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

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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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I guess I am the only one who things this is NBD.

My parents both died suddenly and unexpectedly within months of eachother.  My sister and I were left to clean out 40+ years of worldly possessions.  We kept what we wanted, donated some and tossed some. It took a couple weeks but we weren't overly burdened by this. It felt like we were able to honor our parents by taking care of this for them.[/quote]no, you are not the only one [/quote]

I think the people who get upset are those who also have difficulty disposing of items.

So if their parents don't do the hard sorting job, making sure that items get sent to appropriate caretakers who will love and cherish the cut glass, the real wood furniture, their china that no one wants, all the books... then the children need to do it and they resent it because they can't just throw it all away. They feel they need to respect the objects and find them a good home.[/quote]

Agree.  Because part of being UMC is being trained to appreciate "the finer things".  For those who don't antique or eBay, it is a rude shock to find out that culture has changed and that these supposedly valuable things aren't wanted by anyone at any price.

[b]It is somewhat shocking to me that decent pianos, oriental rugs, and fine china sets are nearly valueless. [/b] Especially considering the work that went into making them and their durability.  But this is just the case....people want their houses to look different from what Pre-Boomers and Boomers liked from 1930s-1980s.  As our society has gotten wealthier and more modern, we no longer aspire to have our house interiors look like 18th-19th Century European nobility and Colonial American well-to-do living spaces.  Also the Victorian-inspired cluttery eclectic knicknack look is out because it no longer signifies wealth or travels to possess all those objects.  [/quote]

It’s interesting, I am very interested in antiques and vintage stuff, and as I started reading your post I was about to reply that many, many things still sell pretty well.  Then I saw the bolted and yeah, the finer things that are not compatible or useful with the current lifestyles are hard to get rid of.   So, for the dining rooms, the sideboards or lower portions of buffets that can be used as credenzas sell like hot cakes, but the glass top portions get discarded.  The old pianos are tricky - people tend to think that they are like old violins always worth something, but it’s not the case.  There are often mechanical issues that are not worth fixing, the wood is not that valuable (as opposed to string instruments), and the electronic pianos are so good these days, most people don’t need the real one.  [/quote]

Even the items that could have some material value won't if they're not properly maintained, and that sort of maintenance was beyond my relatives' abilities in the final decade or two of their lives.

Did we want to put $1000 worth of labor into something that would be worth $500 afterwards? Nope![/quote]

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