Dealing with a life time of stuff

[Dragonslayer]

So since I had to move mother into assisted living her house in Hilton Head and all her stuff and all that entails had to be dealt with.

Got her house sold, now this weekend I'm down here trying to liquidate her stuff. The gated community she lived in has very strict rules of what you cannot do. One of which is no sales of any kind. That eliminated plan A. So that leaves consignment shops, Auctions off site, Goodwill or haul the stuff back to Georgia and put in storage. The thing is most all of the stuff is very nice stuff. She lived a life of luxury and surrounded herself with high dollar stuff. To nice of stuff to trash, Give away or donate. If I owned one of those little expensive tourist trap shops to sell all this fancy smancy stuff that would be perfect, but I don't. I'M quite sure that is the kind of place she bought all this stuff in the first place.

 

Heed my words, all that expensive collectable STUFF you have been accumulating for years as a legacy for your heirs won't be worth diddly squat when it comes time for them to deal with it and liquidate it. Not to mention the expense and hassle of having to do so. You are better off selling as much as you can to any interested parties for as much as you can get for it. BANK the money. Your heirs will appreciate the money so much more. So they can run out and buy their own brand of stuff. HER stuff will be loaded Monday headed to an auction house in Charleston to be sold to the highest bidder, lock stock and barrel. After shipping cost and auction fees I'm sure we might realize pennies on the dollar of what the stuff cost.

 

As for the lifetime of pictures and family KEEPSAKES. You know the kinda things you can't bear to part with, family photos, family history and what not. I guess all that stuff will go in the attic to collect dust until I'm gone and my heirs can deal with it. Serves them right for not being down here helping me deal with this stuff.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Dragonslayer

[BlueSky]

Sorry about your Mother.

 

I know what you mean. I lived on the Gulf coast of FL for a year during a contract job and rented an unfurnished house. There are so many retirees living in that area that the thrift shops are full of nice stuff. When the retirees passed, the kids couldn't use or wanted their stuff and just wanted the money. I bought lots of very nice furnishings from the multitude of thrift shops in the area. Some of it I brought home when the job ended.

[GAWildKat]

I know your pain. I got all my Dad's mother's things, Dad's things, and Mom's things and still need a house to hold it all. When my inlaws die they expect us to take their possessions too. None of which are our taste. And with all the things we have now we won't have room to take on more. So feelings would get hurt if they knew.

 

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[Midrsv]

I know what you're going through. When my parents passed my brother and I had to deal with their stuff. We each kept a couple of things, a lot of things went to the trash and the remaining went to an auction house. That was a mistake. The auctioneer took 35% and sold all of my mother's antiques in lots instead of each piece. It was easier for him. If I were doing it again I would call the Salvation Army of some other charitable organization and give everything to them. The tax deduction I could have claimed would have given us a better return.

 

Good luck!

 

Dennis

[camos]

As for lifetime of pictures and family KEEPSAKES. You know the kinda things you can't bear to part with, family photos, family history and what not. I guess all that stuff will go in the attic to collect dust until I'm gone and my heirs can deal with it.

When my mother downsized to a condo she went through all the family photos and created an album for each of us three kids. It was much appreciated and likely made it much easier for her to not have to decide which memories got trashed.

[Dragonslayer]

I know your pain. I got all my Dad's mother's things, Dad's things, and Mom's things and still need a house to hold it all. When my inlaws die they expect us to take their possessions too. None of which are our taste. And with all the things we have now we won't have room to take on more. So feelings would get hurt if they knew.

 

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Tell me about it. I have already had to absorb all of my Dad's stuff. But in his case a good bit of it was useful to me such as the tools and the guns, you know guy stuff.

 

I'm already busting at the seems with my own brand of stuff. Since I've been single for so long my decorating style leans more toward man cave stuff like deer heads,ducks and hunting dogs motif. The fine China, exotic Japanese porcelain artwork and furnishings are a little to feminine for my taste. Each room had it's own theme and the den had a nautical,ocean and beach theme.

Albeit the nautical theme is a little more masculine, I live in the country in the woods on a small farm and the nautical stuff just don't fit in either.

 

It's all gotta go.

Does anyone need a brand new 2016 Toyota Camry with 1950 miles, if so I'm your guy, PM me.

[BlueSky]

Lots of very nice stuff!

[SilvrT]

If the situation was right and we lived close, I'd take thos wing back chairs in the blink of an eye.

 

In our case, we're already in a "downsizing" mode as we prepare to become gypsies travelling the country in our RV. There won't be much left for the kids to deal with. Lucky them huh!

[Air Ready Auto]

My kids are lucky. My wife throws everything away. I had to section off an area in the basement with police tape and designate it as my no wife zone. She is so bad that I've had to buy the same thing 4 or 5 times to replace what she tossed.

[Dragonslayer]

Sorry about your Mother.

 

I know what you mean. I lived on the Gulf coast of FL for a year during a contract job and rented an unfurnished house. There are so many retirees living in that area that the thrift shops are full of nice stuff. When the retirees passed, the kids couldn't use or wanted their stuff and just wanted the money. I bought lots of very nice furnishings from the multitude of thrift shops in the area. Some of it I brought home when the job ended.

Thanks for the sentiment but you know,

 

STUFF HAPPENS

[Dragonslayer]

If the situation was right and we lived close, I'd take thos wing back chairs in the blink of an eye.

 

In our case, we're already in a "downsizing" mode as we prepare to become gypsies travelling the country in our RV. There won't be much left for the kids to deal with. Lucky them huh!

The winged back chairs are nice but I don't see them fitting in a RV very well.

Yea the kids will be happy as long as you don't spend all the money traveling. I say have a good time till it's all gone.

[GAWildKat]

I gladly absorbed everything of my Grandmother's and Dad, they worked a lifetime each to have those nice things. I just hate they sit in a storage unit waiting for me to buy a house big enough to put everything in. The other option was allowing my half sisters (Mom's kids) to ransack the house after Mom died and take what wasn't nailed down and sell off stuff and keep the money. Which they did for a lot of smaller items like My and Mom's jewelry.

 

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[Venturous Randy]

With buying my dads house from siblings at his death with a lot of stuff, some of my son's stuff and stuff Linda brought with her when she moved in, along with my stuff, I barely have room to get my Miata in my two car garage and can't even see the pool table downstairs with all the stuff piled on it.

Randy

[Dragonslayer]

I know what you're going through. When my parents passed my brother and I had to deal with their stuff. We each kept a couple of things, a lot of things went to the trash and the remaining went to an auction house. That was a mistake. The auctioneer took 35% and sold all of my mother's antiques in lots instead of each piece. It was easier for him. If I were doing it again I would call the Salvation Army of some other charitable organization and give everything to them. The tax deduction I could have claimed would have given us a better return.

 

Good luck!

 

Dennis

We have already taken four truck loads of stuff to Goodwill. The last load was six large bags of trash. I pulled up to Goodwill and told the kid we have already donated a lot of stuff and this load was just trash. I asked him if we could just put it in their dumpster. He said no problem we will trash it and began unloading the truck. As I was driving off he yelled "you want your receipt". I wonder how much of a deduction I can claim for trash?

[Dragonslayer]

With buying my dads house from siblings at his death with a lot of stuff, some of my son's stuff and stuff Linda brought with her when she moved in, along with my stuff, I barely have room to get my Miata in my two car garage and can't even see the pool table downstairs with all the stuff piled on it.

Randy

 

That's why I will never own a pool table. They are fun for about a week. After that they just become a convenient horizontal plane to pile STUFF on.