Posted on 07/26/2017 7:30:41 AM PDT by Jagermonster
BOSTON—Two hundred stuffed animals, two violins, and a 7-1/2 foot-tall Christmas tree: That was just a corner of the possessions Rosalie and Bill Kelleher accumulated over their 47-year marriage. And, they realized, it was about 199 stuffed animals more than their two grown children wanted.
Going from a four-bedroom house in New Bedford, Mass. – with an attic stuffed full of paper stacked four-feet tall – to a 1,300-square-foot apartment took six years of winnowing, sorting, shredding, and shlepping stuff to donation centers.
Among the possessions the Kellehers are keeping are three hutches – one that belonged to his mother, one that belonged to her mother, and one that they purchased together 35 years ago. One shelf is carefully lined with teacups Rosalie collected during her world travels. Another houses a delicate tea set from Japan, a gift her mother received on her wedding day.
“We really don’t need them,” she admits.
That refrain is becoming a common one as baby boomers begin to downsize and discover (as many generations before them have) that their children do not want their stuff. In fact, they recoil in something close to horror at the thought of trying to find room for the collections of Hummels; the Thomas Kinkade paintings; the complete sets of fine china and crystal, carefully preserved and brought out at holiday meals.
For their parents, to have a lifetime of carefully chosen treasures dismissed as garage-sale fodder can be downright painful.
“When [people] try to throw something away, they feel like they are losing ... personal history, losing a bit of themselves, losing a little of their identity, and they fear if they get rid of it they’ll never have that same experience again,” says Randy Frost, a psychology professor at Smith College . . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Oh yes, I know! It wasn’t meant for her, I was butting into the conversation because I thought Urban Industrial was kind of a silly thing to act superior over. My apologies if you thought I was “dissing” you Miss Marm!
It’s a shame because it seems like the house and the farm would be a nice legacy including the machinery to work it. (just found this old thread)
There is so much stuff getting rejected by the younger generation that people who do estate sales are starting to get picky. They do a walk through and if the calculator in their head doesn’t add up to enough they will walk away from it all or try to buy one or two things and leave. I saw that first hand when I helped a friend clear out her parents home. They had very nice, very well taken care of things and some were valuable but it barely made the grade for the estate sale people. They had quality wood furniture and a few nice antique pieces. Her mother entertained a lot so they had a lot of silver ware, silver serving pieces, china, crystal. They didn’t have dust collectors like many have either. It didn’t matter.
When the same friend passed away I told her son to just have a yard sale, because the estate sale people were such a pain.
I feel the same way, I have been giving things away to my daughters and friends. If you give it to them while you are alive you find out what they want/don’t want and you can feel free to get rid of the rest. I think that is very helpful.
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