
The 'Downsize' move already done. M was clear & practical with what to take to her new room in AL. (Very grateful for that).It has fallen on the next gen to deal with the family home & contents. Younger Sis a great help when in town, making boxes of keepsakes for all sibs. (Grateful for that too). I have Estate Cleaner quotes. They will clear then clean but need the personal items out first.I am stuck here. Stuck is better than sinking I know.. but I need to move from Overwhelmed to Organised. What to do with all the peronal stuff? The letters, papers, photos, slides, books with inscriptions.. My own downsize plans are on hold.. How to take action?
I trashed a lot. None other of the various levels of offspring wanted any of it. There were things that were very important to mother, but not to anyone else. I kept some things till she passed and then trashed most of that. Realistically what use is it to anyone now?
I'm glad you have some help and that the move to AL is doing well.
I had a wobble last night & told my DH I just couldn't do this. He said "Well it just won't get done then. The house will stay as it is, semi-cleared".
That's almost a tempting idea.. to let it become a ruin & the garden take over.
To bed early. Get some GOOD sleep. Then revive to fight the fight again, armed with the wise advice of you fine people 🤗
Keep us updated! 😊
He was RIGHT. I now have my own life torn down out of albums, repetitive stuff like 100s of pictures of trips to Italy and Paris thrown and the important ones neatly stored in plastic. It is still a lot.
And when I go my daughter will look at them once or twice in her life and then SHE will go and no one will care.
Americans and our stuff. Stuff-R-Us and storage companies make a bundle on knowing that. Humans are like all animals. Acquisitive.
THROW ALL YOU CAN. You will miss something once or twice in your life. Don't stop downsizing your own stuff. The less STUFF around me the more I like it now, and I miss none of it. All the little Christmas tree houses from the 40s? It delights me to think someone is enjoying them as they increase in value. I had BEEN there and I had DONE that.
My daughter loved clothing and has a lot of vintage stuff and currently newly retired is doing her own downsizing. But the piles of clothing she goes through having even forgot about so many pieces, are hard for her. She keeps thinking the same thing all hoarders are heard to say on TV programs. "That is worth money". Yeah? Show me someone willing to pay. "That is so beautiful". Yes, it is. Pass it on to someone who will wear it.
This is tough. And only Americans have SOOOOO MUCH that they carry it with them in storage containers as though headed to some potlatch where they will burn it to show their wealth. Good luck, B. Thinking of you.
I disagree about the very old photos and family artifacts. I have old portraits in my house. One from the Civil War era of a relative who was a colonel in the Union Army. It's gorgeous and he was too. We know his story and the stories of all the very old pictures and the younger generation of the family after me is very interested in these old pictures and the artifacts that come with them.
Of course we all have to sort through the snapshots and old Polaroids from back in the day and you can't save everything. So we save the ones that professional pictures like wedding portraits or family portraits.
I hear you about your own downsize being on hold. ( We were dealing with my in laws ) . Happened to me too , and now we have a seller’s market by me . We have been stuck a couple of years .
When I cleaned out my parents house ( with no help from all 4 sibs ) . I went room by room , got rid of the trash first .
I made a box for each sibling for the framed photos of them and their kids , plus they each wanted one other keepsake . The albums and important papers I took home . Purged the rest of the house . Had cleaners come in . Staged the house for selling . Once there was a buyer under contract , had an auction company come and take the rest of the furniture .
I waited to go through the photo albums and the paperwork . Kept them at my house .
I did save some things I thought my mother would ask for while she was in AL. I had like 4 boxes . Every once in a while I would bring a box for her to go through when she asked. Then she stopped asking where all her stuff went . I trashed it after she died .
"If I don't change anything - nothing will change" Who said that??
I have stared turning the ideas given here into a practical resource. A mega list - to break this beast down into manageable checkboxes!
I have also found a professional organiser. I think this could be very valuable. Be the sweet spot between doing it all myself (low cost but drowning slowly) & outsourcing it all ($$$ but a fast rescue). The DOING myself has potential for me to get better at sorting. My Big Picture aim is apply this to my own downsize too.
Thank you
🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
I found easily 90% of family photos and slides could be trashed. Scenery pics of trips with no people in them? Very low sentimental value. The ones with people are the keepers.
I grew up with pet names like Ansco, “Illy” (for Iford), TriX (the 3 legged cat) & “Deek” (DK72).
fwiw LegacyBox does slide to digital conversions. It’s a different price point from their stuff a box of prints / tear sheets for 1 low price. All goes to cloud storage although you can get a flash drive as well if you want to go old school tactile style.
I was brutal with letters, papers and such.
I saved my grandma's Medicare card (from when Medicare started) and her address book.
I took loads of stuff to Goodwill and put much stuff out in front of the house for folks to take. That felt good.
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