DH had his first thought of what happens to our stuff....

[frannyr]

...after we are gone?  We don't have kids so our "estate" would probably be left to our nephews/nieces and DH's little brother who is only in his 20s now (about 20 yrs age difference).

I have thought of this before but my feeling is, I enjoy my "stuff" now. Period. My mom (and one of my husband's 84 year old customers) have been slowly giving things like jewelry, kitchenware and keepsakes away to family and friends. I imagine we will do the same when we get up there. I try to be a minimalist and throw a lot away now, saving only what I need or is important to me. I have purged a lot with this mindset.

This is definitely an "Olds" thought.

[mrsukyankee]

Yeah. I'm in the same boat. But no family in the country so not sure how it'll work out. I suppose that we'll start passing things on to my niece and nephew as we no longer need them if they want them. I'm a big fan of the purge as you go...will definitely want to downsize later on.

[Linie]

Single, no children. I am only making sure I have a home, complete health insurance and a nice pension. I'm enjoying my disposable income as I see fit (some savings). I have limited life insurance. What is left over will transfer to my two nephews, but I'm not saving for them. Education is excellent and almost free in my country. Their mother is doing an excellent job making sure that they are not lazy.

[flex]

I had an epiphany a couple years ago. I had wandered into this nifty estate shop that had like one of Marilyn Monroe's fur coats and a tuxedo that had belonged to Clark Gable. There was tons and tons of jewelry, art work, knick knacks, and just "stuff" from those people who had passed on.

It struck me then that "we can't take this shit with us!" Their stuff is left, and some of it goes to their family members who has their own stuff, as well as the passed on "stuff". Which just leads to piles and piles of STUFF! It was an eye opener and a mind blown moment.

Since then I've looked at my possessions with more of a jaundiced eye. When I sold my house over a year ago, I purged a ton of shit that I'd had for over 30 years. I never used or wore it, so I either gave it away to Salvation Army or I just plain threw it away.

In January I'll be going through my mom's stuff. I'll hardly keep any of it because I have my own "stuff". I've learned, as I get older, that the measure of my worth is NOT what I have, but rather living with much less. I don't want to burden my kids with trying to figure out what to do with my stuff after I pass on.

[Deleted]

I definitely believe that as we get older, purging unwanted stuff becomes easier. My daughters were a little alarmed when I gave them a couple of pieces of jewelry (rings) recently. "Mom! Are you okay?" kind of thing. I just wanted to see someone wear the rings.

Plus as flex said, a move now and then helps. We were in our last house for 18 years, so a downsizing move was a huge purge. Somehow, I seem to need to go through our things again! One advantage to getting older is I've noticed that seniors don't seem to buy/want as many clothes. DH is excited about that possibility.

My grandmother's china, still packed in the moving box, sat in our current basement for 3 years before I gave it away. I'm still a little surprised with myself, but my daughters weren't interested, I wasn't using it, so why not give it to someone out there who might not have dishes.

[Gato]

I've moved 15-20 times in adulthood, so luckily that hasn't much agreed with keeping a lot of stuff. We are a family of four living lean in 1200 square feet, and even then I still feel overburdened with things piling up in the unfinished spaces of our house. My greatest satisfaction will be the day I finally get our basement cleared out.

But now that I'm settled (I think) for good, everyone is trying to unload stuff onto me. My aunt recently dropped off a clown costume, quite hideous, that was made for a 10-12 year old (we have no 10-12 year olds in our house). Without asking first. She wrote in an email afterward that she couldn't stand the thought of something made by Grandma going to Goodwill. So now it sits in MY basement while I wait for her to forget about it, so *I* can give it to Goodwill.

I'm sure my Grandma would have found this ridiculous. I hope to give my kids whatever they want, and also not act all butthurt if they don't want to take something. There are plenty of refugees moving to our city; they can have the coffee tables, china, ski sweaters, and other 50 year old things my relatives are trying to pawn off on me. But I don't think anybody will want that clown costume, lol.

[treedimensional]

You should sell your stuff.
Sure, you're healthy now, but sooner or later, you'll need money more than "stuff".

... says the daughter who just had to dispose of a houseful of mom's stuff, sister's stuff, and even grandparents' stuff because nobody ever made the decision to get rid of anything. Cleaning out the house cost me THOUSANDS of dollars and about 6 months of my life. And there are still 2 storage units!

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2016 11:28:41 GMT -5 Gato said:

I've moved 15-20 times in adulthood, so luckily that hasn't much agreed with keeping a lot of stuff. We are a family of four living lean in 1200 square feet, and even then I still feel overburdened with things piling up in the unfinished spaces of our house. My greatest satisfaction will be the day I finally get our basement cleared out.

But now that I'm settled (I think) for good, everyone is trying to unload stuff onto me. My aunt recently dropped off a clown costume, quite hideous, that was made for a 10-12 year old (we have no 10-12 year olds in our house). Without asking first. She wrote in an email afterward that she couldn't stand the thought of something made by Grandma going to Goodwill. So now it sits in MY basement while I wait for her to forget about it, so *I* can give it to Goodwill.

I'm sure my Grandma would have found this ridiculous. I hope to give my kids whatever they want, and also not act all butthurt if they don't want to take something. There are plenty of refugees moving to our city; they can have the coffee tables, china, ski sweaters, and other 50 year old things my relatives are trying to pawn off on me. But I don't think anybody will want that clown costume, lol.

I would donate the clown costume. You never know who might find it a treasure! Maybe a theater group or a costume collector or

[burbankgirl]

My husband's uncle just drove 6 hours to give us an entire van load full of stuff from his house and a friend's house who died. Part of it is the idea that he still thinks we're in our 20s and don't have anything. Instead, we are nearly 40 and have two kids and a house full of stuff plus two well-paying jobs.

Basically, we took about a third and trashed it and a third and donated it and a third and used it. Makes me want to go through our house more.

[mryrcn]

My momma passed away before Christmas. Years ago we helped her purge from her house of 40 years to a small townhouse and then she went into a nursing home. I have no idea what my sister and brother did with all of the furniture. The personal belongings were at my sister's house. So clothing, photos, jewelry, etc. I asked for 2 pieces of jewelry and they were both pieces that I had given to my momma. One of them I gave to my oldest daughter and the other I have kept. It's a simple piece that I can wear every day if I want. My sister did say that she was going to go through the photos and divide them among the family. I'm okay with that. Honestly, I'm glad that most of this was taken care of years ago and that we didn't have to endure what treedimensional went through.