Reply to Do you ever think of how much STUFF you are leaving for your family to deal with?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Oh please. I promise - they have not. They just think they are superior to the old people who have dared not to die yet. Their stuff is still junk, and I promise that one day someone who doesn't want to deal with it will have to deal with it.[/quote]

Speak for yourself. I'm decluttering right now, I'm doing it regularly, perhaps once a year. Right now I'm taking on a bigger task as the kids are teens and I have the energy and desire to get rid of things. The pile of stuff we're talking about is not something that "old people" suddenly end up with unnoticed. It's literally stuff that has been accumulating over the past 40-50 years. I personally started telling my parents to get rid of unused things in my 20s, when they were younger than I am now. They didn't. [b]As I said before, it's a control issue. [/b]Yes, indeed, once you're 80+, it's unlikely you'll have the energy to deal with 40-50 years of possessions, which is why it's best to not even to start on this path (I was a minimalist until starting a family), or at least keep an eye on the pile regularly (outgrown kids' stuff takes up 90% of my "pile" right now). We'll all die. This is something one has to come to terms with. [/quote]

YOU are the one who has a “control issue”. You think you are entitled to dictate to your parents how they should live their lives and what possessions they should own. Get over it.[/quote]

DP. An honest conversation would be helpful. 
Adult child: I don't want to deal with the effort and expense of clearing your estate. 
Parents: I don't want to alter my life now for some undefined future.

Done. Then parents can continue to live as they want. And posters can set the issue aside until it's time to call a charity and have everything cleared as a donation and tax write-off.

In this scenario some ground rules would help.*
Adult child: Please put your important papers (acct. numbers, contact list, etc.) in one place and tell me the location so I can retrieve them easily.
Parent: Please don't nag or criticize my choices of what I'm hanging on to.

*health and safety being the exceptions to any rule.

Then EVERYONE lives with the consequences of their decisions.[/quote]

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