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In Operation: WHIRLWIND, I lost some of that stuff because time ran out and it had to be left behind.
What I find I have acquired now is lots of framed pictures, of relatives and ancestors, pictures I never knew existed. I am trying to pass some off to the brothers but still, it takes time to process them to that point.
Of those I have no choice to keep, I am thinking of using them in filler capacity. That is, will they fit this space that nothing else would.
I can relate!! My parents are hoarders and keep all relative's things, which drives me crazy. In most cases, they are not specifically given these things, but rather when someone dies or is going to a home and the family comes to help clear out their house, my parents can't stand to see it tossed or donated, so they bring it home and piles up everywhere. I have gotten a few of those things over the years, and I selectively keep the ones that I can actually use or have some sort of sentimental value, but everything cannot have sentimental value. I have told my mom (only somewhat jokingly), that I am absolutely terrified of dealing with her stuff when she passes! She has told me she hopes her kids will keep all her things (4500sf house plus 2 storage barns). For real!
Unfortunately yes. I am an only child and when my mother went into an AL home after my father passed we had the wonderful job of cleaning out and selling their house. That was back in the late 90s and we still have a few things left. As it was we had 3 huge yard sales at their house, then donated a bunch of stuff and kept selling off the rest at yard sales at our house.
I can relate!! My parents are hoarders and keep all relative's things, which drives me crazy. In most cases, they are not specifically given these things, but rather when someone dies or is going to a home and the family comes to help clear out their house, my parents can't stand to see it tossed or donated, so they bring it home and piles up everywhere. I have gotten a few of those things over the years, and I selectively keep the ones that I can actually use or have some sort of sentimental value, but everything cannot have sentimental value. I have told my mom (only somewhat jokingly), that I am absolutely terrified of dealing with her stuff when she passes! She has told me she hopes her kids will keep all her things (4500sf house plus 2 storage barns). For real!
So yes, I feel for you...
It would be one thing if the items coming in were newer, but most of it is already toward the end of its useful life. Mom has a third bedroom full of stuff she bought that is still in packaging.
Yes, with my parents and then my in-laws passing away, we have closets stuffed with "stuff." I have no trouble with my in-laws' stuff, but feel horribly guilty when I try to weed through my parents' stuff. They were children of the Depression, and as THEIR child, I know how hard they worked and what they sacrificed for some of this. You can't hang onto everything, though, and so many of the younger generation doesn't want the silverplate, fine china and wood furniture.
Don't feel bad if you have to get rid of it.
I'm trying not to.
I recently sold my condo and have moved most of my day-to-day stuff into an apartment in the new town I'm working in. I have some furniture that's too big for my apartment at my aunt's condo, my kayak and other bulky outdoor type stuff in my uncle's business house, and a lot of the stuff I need more frequently at my parents' house since I get over there more often.
I got some stuff out of my parents' house today and they wanted some help rearranging a living room. As my mom's aunts/uncles and some family friends died over the years, they ended up with more furniture and other "stuff." A neighbor of my grandmother's moved, and gave my grandmother three rocking chairs. Those rocking chairs have ended up with my parents. Other things have "come in" that way.
As you got older, did you get more stuff coming in from friends and family passing away?
I ended up with all the junk of four generations of both sides of my family. It was a 10-year project to clear it out properly, in anticipation of my move from the big family house. Some of the stuff had been brought over the Oregon Trail in covered wagons. I still took far more of it with me than I should have, when I moved. There's 8 kayaks and a fiberglass mold I built, mostly filling my garage and there's 3 old rocking chairs. Someday, someone else will have to clear it all out. I hope they are well-paid.
Most of the older generation in my family died right around the same time, late '90s. We were deluged but still had a house so we kept a few pieces of furniture. The rest, we gave to my ex's parents' young neighbors or it went to auction or to a cousin who wanted it.
I kept a small antique drop leaf table and now, in a small apartment, it's perfect as a kitchen table. My antique collector aunt willed that table to me and also two beautiful table lamps that I love. (I am stuck with her Royal Doultons which are worth nothing now though.)
I got loads of photographs and sorted through them, storing the best in metal boxes and putting some onto Ancestry.
That was over 20 years ago. Last year I had to put my cousin into dementia care and had to clean out her house. There was hardly anything I wanted but I saved a big oval framed picture of our grandparents on their wedding day (which my sister wants. My cousin has no kids to pass it on to.) I also took a small file cabinet to store my cousin's papers because I am POA for her. And a 1920s era table lamp with a glass hand painted reverse shade that came from our family. Paid $90 to get it repaired and I really love it and will pass it down--someone had better want it!
That cousin was a hoarder and there are no words for the stress and pain of clearing her house out to sell it for her. We gave a few things away to her nice neighbors who had been so kind to her but the rest was impossible to get to, crammed in and packed to the ceilings as it was. The new owners paid to have the stuff hauled away.
I don’t know if I mentioned this, but there seems to be this thing with Depression era kids of keeping anything and everything, even when it is long past useful, not worth a lot, etc.
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