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 ...
If there is a VA hospital near you, you might find some young couples to “gift” to.
God has been good to many of us, not just with prosperity, but with freedom. Now both have been siphoned away. But we still can hope and pray that the new admin can help restore the economy somewhat. Restoring the values and piety that undergirded self-government is a whole other challenge.
Baby boomers are downsizing — and the kids won’t take the family heirlooms
And this article from AARP magazine asserts that getting rid of stuff, especially clutter, helps people lose weight! I'm tacking it up on my refrigerator.
That’s because he changed it to Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
The last time I went to an NBA game, Lew Alcindor was the center of the visiting team (Milwaukee).
Thank you for your suggestion. The problem is my family members do not want the photos.
That was a long time ago...
really? Wow.
Good idea. Let them choose.
We are clearing out my husband’s parents’ house and have found money ($50 and $20 dollar bills) stashed in envelopes, silver coins in pill bottles, military papers and insignia from WWI and WWII, antique postcards and travel brochures, 1920-1930s phone books, and much more. Sigh, it’s a hard job but we are finding interesting things, some of which we have donated to the town museum. We can’t hire anyone to do it, because of the hidden money.
What if you clean out your passed parents house and you find a bong and a stash of Mother Nature?
they're things meant something to me, still do, even if its just a knife that they used....
but I know the writing on the wall....my kids don't want anything....they don't have the room nor the inclination....
Thanks. I have old tools that belonged to my Dad and Uncle. I use them and of course think of them when I do. What would they think of these days? What would they do? Both were military men in fact and bearing for their entire adult lives. Both pilots and engineers exacting in all they did.
I’m grateful for things like Find-a-grave because without it I’m likely the last generation to remember where most of the last two generations are buried. Scattered as they are in Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Alabama. They are gone of course so it probably does not matter. It won’t matter where I’m buried either.
Knowing where the family are laid to rest is an old fashioned thing I suppose and I’m just that way though it is sometimes more than I want to do when we make the great circle trip for Decoration Day. My wife is a great sport about it and I’m grateful to her since we’ve started trying retirement and have taken up the responsibility. Mom and Dad did it year after year and for many years when I know they didn’t feel like it at all so we will carry on the tradition for as long as we are able as well.
Welcome to my world. Unfortunately, my stuff has brought with it a lot of dust, not any cash....
I'm betting you're a kind loving person - someone your family trusts with the things that matter to them...
More like a business to assist with the transition process to the next stage of life for the elderly. Boomers are moving INTO retirement but in ten years they'll start moving to the next stage, higher levels of care, less responsibility, less stuff, and they'll be doing it with decreased ability to deal with the complexity. Boomer children will have more money than time.. and that adds up to a potential business...Many businesses are designed around replacing a naturally loving family member.
I could be wrong... happens...
I’m an only child and the only grandchild who would not immediately take these sorts of things to Goodwill.
At the same time....enough.
I don't have the cable to download pix from my phone.
If your phone is Android:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/V7-6-Micro-USB-A-to-Micro-USB-B-Male-to-Male-USB-2-0-Cable/16419441
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFf0J9auHZ0
There must be dozens of cable wires around here...one must fit. I'll look in the daylight.:)
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