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[quote=Anonymous]Op,I know how you feel. My parents are relatively affluent, but came from poor immigrant backgrounds. They have trouble throwing things away. So even though they live in a $2 million house, they have accumulated a ton of stuff. Not hoarders, but kind of like genteel hoarders. I have been worrying and trying to prod them about it for years, even packing things up and organizing whenever I visit. Mentally I knew that it would all be on my head if something happened to them. This December both my mom and dad became seriously ill... my mom wont make it and my father is disabled. They live in this big house with too much stuff -- some of it has value, but a lot of it is just sentimental or of little worth. Finally my do nothing brother is starting to haul the stuff I packed to goodwill or to the dump... it literally took my mom to be on her deathbed for us to be able to do this. She would have taken things out of the trash if she could. My brother actually has inherited even worse hoarding tendencies. It is so sad. We live our lives in DC trying to get rid of stuff -- sometimes it gets a bit compulsive (my inlaws are like this, constantly dumping their stuff on us). It just seems we have a dysfunctional relationship with stuff in this country. In the country where my parents are from, middle class families just have one set of furniture that they keep forever (tends to be well made), a few tschokes -- could fit on a mantle or bookshelf, a few books, and minimal household stuff. Clothes can all fit in a wardrobe. I think it's because goods are relatively more expensive there -- there are no big box stores (though they are coming), and kids play with sticks and marbles, not tons of stuffed animals or plastic junk.... it would be very hard to rewind to that -- it's not our culture -- but if only for the sake of environment, I hope that enlightened people everywhere stop the vicious cycle of acquiring, dumping and acquiring again...

No blame, just a commentary on society... I am with you, OP. Sorry you had to go through that. [/quote]

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