Posted on 04/14/2016 12:27:24 PM PDT by metmom
Parents of grown children, please sit down. I have some harsh news for you. Your kids don't want your stuff. Don't take it personally. It's not that they don't love you. They don't love your furniture.
The china hutch, the collectible figurines, your antique map or thimble collection, the sideboard, all those family treasures may hold many precious moments for you, but for your kids, not so much.
Ouch. Yes, I know you think you're being generous. Yes, I know you paid good money for these things. Yes, I know kids can seem unappreciative. Yes, I know it was part of your family's history. And, yes, I know it still contains some useful life. I also know that deep down, you believe your kids will change their minds.
That is pure fantasy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
We’re going through this right now.
The article is dead on and the comments at the end are great.
That’s fine, it takes a load off, I’ll just give my stuff to some else.
I guess you don’t want my money either, I’ll donate it all to animal rescue.
That’s fine, it takes a load off, I’ll just give my stuff to some else.
I guess you don’t want my money either, I’ll donate it all to animal rescue.
Hard to put large, well made furniture into a 1,000 sq foot, one bedroom condo you pay $3,000 a month to rent so you can be downtown close to the hipster bars.
My siblings and I have already agreed with the parents what we will take when the sad day comes.
Not so - the in-laws have fabulous antiques going way back!
Yup. It’s tough, but the relationship between the price of stuff and the price of square footage for most of us has gotten so far out of wack (i.e. stuff keeps getting exponentially cheaper, while square footage gets exponentially more expensive) that stuff no matter how valuable just represents more of a burden than a benefit.
They want my money and gun collection for sure. The rest of the stuff is just stuff
Oh, I’m glad I have a lot of my great-grandparents’ stuff... cabinet, Victrola, divan, and such. I’m glad I have my grandfather’s collection of old pocket-knives, and my grandmother’s collection of old toothpick-holders. Amongst tons and tons of other things. Not to mention my father’s old-time metal toys, like WW2 soldiers, wind-up Popeye, and Lone Ranger hardback books.
But if I were a youngster these days, and my ‘parents’ collections were basically comprised of the kind of junky, plastic, made-in-China, Wal-Mart type crap that has been the norm for the past thirty-years... no way in hell would I want such trash.
We have our farm willed to a trust to care for our horses when we’re gone.Sorry guys,we can’t take it with us but you don’t get it either.
Mine did too and those we’re keeping but all the utility bills from 30 years ago that were in storage and they paid a storage unit fee to keep?
I’ve spent weeks of my life clearing things out and throwing out dozens of bags of trash.
After we’re done settling her estate, I’m going through my stuff. I will NOT inflict that on my kids.
They want IKEA-expensive junk
Me too.
Clearing out a 1776 farm house and items back to 1948 plus the farm stuff thats been here since day 1 .
Other sibs don’t want anything unless it will bring in a decent $$$ when they flip it.
Screw all that.
The auction guys coming with a truck,50/50 done deal.
Check divided by 4
Case closed
My son and daughter in law own their own company designing and building downsized homes - the customers are young adults and their parents/grandparents. They want high end homes, but missing the excessive square footage. Neither have room or the desire for the stuff that filled the 3500 square foot home.
Appraisals on antique furniture is way down.
LOL! A lot of my older friends don’t understand this. Furniture, china, silver, etc., were the status and security items for their generation. Things have changed!
Not to over simplify or miss the point, but :
The situation is that grandparents and parents live in their houses full of furniture and assorted items. The children and grandchildren have grown up and have their homes, which are full of furniture and odds and ends.
When the older generations pass on or downsize and move from their bigger homes, the younger generations,who already have apartments or homes with furniture, simply may not have any place to put everything passed down from the older generations, even if they wanted to keep it all. Due to space limitations, its inevitable that much of the possessions of the older generations will be disposed of.
Mine are at that kind of awkward grad student stage. Not ready to move out on their own so can’t take a bunch of it.
The problem is getting them to come back home and clear out their clutter.
I’ve been selling my stuff and putting it into the kids bank account.
I try telling people that.....it’s just stuff. They look at me like I’m nuts. Then I tell them......when you’re gone no one wants your stuff. The only one it’s important to is you.
I could get rid of all our ‘stuff’ tomorrow. Wouldn’t bother me a bit. There are a few items I’d keep. Not many.
Hubby is just the opposite. He loves his stuff.
I had to clean out my mom and dads house after they both passed. Kept very little. Taught me a huge lesson. I don’t want to do that to my daughter.
Trust me they don’t ID with the good stuff and don’t care about it.
They are a throw away generation
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