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]My mother inherited her family’s house in the midwest.  It was the house where she lived with her grandmother after her parents died and then lived with her Aunt and Uncle after her grandmother died.  It was filled with memories of everyone for her and she could not part with much.  She pulled out a few things but most stayed in boxes.  She moved the whole kit and kaboodle from the Boston area to the Carolina coast when my parents retired.  Twenty years later after the death of both of my parents it was still there mostly in boxes.  Added to that was my father’s book collection and the stuff from their lives.   My sister and I went down with our families and spent a week sorting it out.  We filled 50 large contractor black bags and sent it to the dump or the local thrift stores.  We pulled things we wanted and that we thought might have some value.   We had an antiques dealer come and point to the dozen or so things that were worth more than $50 and we packed up the rest to send to the thrift store.  It was mostly old Victorian used items that were worth $5-$10.  I also took two large boxes and made up two beginner kitchens  as our children were in HS and nearing the time when they would need stuff in their first college apartment.  Those boxes have been excellent for them and although they are out of college now, most of the stuff is still being used because it was decent from the start.

After we each packed up what we wanted, we still had enough stuff to rent out the house as fully furnished.  It took 18 months to sell the house (don’t ask how much it has gone up since we sold after Covid hit).  We sold it as furnished so we did not have to pack anything more up.

It was not as much of a chore as we felt as if it was our last gift to our parents.  It helped us through the grieving process and brought us closer together.  We were able to let go of my mother’s traumatic childhood for her. They were her memories not ours.  [/quote]

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