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 ...
Estate sales are a wonderful solution to this problem. You are dead, the kids put up a sign and throw open the doors, and people are happy to pay you money to take it away. You can’t take it with you, but they can enjoy your stuff, and your kids can enjoy the money!
I agree. My mom had a 3 bedroom house stacked to the ceilings. It all went to Goodwill and the Salvation Army. No one wanted any of it. It was only valuable to my mom. I’m determined that I won’t do that to my daughter.
I knew that would be coming...
I solved the issue long ago......if any of my kids want something when I’m gone they tell me and I write their name in it or if furniture tape to the bottom. I have a good size library and one wants the books. Another wants sentimental type things.....
So this works for me.
Auction companies do this already to some extent...albeit on the back end, after the person has died usually. That’s because horders don’t want help downsizing while alive.
I’ve been to a few auctions, and witnessed people buying crates of junk...always wondered if an estate auction was in their family’s future.
I have already sent my kids info on a company that will clean out the house——they take EVERYTHING,including what’s in cabinets and the refrigerator.
I suggested that they take what they want and told them not to worry about mucho cash hidden around my place——because there is none. :-)
These people then take everything———the kids get the empty place cleaned——and sell it.
.
ROFLOL!!
And large tracts of land!!!!
(just watched it last night)
High on a shelf that hasn't been touched in decades was a six-pack of Billy Beer.
I’m not that old yet but have solved the problem by letting people have what they want now. Why make them wait til you’re dead? Daughter asked if she could borrow my pearls for a cocktail party. When she tried to give them back I said keep them. I’ve been giving the granddaughter pieces of my Tiffany jewelry as gifts, graduation, birthdays, etc. They know if they want something all they have to do is ask.
What’s the name of that company and do they have branches across the country?
Man, I relate to this.
Mrs. R2 and I just moved from our big 4 bedroom home of 34 years into a 2 bedroom cabin. We are retiring and downsizing.
One kid is homeless, the other lives in a tiny trailer. They don’t have room for our “stuff” even if they wanted it.
Donate. Sell. Throw away.
Those are your options.
It’s a local company——I’ll send you the link later-—on the way out now-—they may know another company that does it.
.
I just found a notebook from my college years filled with notes from one of the classes in my major. I’m giving it a lookover for old time sake and then it’s getting tossed.
LOL!
I hate getting to these threads to late to post remarks like this. GMTA.
My sisters and I went through this when dad died a couple years ago. He had a huge house that was packed with stuff. It took us a couple of months to clear it all out. Fortunately we have a large extended family some of whom are not well off so almost all of the furniture found a new home. But we still ended up throwing tons of accumulated memories out. It was gut wrenching, but the reality is that people in the modern world have far more material possessions than former generations and passing it all on is just not possible for most folks.
It took me a year of processing the probate, and eventually all of his possessions and affairs were in order. It was a demanding job to say the least. Pretty much a second, full-time job.
One day, while working at the house cleaning things out, I talked to the neighbor across the street. He said he asked my dad one time what he was going to do with all the stuff they had in the house and out back (he had a shop building full or tools, hardware and materials).
He said my dad told him, "Nothing. I'll let the kids figure it out after I'm gone." And he did. Thanks dad. :-)
Now, in facing my challenges, I often think of them and how they got through it all. I do not feel like my life has greater meaning through the material but I am just another link in a greater story.
I suppose there was an upside of having parents who sold everything we had so they could buy drugs.
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