Re: "Letting Go" Sentimentals,Values to generation... - Page 4

occasionalrain · ‎03-10-2010

When I enter an older home, I feel something of those who had lived there, the same with furniture. Wood is a living thing and over time, just like patina, something of it's previous owners remains.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@We rescue cats wrote:
My husband and I have inherited both our parents' things, we have no children, I have no siblings and his sister does not want any of it so it resides in our house. One thing I had was my grandmother's table and chairs that survived one of our city's floods and had been made locally by a non long gone facility so I donated it to our flood museum. I have the china, the plated silver and other serving pieces. I volunteer with a gallery here, they do many dining events so we are donating all of that to them to use as they wish. But I have no idea what to do with the rest of it and am open to ideas.

@We rescue cats Put it in boxes and call the Salvation Army truck. That's what we are doing and have done for about 30 years now.

justashopper · ‎03-21-2010

I actually have anxiety about this myself. if I let myself think about it, I'll be up all night. My parents somehow became the keepers of all the family stuff... cedar chests full of wedding gowns, picture, this, that from the "old country".

Then they have their own lives full of furniture and belongs. Then I have a ton of my own ******. I don't know what will happen to all this stuff.... but like everyone else is saying-- no one to take the stuff. To charities it will go.... As for my stuff. I'll be dead or whatever so I won't need it. LOL. It is difficult to think about and deal with but I think once we let it go, we move on. I know it feels good to purge!

tarsmom · ‎03-21-2010

It's crazy.I guess we don't think about when our parents pass that we get their "stuff". Now I have their stuff and my stuff and I'm not a collector My mom passed 11 years ago and I took 95% of her jewelry and went to the Gold exchange and they wrote me a check. In fact, we did that about a year prior to her death so if she did go into assisted living she wouldn't have to worry about theft. I kept her costume jewelry for awhile, most of it was low value and one day I just bagged it up and dropped it off at a thrift store. I still have some of her furniture but I'm retired myself and have enough junk to unload at some point (my son lives out of state and they have their own stuff). If you are younger reading this, think about what you're buying. How many purses, necklaces, rings, shoes, clothes, etc. do you need? I now only wear very casual clothes after being in a job for years where I wore heels, wool suits, etc. I can't remember the last time I wore a dress to any event. So unexpected how seasons change in one's life. My spouse and I discuss this a a lot and he keeps stuff way longer than I care to. I wonder who buys the stuff sold at the auctions and estate sales????

RedTop · ‎09-01-2010

Just a reminder for those who have really nice household things to get rid of, to be aware of any local families who lose their homes to fires, and need pots, pans, bakeware, dishes, the good china you don't know what to do with, etc.

This came to my mind today when I read about 2 local families who had devastating fires this week.

RollTide2008 · ‎02-14-2017

I don’t want my mother’s stuff because I have my own stuff. If there’s was stuff she wanted to pass on to me, she should have done it when I had nothing but IKEA and garage sale finds.

Enufstuff · ‎03-12-2010

@tarsmom Years ago, in the 70's and early 80's, my husband and I had a small antique shop. We went to weekly auctions to buy things for the shop and things that we liked to collect.

Many times, the things sold at the auction came from estate sales. There would be furniture, framed art, jewelry, whole sets

of china , silver flatware and glassware. Then there would be

some vintage clothing and textiles, photo albums and framed tintypes. Then there would be household appliances, pots and pans and knicknacks, books and figurines.

Sometimes when I would look at it all, it would hit me "That

is someones life, that we are looking at." All the things that they used, wore , loved, pictures of unknown people and they

had no family who wanted any of it. It made me a little sad to think of it. When we brought an antique piece of furniture or art home, I would wonder about who it came from. I would have loved to know their stories.

The people who bid and bought those things were antique dealers and collectors, like we were. Young people today don't seem to be collectors of antique or vintage things.

Now, I have a house full of all my collections plus furniture

and things from my mother, grandmother and inlaws. I have been giving away some of my jewelry to daughters and grand

daughters in recent years. I don't know how much of my stuff

they might want someday. I have five children, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. The five have their own houses and their own stuff.

tarsmom · ‎03-21-2010

I know what you mean. I wa the only daughter and I have no daughter of my own and no grandkids. Today's younger people (most I know) either are only having small families or no kids at all. Th years really do fly by and trends change so fast. You know what I treasure? An old coffee cup my dad used to drink from. He'd stir his coffee and keep clinking his spoon to annoy us until one of us would yell "Dad!" I smile when I drink my coffee from that cup.

Puppy Lips · ‎05-09-2010

I have been dealing with my Mom’s things for 2 1/2 years now. I kept a lot of it myself. It has gotten easier as I go along to donate what I don’t want. My sister and I had a 2 day sale. It must have been a bad weekend for it because we did not get much traffic tho we advertised heavily. It was not worth the effort. My boys want nothing of my parents or mine. My dad made beautiful tables and I had to BEG my oldest son to just take one small end table made by his grandfather. I do have two nice antique furniture pieces that were my grandmother’s - a chest and a desk. I doubt anyone will want them. The bottom line is that I want my boys to live their lives the way they want. I don’t want to burden them with my stuff. I am sure my mom did not want to burden me with her stuff - so I keep that in mind as I struggle to donate her things. I attach memories to things, like I suppose a lot of people do.

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. Margaret Mead

DottieBlue · ‎03-11-2010

@RedTop wrote:
Just a reminder for those who have really nice household things to get rid of, to be aware of any local families who lose their homes to fires, and need pots, pans, bakeware, dishes, the good china you don't know what to do with, etc.

This came to my mind today when I read about 2 local families who had devastating fires this week.

What an excellent idea. It bothers me when I hear about nice things going out into the trash when there are many people who need household goods such as furniture, cookware, dishes, etc., who can't even afford to buy them at a thrift shop.

Many renters don't have insurance and recently an apartment building in our town burned to the ground. The residents displaced will have to start from scratch to replace their belongings.

I wonder if there is a way people could reach out to others who have lost everything to fire, etc., to offer them for free their no-longer-needed home goods. It's a shame to see beautiful things that still could be used end up in a landfill if donation centers are no longer accepting items.

My local Salvation Army donation center still accepts donations. However, if it ever got to the point that I had no place to donate, I would put the stuff out on our driveway, and put an ad on Craig's List "Free Stuff!! Come get it by date/time." If anything remains, THEN I'd have it picked up by the trash collectors.