped speaking twice in the middle of it. Once over a box of receipts from 1988. That was my education.
Afterward I let go of most of what I owned. Not a philosophy at first, just relief. Then a neighbor asked me to sit with her while she went through her late husband's garage, and I understood there was work here that nobody was doing well.
I made mistakes early. I pushed a client to donate her mother's dishes in week two. She called me crying from the Goodwill parking lot. Too fast. Now I never touch the timeline, only the method.
A session moves slowly. One room. Sometimes one drawer. You talk, I ask what each thing is for now, not what it was for then.
More background
I know estates: the sorting order that prevents fights (documents first, photos last), what estate buyers actually pay versus what they say, donation logistics in a hurry, how to handle a sibling who wants everything and a sibling who wants it done by Friday. I also know grief sits in objects, though I am careful here. I am not a therapist or a counselor of any kind, and if the grief is bigger than the boxes I will say so plainly and suggest you find proper support alongside our work. Good for: adult children facing a parent's full house, widows and widowers who keep opening the door and closing it again, executors from out of town. Not for: hoarding situations that need clinical help, appraisal disputes, anything legal, or anyone hoping I will make the decisions for them. I won't. Availability is odd: I'm often on-site with local clients, so video sessions cluster on Mondays and Wednesday evenings, Arizona time. Between sessions you get one category and a limit. A drawer. A shelf. Never more.