My father died in 2017. He lived alone in about 2,500 sq/ft. Every room had tons of crap, tons of it. Old newspapers that were saved on monumental events. He even saved every owners manual of every appliance, yard tool, and anything else that came with a manual. I even found one for a blender.

It was pretty hard to go through it all. Not necessarily on an emotional level but that did occur at times. Just time drain on stuff that really he just put away and should have thrown out years prior.

The biggest thing was he had boxes and boxes of stuff from when he cleared out his mother and step father's house about 16 years prior. Pretty sure he didn't go through any of it, just couldn't part with it so in a box it went. I literally found his old report cards from the 1940s and 1950s that granny had saved.

I'd say save the cool stuff and pass along but hard to determine what exactly other people will find cool.

My FIL is now alone and has been going through his house and getting rid of stuff. His goal, age 88, is to have it all given away before he dies so that we don't have to worry about it. I'm still waiting for the division of the guns...

Adding to my post above:

My FIL's intent is to see who wants what and if no one is interested then off to Goodwill or St Vinny's it goes.

He divided up the silver service stuff with the girls and I'm pretty sure some that was further given away so as to not hurt his feelings. Honestly, some of that stuff just isn't used any more unless you are Lord Grantham and the King and Queen are coming for a visit.

Clearing out my grandmother's place was interesting. She never really worked, just traveled and gardened, she donated most of her parents' "platter room" to the Grand Rapids public museum, pix of her as a teenager with the Sphinx, there's a big park in GR with her mom's maiden name, you get the idea probably...

All of us grandchildren, now in our 30s/40s, having grown up around her (very well curated) stuff had one recurring comment: "wow, cool! I don't need that though..." Gotta Persian rug (bought by her parents in Persia) and some three foot tall brass candlesticks out of it. Also a desire to (as above) decrappify or at least up our own game on the quality of ephemera to pile up!

My mom moved a while back. When she moved she took almost nothing other than her clothes and kitchen stuff. She told me, "if you want anything, come get it before I move. Anything that you don't take is going in the trash or being left for the people that buy the house."
I took a bunch of stuff home. I have it in boxes in storage costing money every month. :p:eek::D The plan is to go get the boxes and go through them to weed out stuff and organize "when I have time." They included report cards from my parents and my grandmother when she was in elementary school (she's about to turn 97). I think that stuff is neat, but I'm sure neither of the kids will care.

Exactly. My wife's grandmother's sister passed. Her daughter had an estate sale. We went and bought my wifes great grand parents' wedding crystal, and thought it seemed weird that the daughter didn't want that stuff.

^^^

After my father died I had an estate sale agent come thru and she bought up a bunch of stuff to resell. Then she would sell the remaining stuff in the house to others and take a cut. It was brilliant. I was 500 miles away and it saved me a lot of time.

The remaining stuff after all of that went to the buyers of the house. It was sold as is and they added 'with contents' to the contract. At that point there was only some furniture from the 90s that I couldn't shift and also some nicknacks that were what he liked but not so much to the liking of other people. So it really worked out.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am aspiring to be a minimalist but I’ve been selling off stuff on a daily basis since 2007. Cars, motorcycles, watch collection, books, furniture, art collection, jewelry, too much to list. It’s literally my occupation, every day. Working on selling tools this week.

9 years ago we downsized from a 3900 sq/ft home to 2300 sq/ft. Like others said earlier there were MANY trips to donation sites and eventually the dump to pull that off. The large sq/ft made it seem we didn't have much, but actually moving proved otherwise.

We were nicely minimized for a few years but then my parents estate and that of my MIL was tackled, sold off & donations, yet here we are packed up with redundant stuff again. My Dads tools mostly went to my Son and wife refuses to toss household items as both my kids are building their lives outside of our home and will need them.

Biggest mistake was not properly going through my parents stuff carefully. We had a big self run estate sale and had boxes of books. A few months later my wife was going through the remaining books and behold a few hundred $ falls out of one. Checking the others more cash stash found. We likely lost a few thousand $, or more.

I was walking through the parking lot of the nursing home and saw an old lady get a box marked “80s clothes” out of her trunk.
I guess she didn’t want to do laundry

Can’t do it. Honestly, I have almost every single thing I’ve ever bought or been given in 50 years of life right down to my first stuffed animal. Star Wars figures gotten at Xmas in the 70s. I even have the ear piercing stud used to pierce my ears back in like 1984 at piercing pagoda. I have many collections. Records, guitars, reel to reel decks, pocket knives, thousands of cds and art, architecture, car and music books. Many things given to me by my grandparents and parents. Everything is organized and displayed quite nicely. I guess I’m sentimental and I admire good design. Maybe someday I’ll post some photos of all this stuff. Much of it is pretty cool.

