A friend and neighbour now needs to downsize for health reasons and as such has started to find new homes for some of her beloved antique furniture. In particular, she is hoping that family members will agree to remove (and keep) her very old large Dining room set. No one appears interested in owning the entire 3 piece set however. Although she’s obviously disappointed that her family doesn’t seem to value these family antiques she realizes that she must get rid of them sooner rather than later. Someone else I know also has numerous collections of small items (Christmas miniature villages etc.) and was buying and collecting over the years with a view that these would some day be passed down to family as keepsakes. However, they have expressed no interest whatsoever so that is not going to happen. I’ve heard similar stories from others. Years ago, when each one of our parents passed away, we had to go through all the “stuff” left behind. It took some time to make decisions as to the future of their countless possessions plus clean up etc. of their home/apt. for resale. As a result we now try and pass down to family, whatever old/antique items we can and if there is still something we no longer want then we’ll get rid of it whatever way we can. IMO, what is one man’s “treasure” is not necessarily true for someone else, family or not.
The only real treasures we have ts our Indian art collection and in truth only a few have real value and are appreciating in value. Our son will be the recipient and also appreciates some of it. I have an extensive collection of power tools and have been upgrading my tool collection selling off the old stuff at yard sales. I don't imagine he will keep much of it though.
I've said this before in another post. When we downsized to a smaller place...I let my daughters choose whatever they wanted that I didn't plan to take with us. I think my sisters might have taken a few things too. Then whatever didn't sell in a garage sale...we donated to Goodwill. I find that my daughters are not into "knick knacks", etc. like many of us were. Neither were they interested in any of my books, etc. They have different interests now days and don't want the cluttered look in their homes. Each year I find I declutter more too. Hopefully when I do leave this earth...my daughters won't have much to clean up after me.
We downsized too but we've been upsizing ever since! Unfortunately we like our stuff although it's of no interest to anyone else.
Our family is too far away to take any of the larger items but we are trying to interest them in taking other things. I told my grandsons if they could get together and come here I would give them most of my guns and other outdoor items. Other things I've been putting for sale on local online garage sales with almost no luck at all.
When we downsized, we couldn't give away, let alone sell, some 1950's furniture in pristine condition. All because of the snowflake health and safety legislation. We didn't have a certificate stating what sort of stuffing there was in a couple of replica spoonback chairs, or whether the china cabinet had safety glass. We ended up slinging them in landfill.
I myself have gotten rid of things. Yet I still like some knickknacks and pictures. A lot of my mothers things went to PAWS Thrift. I think she had boxes of things that hadn't been unpacked in the almost 20 years they lived in the mobile home park. I have seen things in thrift stores that were clearly peoples collections. You can just tell. There are things all the same whether it's the little Christmas village type things or a collection of all the same animal. I guess they meant something to someone but not to anyone else. Kind of sad. I'm glad we have PAWS though, I want to benefit the animals and they really help cats. But I guess the items move on, someone likes and buys them and gets a new treasure for themselves.
I know one thing my stepson is waiting for....his dad's moose antlers....I really cannot understand why.
When we downsized we had a difficult time ridding ourselves of of furniture and six rooms of stuff. We asked the kids and grandkids to come get hat they wanted but none anted anything save a picture or two. We sold a little of th furniture but finally gave away most of it and still moved enough to fill our present home. I still miss my library. I gave the one gun I didn't sell to w brother in law. I did bring a big old oak desk I wish I had sold. It"s too large for the space I have. I still need to get rid of some stuff but some things are hard to turn loose of.
My hubby is the same as he hates to part with any of his "stuff". Hopefully he'll be able to part with it if we downsize again.