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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP- how would you have had them plan? I'm sorry to push this at a sad time, but how do you say, at a cognitively clear moment, "mom, you're moving out next spring before you can't remember that you need to move out"?  And then you would have executed that plan?[/quote]

You plan by not buying so much stuff in your lifetime and by keeping an eye that you don't become a hoarder. This is not something you can solve in 6 months. Just a few generations ago (before boomers) it was normal not to have so much stuff. Maybe you have an older relative and you saw how they lived? Clearing out someone's stuff was literally never a problem before, because people didn't consume more than they needed, they didn't have resources nor opportunity. All the hoarding and storage unit business caused by overconsumption is a recent phenomena, and is very American. It's not something that is "normal" or inherent to us as human beings and most people in the world don't live this way. [/quote]

My friends and I with Silent Gen and Greatest Gen parents went through the same thing. After the Great Depression and post-WW2 deprivation and subsequent prosperity, consumerism was reborn. They accumulated like crazy. [/quote]

I think you have hit on something.  People raised by parents who lived through the Great Depression accumulate stuff and can't let go of stuff.  Even broken things or items that others are giving away seem like treasures.  And they don't understand that all of their trinkets aren't collectibles.  My mom in particular is completely overwhelmed by all of her stuff but won't (or can't) do anything about it.  I assume I will have a lot to do at my parents' house but I don't see what I could or should say now to make them shed some of those things. It is their right to accumulate stuff during their lifetime, and my right to hire a junk hauler if I get overwhelmed cleaning out their house.  [/quote]

Rights and responsibilities are two different things. They may have a right to keep their junk.  However it’s not very responsible [/quote]

It's just no way to live, because the stuff gets overwhelming.  But I think a sizable chunk of people who accumulate possessions on that level are trying to fill a hole in their lives.  It is just very sad, and certainly frustrating for those left to sort through it all.[/quote]

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