Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 18:59     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
I will keep my parents letters and manuscripts. Their books have already been donated to a university. My mother also wrote a memoir so we all have her book. I don't care what my children would do with them after I die.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2025 15:09     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Trash.
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2025 11:39     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Anonymous wrote:Dealing with this now; I’m deeply sentimental and now have three generations of
what could be called family (paper) archives; scrapbooks, photos, memorabilia, diplomas, letters. It’s a lot. Advice is to scan it all and presumably toss but this just feels wrong. No one will ever look at scanned info - not the same as a letter from its original envelope and unfolding.


PP: so I should scan the aged, crumbling high school diploma from 1910 and just toss? Same with the bundled greeting cards from 1935?
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2025 11:36     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Dealing with this now; I’m deeply sentimental and now have three generations of
what could be called family (paper) archives; scrapbooks, photos, memorabilia, diplomas, letters. It’s a lot. Advice is to scan it all and presumably toss but this just feels wrong. No one will ever look at scanned info - not the same as a letter from its original envelope and unfolding.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 13:46     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
If you want them and they bring you comfort, keep them. Just don't have any expectations for your kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 13:37     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Anonymous wrote:I would keep the journals. They don't take up much space and they might turn out to be really interesting after time has passed. My DH's grandpa's mother saved all his letters from WWII and they would have been considered pretty humdrum at the time but now they're interesting. And I'd keep the books-- same thing, they don't take up much space and tell you a lot about the person.

Other possessions, no or at least nothing bulky.


Yes, I'd dedicate one shelf in my house to this type of thing. That's hardly going to make or break a clean out effort when you are gone. But I would not keep boxes and boxes in the attic full of this type of thing. 1 box worth or 1 shelf worth, maybe 2. But definitely not 10.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 13:31     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Anonymous wrote:I would keep the journals. They don't take up much space and they might turn out to be really interesting after time has passed. My DH's grandpa's mother saved all his letters from WWII and they would have been considered pretty humdrum at the time but now they're interesting. And I'd keep the books-- same thing, they don't take up much space and tell you a lot about the person.

Other possessions, no or at least nothing bulky.


The space issue is a critical point, IMO. I agree no furniture, bulky stuff.

But photos, a bunch of books, letters, and jewelry items don't take up much space in an average house. You may not want it but your kids, or even their kids, may enjoy the history later on.
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2025 17:22     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
I would keep the journals. They don't take up much space and they might turn out to be really interesting after time has passed. My DH's grandpa's mother saved all his letters from WWII and they would have been considered pretty humdrum at the time but now they're interesting. And I'd keep the books-- same thing, they don't take up much space and tell you a lot about the person.

Other possessions, no or at least nothing bulky.
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2025 16:35     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
It's OK to be sentimental and crazy so long as it's not interfering with your day-to-day life.
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2025 16:14     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Of course. We try to keep them alive. You gotta use Grandma's china in order for your children to remember it fondly enough to preserve it in turn, and, when it breaks, you quietly replace it via Ebay. They won't know the difference, and, after a while, neither will you.
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2025 13:59     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Some but I don’t expect my kids to keep them.
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2025 12:48     Subject: Parents' books, journals and belongings
Do you keep some of your parents' journals, books that they authored and belongings that you have memories of? Books are out of print and without any digital version. Journals are dear to me but their grand kids likely won't read. Am I sentimental and crazy?