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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Old people ate often weird about money and "stuff." I'd treat it as a sad symptom of illness, smile, and donate/trash. My mom gives me a ton of stuff from her house and that's the only way her hoard is going to leave so I act enthused about it and make it disappear. PP with the plane ride should just stop at a parking lot donation bin on the way to the airport. [/quote]

I have this issue, too. It's really sad and depressing. I get really upset sometimes, but I try to reframe it like this:

Because of the mental illness, I think they are incapable of recognizing what is valuable and what is not. Because they are old, they may not be able to smell as well or see as well and realize what they are giving is literally moldy/falling apart/extremely gross. I think of it as my gift to them that I accept their gifts and then dispose of them immediately.

And like a PP, the ironic thing is there are some things I would really love to have, like my grandmother's old metal cookie cutters, or a lovely duck-shaped paperweight that used to sit on my uncle's desk, but my relatives toss those items out like they are trash while saving stuff I have no emotional connection to, like a rusty old file cabinet and imploring me to take it for all my files (I went digital years ago and even if I didn't, I cannot bring that Tetanus-shot-guaranteed-tip-hazard into my toddler's living space.)[/quote]

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