When I moved in here, a new friend was over and said “how long have you been in this house, 10 years?” Ha, no, 3 months.

But, I’m getting better. Last month was 1 year since I stepped foot in a record store. I don’t think I’ve gone more than a week since I was 13. I’m doing my best not to add to any of my collections from now on. Something about turning 50 has changed me. I am now obsessed with how little time I have left and it’s obvious I don’t time to listen to what I’ve already got so why bother adding more

I would love to get rid of my 8 fish tanks…..what an agonizing hobby

Damn, I'm going in the wrong direction.

We bought a vacation home last year. It is close enough that we can be there in 2-3 hours.
I am now in the process of duplicating clothes and tools in the second house, so I don't need to haul them back and forth.

I just went thru this with my kids. What I have is meaningful and important to me so don't ask yourselves, "why did dad save all of this? " There are things they should take and what's left, donate or throw away. Told them not to feel guilty about anything - it is just my stuff.

I would be happy to support your minimalism and take your Porsche off your hands.
No need to thank or pay me, Just wanting to help out

I've been trying. Especially with my father's crap from 2o years ago.

My wife on the other hand is obsessed. She got rid on my wooden pasta fork and said use the wooded salad fork. Got rid on my ladle and says use the stupid little one. Not to mention going through my bar and saying you only need 2 beer mugs. I gave up.

There is so much minimalist crap on YouTube, it feeds on people with borderline mental illness.

Me and the Wife were just talking about this the other night. Going to see a lawyer about having our affairs put in order. Along with that trimming down our collection of "stuff".

The guns will stay but I have too many guitars and fly rods and reels. None of the kids play guitar or fly fish so as I told my Wife "My biggest fear is you or the kids will sell my guitars and fishing gear for the price I told you I paid for them".

My Son will get the tools and power equipment but I could still do with getting rid of some crap. Most I'll just give away as opposed to selling since I hate dealing with "tire kickers".

We sold almost everything this spring- house, cars, motorcycles, ton and tons of stuff. Currently transitioning to live on a boat and travel. We've got about a year before boat mods will be done, so we're in a tiny apartment.

To say its hard to get rid of stuff is an understatement. But after you get going- and I mean REALLY get going- its very liberating. I no longer have to maintain 8 vehicle batteries for one thing. We prepared for about 2 years prior to the move. Probably had 5-6 yard sales, at least a dumpster of crap tossed that we could not even give away. And it was all "good stuff". Hated to toss it, but I sure wasn't going to store it. Continuous sales for a year or more on FB Marketplace and Craigslist. Side note- Out of a couple of hundred online sales, we didn't have one problem with selling on line. Most items we were paid in advance with Venmo and just set the item out by the door and they would come pick it up (during Covid). You just have to be absolutely brutal with yourself- "Do I really want to store this or take it with me? No? It's gone". Simple as that. Out of 5 adult kids, they only wanted some of the nice furniture and kitchen appliances. You can't get crap for used furniture, no matter how nice it is. Just look at Facebook marketplace.

Yes, I have a 10x10 storage block with a major tool collection- construction and automotive stuff, guns, art, etc. But the rest is gone like a fart in the wind. Cant say I miss much of it except my tools. We still have a pickup, and I couldn't even change the oil right now unless I did it on the street. I'll just pay someone now. But I used to have a lift in my garage.

I did go through the pleasure of cleaning out my parents house when they died. Conveniently, I was the only child that lived near by. Do your kids a favor and DONT leave them the chore of going through your lifetime of crap. THEY DONT WANT IT. I threw out almost everything of my parents. Sold a few pieces of furniture for peanuts just so I wouldn't have to haul it.

We all have to much crap (well, I dont anymore). If you haven't looked at it in a year get rid of it. You wont miss it. I promise.




.

That is what I have been doing; that and the yearly Amish Auction.

Some really great posts in this thread...we have been very upfront with our kids since they still have stuff stored here: This XMAS they either take it, it finds a new home or Buenos Dias, Rustpickers.

A boy can dream:cool:

seems like when i finally throw it away i need it.

i held on to a set of bad speakers out of my JBL speakers for at least 20 yrs. i finally trashed them. then ones i had put in went bad and i found places that could recone them. the speakers i put in this time sounded like crap and now they are up in the attic

i threw away a transformer at work the other day. i usually keep things like as spares.
sure enough a week later a transformer went bad for the gate at one of my sites and that one would have been perfect.

i have box of audio cables, wall warts, some computer stuff that i have a hard time parting with, i did clean it out some.