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 ...
My mother jokes that her house "comes with a full basement" because of all the stuff in it. Fortunately, she'd purging stuff on her own.
Sometimes I wish she'd check with me first before she gets rid of things.
My mother-in-law, on the other hand, is still accumulating things.
* she’s
What, the curtains?
This is a problem. I cleaned out my parents’ house - my mother insisted everything should be saved or could be sold for a profit - and it all went to Goodwill. Nothing was of any value, just sentimental. I’m determined to get rid of stuff and not leave it up to relatives. It’s depressing and troublesome.
I picked a painting, a piece of furniture and a dessert set.
All things that have personal memories attached.
Sorry guys but most of your stuff is "garage sale".
We have our own furniture and when two sets of parents try to give their kids all their stuff there just in not room.
And I am not done yet.
I came home from Denver once in a minivan loaded with boxes and boxes of HO and N-scale electric trains she purchased after learning my then 3-year old son likes trains. I wound up selling the entire collection for $80. One of the few items I inherited that I could get money for.
So much went into dumpsters and "curb-alerts."
Problem is, everything is cheap these days. I have my own furniture. I don't need their old stuff. I have no use for china and crystal and no room even to store it.
The time has come...
What's ‘collectibles’ - what can be sold? What's junk? What will fit in the ‘new place’? Who will move the stuff? Or take for donations? ‘Nostalgia pictures’ taken and emailed for ‘the kids’ to claim what they'd like... Researched adult communities. One company could do it all... Big market coming on line as boomers check out of large family homes.
Who will make a fortune with this?
Had to do this with my parents and inlaws. It is not easy.
I kept my grandpas tools, a jar of dirt from both farms, and some books. That is it.
It is easy to brand everything trash, but there are things that may be historical or precious. I have my grandmother’s hand stamped plate, created in the 1700s, as well as a significant painting and a few other quality items
not easily identified as valuable. Boomers need to have these things of value identified so that their kids don’t accidentally throw out their inheritance!
My mother threw away a Lew Alcindor Topps basketball card.
But kept my report cards.
yep found all sorts of family history in my dad’s house. Same type of stuff. I was pissed when my brother tossed my dad’s apple IIe. But there also is a lot of junk.
I have some lovely antiques.
Only one out of the four are interested. He will get them all and the house too.
The others haven’t wanted anything. Money seems to be their focus.
The one thing I don’t have.
Because it’s junk. We human beings are just not that important. The junk gives us a false sense of identity—we are not where we have been or what we own. And I have several antiques with provenance—family history—with no one who wants to continue it. It is kind of a personal set down and one that speaks directly to pridefulness. It’s just wood and clay. Call in the auction house and leave it all to the Salvation Army.
My wife is an only child and has a Masters in Home Ec. She got all the historical stuff and all the quilts, some of whom go back to the 1800’s.
Some of the farm stuff went to the county museum along with some quilts. But we have probably 80 handmade quilts. I sleep under a torn blanket we got at Walmart. Just sayin’.
eBay
I have also cleared out the kid-junk, and most of the excess stuff. I have an attic space that is about 10 by four with frames, albums, the good wood children’s toys, the Christmas stuff, and a couple of bedframes.
The house is ready to be taken over by my son when he wants it. I hope his future wife will too.
Mr. Mercat and I just went through that. Then our son died. We’re still reeling.
That is a great idea. I have a few valuable things but it’s so much work to sell one at a time on eBay. I’ve been making an effort to cull stuff not to make my estate convenient for others but to create more space and rid myself of some distractions. We take nothing out of this life.
In our house I’m purging and Hubby just keeps hauling stuff in. When my dad died I didn’t want anything but his eyeglasses and a belt buckle he wore all the time. When my mom died I took her handmade quilts, and promptly handed them out to the nieces, and her jewelry. I’ve been handing that out to my brother, my daughter, and granddaughter.
I’m not really attached to ‘stuff’ so for me getting rid of it all is easy.
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