Why do people collect/keep valuable but meaningless things? (stamp, collector, train)

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by MysteryDriver

Wow,
You sound very Cold, morbid and heartless

It doesn't sound "cold" or "heartless" to me. What's cold about it? She helped a friend that provided a service to people to sell the stuff their parents left behind that they did not want. I've been in enough houses on the market for sale to be able to spot right away that the reason the house is for sale is because the owners died. The kids, family and friends have already come thru and got what they wanted and left the rest. I've seen it all, stacked in closets, the garage, corners of rooms, etc.

When my grandmothes both died both of my grandfathers were still alive and living at their homes. We took nothing nor asked for anything. On one side I had an aunt that did go in and get some things w/o my grandfather knowing (THAT'S cold and heartless). On the other side while my grandfather was still staying w/ us in "the city" some relatives went down and went thru their house and took things. WTF!?!?!?!! That is just not right. After one grandfather passed away several years later it took us awhile to go down and go thru things. He had left all of my grandmothers stuff right where she left them (WOW, and sad). We found things that my mom wanted to chunk but I wanted to keep. Now everyone is glad that I was forcefull enough to keep the stuff and they value those items. With my other grandparents the only thing I wanted were my grandfathers slides from his travels, some pictures (volunteered to make copies for all family members which no one else will even do that got some of the good family pics ) and a candlestick from Damascus that my grandfather brought back from one trip. Pictures are the most valuable to me and family bibles.

As for collecting things. OMY! I know some of the stuff we have our kids are not going to want. My mother in law has already told us about all this stuff she has that she wants us to have. Like, where in blazes am I going to put it? I do want to make sure that the stuff that my parents and in-laws have might be something my children would want before I get rid of it.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by MysteryDriver

Wow,
You sound very Cold, morbid and heartless

Wow--to me she sounds the opposite of morbid, and certainly neither cold nor heartless. This stuff has to be done, it happens every day. It'll probably happen to me, and I certainly will be beyond caring.
Vpscat, my mom used to give me stuff without me asking for it, too.
Now that she's gone, some of that wacky miscellany does have sentimental value. The lazy susan, the Chianti Classico ash tray (none of us smoke) etc etc.
Before our last move, I tried to purge our household of excess crud, and did get rid of a bunch (skiis from when the boys were 7 years old! ) but it's not easy. We have a lot of our older son's possessions (like us, he is in transition mode) and basically just too much junk in general.

[JBrown]

Actually it sounds like the voice of experience to me. My GF and I have had to deal with a number of older family deaths recently most of which had homes full of "collectables". After legit antique dealers examined the material and told us to try a yardsale because none of it was really "collectable. We rented two tables for two different weekends at an antique type flee market., loaded up all the stuff and tried to maximize the "profit" so others in the will would get something. Guess what ? After all that trouble we barely paid for the table/site rental.


Hereafter we're renting a dumpster and clearing out the house as quickly as possible.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by JBrown

Actually it sounds like the voice of experience to me. My GF and I have had to deal with a number of older family deaths recently most of which had homes full of "collectables". After legit antique dealers examined the material and told us to try a yardsale because none of it was really "collectable. We rented two tables for two different weekends at an antique type flee market., loaded up all the stuff and tried to maximize the "profit" so others in the will would get something. Guess what ? After all that trouble we barely paid for the table/site rental.


Hereafter we're renting a dumpster and clearing out the house as quickly as possible.

Better yet after you have gone thru and gotten out what you want and made sure to check in the pages of books and such, put a sign out for an "estate sale", get a box of plastic bags and say something like $5 or $10 a bag and open the door and let the masses in. Let them clean it out for you . Then have the big dumpster brought and sat in the driveway and haul everything else left out.

[Travel'r]

Why do people collect these things? Neither my mother nor my father in law are particularly old, they are not dying anytime soon...if they like these things so much...[/quote]

Sentimental.
If the items didn't have so much sentimental value to parents, they'd probably just donate, consign, or Ebay them. And, God forbid, people don't really know how long they'll have people around for and the thing is ... I think 911 hammered into us (collectively) that we just never know what tomorrow may bring. And the parents get more sentimental about giving.
(Still can't get over that, never.)

[christina0001]

Originally Posted by MysteryDriver

Wow,
You sound very Cold, morbid and heartless

Unfortunately, dealing with death and the aftermath is a fact of life. It's not morbid.

I read/heard somewhere, that you could learn a lot about a society by how the dead are treated. Properly handling people's belongings after death is respectful to the deceased, and requires a warm heart.

[FL_TN_Nana]

Originally Posted by MysteryDriver

Wow,
You sound very Cold, morbid and heartless

Ellie was not being cold, morbid and heartless! Go back and read the post.

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by FL_TN_Nana

Ellie was not being cold, morbid and heartless! Go back and read the post.

I guess it just sounded cold to me...
I remember when my dear Father left the world...
My Mom and myself were standing at his bedside minutes after his death, he was still warm.
The Nurse had to force me to go in, i'm glad she did.
His beautiful green eyes were wide open and the expression on his face was relaxed and happy as though he had "just seen the Face of GOD".
No More pain and suffering...

So after his Funeral I cleaned his closet and donated to Goodwill his finest, Hand-Tailored suits...
But I could NOT Dispose of the Topsiders I gave him that he wore everyday.
No one could ever fill that Man's Shoes...

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by A.Symetrical

I guess it just sounded cold to me...
I remember when my dear Father left the world...
My Mom and myself were standing at his bedside minutes after his death, he was still warm.
The Nurse had to force me to go in, i'm glad she did.
His beautiful green eyes were wide open and the expression on his face was relaxed and happy as though he had "just seen the Face of GOD".
No More pain and suffering...

So after his Funeral I cleaned his closet and donated to Goodwill his finest, Hand-Tailored suits...
But I could NOT Dispose of the Topsiders I gave him that he wore everyday.
No one could ever fill that Man's Shoes...

I wouldn't keep any of that stuff. I love my relatives, my remaining grandmother, and my parents aren't yet old enough to really worry about having to sort through their home, but if I'm here when the time comes and it falls to me to clean out the stuff, it's going to goodwill or yardsales. I don't want any of it. I have enough of my own. I understand Ellie perfectly. And, imagine the poor person left with a parent's home full of junk and faced with having to figure out how to sort through it all and how to clear it out...Estate sales are perfect solutions.

[Delaneyland]

This is an interesting post, I never used to keep anything. Once my (ex)wife left with every single item we owned, I realized how important those stupid little possessions really are. Unfortunately, I tend to keep everything now, it took me a couple years to realize why until I looked at what happened when I got divorced. Thankfully my wife just chuckles at my "collection" and says "You'll need it for something someday...". Thank goodness she's got a great sense of humor..