Baby boomers and their furniture
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Anonymous
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I want to make clear that this is a mild rant, not a serious problem. But I want to vent. My parents are in their mid 70s and they have a lovely house and lovely things. When my grandparents passed away 10-15 years ago some furniture and silver and china and other objects were earmarked for my sister and me, but as we were in grad school and college at the time it naturally went to my parents till we were properly "settled" someday. Flash forward to this year both my sister and I have respectively finally "settled" after nearly 20 years of schooling, living overseas or in small apartments in NYC and finally have houses big enough and our parents reminded us that we had these inheritances waiting for us, so we both gladly took them. And I was also doubly pleased because it would liberate our parents as their house was getting a wee bit crowded, even with lovely old things. And I commented to my mother how much more spacious it now looked and she fully agreed.
Then what does she do? Go out and buy new antiques to replace the ones my sister and I just took! Ma! You're 73! You do not need more antique chests of drawers or side tables no matter how pretty they may be! You still have an entire house filled with lovely tables and cabinets! You have sideboards crammed with china and crystal and silver that hasn't seen the light of day in decades. I know it's good quality, I know it belonged to great-grandma, but you do not need a dozen crystal platters or innumerable silver bowls. Meanwhile, DH, who grew up in what might as well have been an Ethan Allen showroom, parents are still looking at getting new furniture 
Neither of our parents would ever qualify as hoarders by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem that the boomer generation are so very attached to possessions and having large houses and filling them up and they just can't let go of things. I'm not asking for solutions here, I'm just venting because I love not having a lot of things, I appreciate having nice things and inherited pieces, but I refuse to crowd my house with things that will just never get used only to pass them on to the next generation who will also never use them! Is this attachment to possessions a generational thing, or is it a natural aging thing? |
Anonymous
| You guys have parents who are attached to furniture. Please do not blame your parents' behavior on the rest of us baby boomers. |
Anonymous
| All 3 of my SILs are like this. They're in their 60s and 70s and just love to buy stuff. One SIL has two large houses and she managed to fill both of them to the brim. I mean, how many china cabinets and sideboards does one dining room need? The answer is at least 3. As long as there's wall space, there shall be furniture. |
Anonymous
| We are boomers and my husbands definition of an ideal weekend is to send me to a spa and for him to have a dumpster delivered so he can get rid off all the crap our millennial children left in our basement many years ago. I love the spa idea but I know he’d throw out my stuff as well. Most of my boomer friends want to downsize and get rid of things most of which is left over from raising their ungrateful children like OP. Actually, their children are very nice! |
Anonymous
| OP your a little crazy. It was ok for mom and dad to store things for you to pick and choose from but not ok for them to use their own money to decorate how they want ? |
Anonymous
| I think millennials are a lost generation. |
Anonymous
| Many boomers are stuck with big homes they bought so their kids could have their own bedrooms and bathrooms. We did that for our kids even though I shared a bedroom with three older brothers and we had one bathroom for 7 kids. We downsized a few years ago and my kids initially complained about having no place to stay when they visited. When we downsized we got rid of things like china cabinets etc which our kids now wish we had kept for them as they are setting up their own homes. Boomers can’t win! |
Anonymous
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9:41 again - Okay so I was annoyed with the allegation against baby boomers as a group and I got that off my chest.
Now let me share why this might be happening based on changing housing needs. My parents were in the silent generation and they had a house full of antiques they inherited from their parents or picked up along the way. Back then, people with money lived in the suburbs and it was just a thing people did to pass this furniture on from generation to generation. When my mom died, I asked for the corner cupboard because I grew up with it along with some other pieces that were all part of my childhood. And that was fine when we lived in a largish house in a small city. (BTW, my parents also could hardly wait for us to buy a house so they could give us furniture.) But now we live in DC and that corner cupboard is taking up a huge amount of room. It no longer has sentimental value for me and I want to sell it but dh is opposed to that. (Ugh. Working on that.) I suppose that down the road I could give it to my kid who is in her 20s but she doesn't know if she'll ever be able to afford a house, let alone one big enough for a corner cupboard. And I think most young people are in that situation. Housing is expensive and they want to live in cities (as do I! Love it!) and space is at a premium. Who needs fine china and silverware and huge antiques? I'm fine with those old ways passing but apparently not everyone is. Anyway, all this is to say I think this is partly due a shift in where people want to live. And I'm all for it! |
Anonymous
I had stuff in my mother's basement for a long time. She brought it all to me one box at a time after I bought my own house. I tossed about 95% of it and I appreciate that she held it for me while I was living in tiny apartments. Tell your kids to come get it or it's going in the trash. This is not hard. If they live far away, the next time they come have the boxes piled in the living room next to a large trash can and tell them to get to work. |
Anonymous
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As a European, I feel that this is a uniquely American problem, and yes, generational as well. Ever since the end of WWII, Americans have had such incredible wealth and buying power compared to other parts of the world. Your parents' behavior harks back to an era where consumerism was encouraged, because it supported a booming American economy (less goods made overseas). Our modern environmental consciousness regarding waste and pollution was not yet developed. Just be thankful you know better. |
Anonymous
| Mind your own business. |
Anonymous
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My MIL has hoarded all kinds of antiques, china, furniture, knick knacks... you name it. And she keeps buying more. She says it's "for us when she's gone".
Every time she brings it up, my husband tells her we will not be taking any of it and it's going straight to Goodwill, and she gets extremely upset. Then she goes back to pretending we never had the conversation and buying more stuff. "It's for you when I pass!" Noooope. We keep a fairly simple, uncluttered home, we dislike knick knacks, and we already have nice china and all furniture we need. If she wants to spend her money on stuff that's going to be donated when she passes, it's her money to waste. |
Anonymous
Nailed it, pp! |
Anonymous
Boomers are an odd bunch. I’ll stop making blanket statements once you stop bitching about Millennials. You know, because WE are all the same... |
Anonymous
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If there is any big fat mahogany furniture or Tiffany lamps you want, you are in for a bonanza!
As baby booms start to die and downsize, loads of heavy brown furniture are showing up at estate sales and flea markets. And millennials don’t want it. Antiques cost half or less of what they did a couple of decades ago. Enjoy the furniture dusting! |