It's a cheat, but who cares? You decide on how you want to play this game.

I actually had pretty much the same thing happen to me, and through some very bad decisions of mine I kept dying and dying over and over again. The last time I just was clicking the "Take all" button when I got killed by a wolf.

Woke up in my bed and was surprised I was encumbered... I had everything still on me.

Technically I didn't cheat, but the game did it.

I wasn't going to cry about it and went on my merry way... ;)