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.
My mother threw away a Lew Alcindor Topps basketball card.
But kept my report cards.
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.
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.
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.
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!
High on a shelf that hasn't been touched in decades was a six-pack of Billy Beer.
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.
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.
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. :-)